Tracking the When, Where, and With Whom of Alcohol Use: Integrating Ecological Momentary Assessment and Geospatial Data to Examine Risk for Alcohol-Related Problems.

Tracking the When, Where, and With Whom of Alcohol Use: Integrating Ecological Momentary Assessment and Geospatial Data to Examine Risk for Alcohol-Related Problems.
Alcohol Res. 2014 Sep;36(1):29-38
Authors: Freisthler B, Lipperman-Kreda S, Bersamin M, Gruenewald PJ
Abstract
Prevention researchers have found that drinking in different contexts is related to different alcohol problems. Where and with whom people drink affects the types of alcohol-related problems they experience. Consequently, identifying those contexts that result in the greatest number of problems pro-vides a novel opportunity to target new prevention efforts aimed at those contexts. However, identifying these contexts poses methodological challenges to prevention research. To overcome these challenges, researchers need tools that allow them to gather detailed information about when and where people choose to drink and how contextual factors influence drinking risks. New data collection and analysis techniques, such as activity-space analysis, which examines movement through different contexts, and ecological momentary assess-ment, which captures microlevel contextual changes as individuals move through their days, can advance the field of alcohol studies by providing detailed information on the use of drinking contexts, particularly when combined. Data acquired through these methods allow researchers to better identify those con-texts where and conditions under wh...

Source: Alcohol Research - August 12, 2015 Category: Addiction Tags: Alcohol Res Source Type: research