Individual-level Strategies
Individual-level strategies are designed to help students make informed decisions, reduce risky behaviors, and connect with appropriate support services. While campus policies and environmental approaches shape the broader campus culture, individual-level interventions provide students with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to reduce alcohol- and other substance-related harms.
The Maryland Collaborative promotes evidence-based strategies that have been shown to reduce high-risk alcohol use, improve student well-being, and support healthier campus communities. We work with member institutions to identify, implement, and evaluate interventions that are tailored to the needs of their students and are aligned with best practices in college health promotion.
Evidence-Based Approaches
The Maryland Collaborative supports a range of evidence-based individual-level strategies, including:
Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT)
Brief motivational interventions
Personalized normative feedback
Online alcohol education and prevention programs
Peer education and peer-led prevention initiatives
Recovery support services for students in recovery
Bystander intervention training
Social norms campaigns
Motivational interviewing approaches
Educational interventions for students who violate campus alcohol policies
Supporting Student Success
Effective prevention extends beyond reducing substance use. Individual-level strategies also promote academic success, mental well-being, student engagement, and healthy decision-making throughout the college experience. By identifying students who may be at increased risk and connecting them with appropriate campus resources, colleges and universities can intervene early and reduce the likelihood of more serious alcohol- and substance-related consequences.
Resources and Best Practices
This section includes implementation guides, evidence summaries, toolkits, and educational resources to help campuses select and deliver effective individual-level interventions. Resources are intended for health promotion professionals, counseling center staff, student affairs practitioners, residence life staff, faculty, peer educators, and other campus partners committed to advancing student health and well-being through evidence-based prevention.
Improving campus alcohol policies through assessment and scoring
This paper describes reporting campus alcohol policy assessments back to 15 institutions with recommendations and technical assistance, then re-assessing those policies for effectiveness and clarity.
Reducing alcohol use and related problems among college students: A guide to best practices (third edition)
This Guide synthesizes the research on which interventions do and do not reduce college drinking, describing the two most promising categories: personalized feedback and monitoring, and environmental strategies.
Assessing campus alcohol policies: Measuring accessibility, clarity, and effectiveness
This study assessed campus alcohol policies at 15 Maryland Collaborative schools for accessibility, clarity, and effectiveness, developing an expert-informed approach colleges can use to review their own policies.
Addressing college drinking as a statewide public health problem: Key findings from the Maryland Collaborative
This paper describes the findings of the Maryland Collaborative, a statewide initiative bringing Maryland institutions together to address college drinking through both individual-level and environmental-level evidence-based approaches.
Prospective predictors of flavored e-cigarette use: A one-year longitudinal study of young adults in the U.S.
This longitudinal study identified prospective predictors of young adults’ flavored e-cigarette use in a national cohort, to inform regulation and prevention efforts.
ADHD assessment and treatment services among a national sample of US colleges and universities
This study reviewed the online availability and content of policies governing ADHD assessment and treatment services at college clinics, finding only about a third published such information.
Collateral Damage from College Drinking: A Conceptual Framework for Alcohol’s Harms to Others Among US College Students
This article presents a conceptual framework for alcohol’s harms to others among US college students, drawing on a literature review in which prevalence estimates ranged from 59% to 84%.
NIAAA Publication: College Drinking Fact Sheet
This fact sheet summarizes the scale and consequences of harmful and underage college drinking, the factors that drive it, and the mix of individual- and environmental-level strategies shown to reduce it.
Excessive Drinking: CDC Fact Sheet on Maryland
This fact sheet presents Maryland’s excessive drinking figures together with the evidence-based policies recommended to reduce excessive alcohol use, noting the state’s current status on outlet density, taxes, dram shop liability, and sales hours.
Maryland State Report: Underage Drinking Prevention and Enforcement
This state report profiles Maryland’s underage drinking laws, enforcement activity, and prevention programs, and reports state data on youth alcohol use and alcohol-attributable deaths, as required by the federal STOP Act.
NIAAA Publication: Underage Drinking Fact Sheet
This fact sheet summarizes underage drinking statistics and dangers, why young people drink, and the environmental, individual, school, and family approaches that have been found to prevent it.
Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking
This Call to Action urges all levels of government, individuals, and private-sector institutions to work together to prevent and reduce underage drinking, framing prevention around adolescent development and the harms of early alcohol use.
Here to Stay? Policy Changes in Alcohol Home Delivery and “To-Go” Sales During and After COVID-19 in the United States
This commentary asks whether pandemic-era expansions of alcohol home delivery and to-go sales have persisted across US states, warning that increased availability may raise underage access and alcohol-related harm.
Impact of Alcohol Home Delivery and Other Methods of Obtaining Alcohol in Young Adults
This survey of young adults estimated how often alcohol is obtained through home delivery, to-go purchases, and theft, finding delivery purchases rare but often unchecked for ID and linked to high-risk drinking.
CollegeAIM NIAAA’s Alcohol Intervention Matrix
This guide and website help campus officials choose alcohol interventions for their communities, rating options on effectiveness and cost, with ratings updated periodically from peer-reviewed research.
Marijuana Use Trends Among College Students in States With and Without Legalization of Recreational Use: Initial and Longer-term Changes from 2008 to 2018
This study compared marijuana use trends among college students in states that did and did not legalize recreational use, finding larger increases in both prevalence and frequent use in legalizing states.
Campus Tobacco Control Policies and Cessation Interventions in College Students: A Commentary Calling for Research and Action to Address Tobacco-Related Health Disparities
This commentary reviews campus tobacco control policies and cessation interventions for US college students, noting roughly two-thirds of campuses still lack tobacco-free policies and that few address alternative tobacco products.
Student Attitudes Toward Tobacco Use and Tobacco Policies on College Campuses
This mixed-methods study assessed student attitudes toward campus tobacco policies, finding majority support for tobacco-free policies but also a preference for designated smoking areas, with smokers and vapers least supportive.
Cannabis Legalization and College Mental Health
This review assesses how cannabis legalization affects college students’ developing brains and mental health, noting the sharpest post-legalization increase in use has been among 18- to 25-year-olds.