Heavy drinking is a significant public health problem among college students, with 65 % drinking alcohol monthly (Johnston et al., 2012). Roughly 40 % of students report heavy episodic drinking (HED; 4 drinks for women/5 drinks for men over two hours) in the past month (Wechsler and Nelson, 2008), over 20 % report engaging in HED at least three times in the past two weeks (Hingson et al., 2017), and while alcohol use for men is decreasing, alcohol use among women is on the rise (White, 2020). Rates of HED in the past two weeks differ by gender identity (34 % cisgender women; 36 % cisgender men; 25 % gender minorities), sexual orientation identity (35 % heterosexual, 36 % bisexual, 35 % gay, lesbian, or queer), and racial and ethnic identity (25 % Black, 35 % Latine, and 38 % White; Ranker and Lipson, 2022). College HED is associated with poor academics, interpersonal violence, unintentional injury and deaths, and subsequent alcohol use disorder (AUD; Knight et al., 2002; Labouvie, 1996; Peralta et al., 2011; Perkins, 2002b).

The impact of alcohol use is not equitable. Women experience more alcohol-related consequences than men (White, 2020), and Black and Latine populations are disproportionately impacted by alcohol use, with higher rates of AUD and alcohol consequences despite drinking less than their White peers (Delker et al., 2016, Wilson et al., 2016). Further, sexual and gender minority (SGM) college students are at greater risk for alcohol-related consequences compared to their cisgender and heterosexual peers (Fahey et al., 2023, Hughto et al., 2021, Talley et al., 2016, Woodford et al., 2012). Specifically, SGM students had 2.76 % more consequences per drink compared to cisgender heterosexual peers (Schipani-McLaughlin et al., 2022). These disparities are commonly attributed to minority stress resulting from stigma and discrimination (Brem et al., 2024, Dyar et al., 2019, Hendricks and Testa, 2012, Meyer, 2003), in combination with other forms of structural oppression (Mereish, 2024). It is important to develop and evaluate alcohol interventions that are tailored for diverse student populations.

Web-BASICS is a personalized normative feedback intervention (PFI) which includes personalized normative feedback, psychoeducation, and motivational interviewing techniques (Larimer et al., 2023). PFIs are the gold standard for addressing alcohol use on college campuses because they are low cost, easily disseminated, and empirically supported (Baer et al., 1991, Cadigan et al., 2015, Dotson et al., 2015, Labrie et al., 2013, NIAAA, 2015, Pueyo-Garrigues et al., 2024, Riper et al., 2009, Saxton et al., 2021). PFIs are based on social norms theory, which suggests individuals are significantly influenced by the behaviors and attitudes viewed as normative within their social groups (Cialdini and Trost, 1998). PFIs work by addressing misperceptions of peers’ drinking, or descriptive drinking norms, to correct potential overestimation (Moreira et al., 2012, O'Grady et al., 2011). Descriptive drinking norms strongly predict drinking behavior among college students, with those who overestimate norms consuming alcohol at higher rates than those with accurate perceptions (Perkins, 2002a; Reid and Carey, 2015).

In PFIs, normative feedback reference groups are typically predetermined and based on binary gender and/or the average student at a given university. However, a study using a nationally representative sample found that the use of a “typical” student as the reference group for drinking norms may not be perceived as representative among minoritized students (McCabe et al., 2019). Another study found that for Latine students, ethnicity-specific norms were associated with alcohol use at a university with a large Latine population but not at a university with a small Latine population (LaBrie et al., 2012). Therefore, it is reasonable to propose that PFIs may be less effective for students with marginalized identities, including Black, Latine, or SGM students. Web-BASICS tailoring has not previously been tested for Latine, Black, or SGM students, only for Asian students, finding that when comparing 8 different PFI identity conditions, the typical student was the most parsimonious and effective PFI comparator (Labrie et al., 2013). Representation of Black, Latine, and SGM college students has more than doubled between 2000 and 2019 (The Williams Institute, 2019) and is much higher now than it was in Labrie et al.’s (2013) seminal study over 10 years ago highlighting the importance of assessing Web-BASICS tailoring for current student populations.

To address this significant gap, the current pilot study used a randomized controlled trial to compare the efficacy of an adapted Web-BASICS, which tailored normative feedback for alcohol use by choice of identity (Tailored Web-BASICS), to a control condition. We hypothesized that Tailored Web-BASICS would result in decreased alcohol use three months post-intervention across all identities compared to the control condition and that reductions in descriptive drinking norms would mediate this reduction.