Fourth-year Ph.D. student, Holly Boyle, in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences working with Drs. Jennifer Merrill, Kate Carey, and Kristina Jackson was selected as a 2021 Student Finalist for the Enoch Gordis Research Achievement Award! As a finalist, Holly will be presenting a research talk on Sunday, June 20, 2021 and presenting her poster, "Event-level drinking motives and alcohol behavior: Comparison of motives reported at the first drink versus retrospectively the next morning " on Monday, June 21, 2021. Finalists are chosen and their presentations are judged by members of the Education Committee. The awardees are announced during the Closing Ceremony at RSA.

Key findings from Holly's research is in an event-level study, timing of assessment was found to have implications for whether some drinking motives are endorsed and whether they are related to drinking outcomes. Assessing drinking motives the morning after a drinking event yielded: (1) more frequent endorsement of enhancement (fun, high) motives and (2) more consistent associations with level of alcohol use and consequences the night before than motives assessed at the first drink of a drinking event.