Profiles of college students mandated to alcohol intervention

Objective: Most colleges have sanctions or required interventions for students who receive alcohol violations or medical evaluation for intoxication. The aim of this study was to establish profiles of mandated students from a combined data set using exploratory and replication cluster analysis. Method: Data sets from three samples of mandated students (total participant n = 393) were combined for exploratory analyses, and a fourth sample (n = 289) was analyzed for replication. Clustering variables were past-month heavy drinking, past-year alcohol problems, incident alcohol use, responsibility for the incident, and aversiveness of the incident. Results: A three-cluster solution was produced in the exploratory analysis and confirmed in replication and cross-replication analyses. Clusters formed included a "Why Me?" cluster characterized by a pattern of relatively low heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems, very little incident drinking, and low responsibility and aversiveness. A "So What?" cluster was characterized by high heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems, moderate incident drinking and responsibility, and low aversiveness. A "Bad Incident" cluster was characterized by low scores for heavy drinking and problems and high levels of incident drinking, responsibility, and aversiveness. External variables supported the validity of the cluster solution. Conclusions: Mandated students form clinically meaningful profiles on easily measured constructs.