Drinking motives and alcohol use among undergraduate college students in Hawaiʻi: A cross‐sectional analysis on the moderating effects of ego‐resiliency and social support

Abstract

This study estimated the (1) levels of alcohol use, drinking motives, ego‐resiliency, and social support; (2) effect of drinking motives on alcohol use; and (3) moderating effects of ego‐resiliency and social support. An online survey was conducted among undergraduate college students from a university in Hawaiʻi (n = 172). This study estimated moderating effects of ego‐resiliency and social support between drinking motives and alcohol use using SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS macro version 4.0. Four independent moderation analyses were performed for each drinking motive (social, coping, conformity, and enhancement). About one‐fourth of the sample had drinking problems (AUDIT score ≥ 8). The highest drinking motive was social, followed by enhancement, coping, and conformity motives. Ego‐resiliency significantly moderated the relationship between coping and enhancement motives with alcohol use. Social support did not have a significant moderating effect between drinking motives and alcohol use. The findings suggest that undergraduate college students who drink with coping and enhancement motives may have a reduced risk of drinking problems if they have a high level of ego‐resiliency. Future research and practice need to account for drinking motives and ego‐resiliency when working with college students to prevent and intervene in excessive alcohol use.