Defensively biased responding to risk information among alcohol-using college students

Previous research has found that individuals who engage in risky health behaviors respond to health risk messages in a self-serving manner, limiting the impact of health messages among targeted individuals. The present study sought to investigate whether alcohol-using college students would respond to risk messages about alcohol use with a similar defensive bias. Both alcohol-using (N = 244) and non-using (N = 91) college students read a summary of alcohol risk information intended for college students. Participants then reported their attitudes about the seriousness of the problem of college drinking, personal risk, and the scientific credibility of the risk information. Results indicated that high-risk participants responded in a self-serving manner, with significantly lower ratings of problem importance among alcohol-using students and non-significant differences among assessments of personal risk between groups. Further, alcohol-using students were more critical of the scientific merit of the risk information and more skeptical about the empirical claims. Defensively biased responding was more pronounced among more frequent and heavy drinking students than among lighter drinking students. The implications of these findings as well as possible ways to reduce defensive bias are discussed.