The relationship between reasons for drinking alcohol and alcohol consumption: An interactional approach

Abstract

Two motives for alcohol consumption have been emphasized in the etiological and the reasonsfor-drinking literature: (a) people drink alcohol to cope with stress, and (b) people drink alcohol because of social influences. There is support for both of these hypotheses, but the results are usually modest and most authors agree that more complex theories of alcohol consumption are needed. This study examined the interactional effects of reasons for drinking alcohol and situational factors on alcohol consumption. Standardized telephone interviews were conducted with 781 randomly selected Michigan drinkers. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that gender, friends' alcohol consumption, coping, and social motives for drinking were significant predictors of study participants' alcohol consumption. As predicted, there was a significant interaction between drinking to cope with stress and perceived stress, and there was also a significant interaction between drinking for social reasons and friends' alcohol consumption. Similarities and differences in the results for women, men, Blacks, and Whites are described. Individuals' expressed reasons for drinking alcoholSince the 1950's, researchers have examined people's self-reported reasons for drinking alcohol (Cahalan, Cisin, & Crossley, 1969;Cooper, Russell, & George, 1988;Farber, Khavari, & Douglass, 1980;Johnson, Schwitters, Wilson, Nagoshi, & McClearn, 1985;Novacek, Raskin, & Hogan, 1991;Straus & Bacon, 1953). People do not have complete understanding of the nexus of physiological, psychological, social, and environmental factors that influence their behavior (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977). Nonetheless, self-reports of motives for drinking alcohol provide insight into people's psychological state and have empirically been related to consumption levels (Cahalan et al., 1969;Cooper et al., 1988;Farber et al., 1980). Most authors have focused on general samples of the adult population or college students, rather than alcoholics or identified problem drinkers. The majority of these studies have focused on the factor structure of individuals' motives for drinking, as well as determining if some types of motives are more strongly related than others to heavy alcohol consumption.Requests for reprints should be sent to: Antonia Abbey, PhD, Department of Community Medicine, Wayne State University, 4201 St. Antoine, Detroit, MI 48201. Cahalan et al. (1969) found that social reasons were more commonly given for drinking alcohol, but that heavy drinkers chose more coping reasons than did infrequent drinkers. Many researchers have found that drinking alcohol to cope with problems is more likely to lead to abusive drinking than is social drinking (Cahalan et al., 1969;Cooper et al., 1988;Farber et al., 1980;Johnson et al., 1985). There is also evidence, however, that social motives for consuming alcohol can lead to heavy drinking (Brennan, Walfish, & AuBuchon, 1986;Ratliff & Burkhart, 1984). For example, Brennan et al. (1986), in their review of the longitudinal liter...

Búsqueda de sensaciones y consumo de alcohol: El papel mediador de la percepción de riesgos y beneficios

“…y evitar ciertas situaciones, como sentirse excluido del grupo o presionado por los amigos. El logro de refuerzo positivo -tanto de naturaleza social como emocional-es también una de las principales motivaciones asociadas al consumo abusivo de alcohol (Abbey, Smith y Scott, 1993;Kuntsche y Cooper, 2010;Mezquita et al, 2011) y a la participación de los universitarios en botellones (Gó-mez-Fraguela et al, 2008). Asimismo, los posibles beneficios asociados a la conducta son también buenos predictores de las conductas arriesgadas de los adolescentes (Parsons et al, 2000;Rolison y Scherman, 2003).…”

Young men's ambivalence toward alcohol

“…Armitage, 2003;Conner et al, 2003). Given the links between motives and attitudes (Abbey et al, 1993;Read et al, 2003;Williams & Clark, 1998), widespread ambivalence toward alcohol, and the fact that many disincentives for drinking are also incentives, it may be important to focus on uncomplicated motives for not drinking. Various models of health behaviour would argue that emphasising such 'negative' motives is an important part of the process of behaviour change (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1972;Prochaska, DiClimente & Norcross, 1992;Rosenstock, 1974).…”

“…Outcome expectancies (see Table 1) distinguish between drinkers and abstainers (Leigh & Stacy, 2004), and are significantly related to drinkers' patterns of alcohol consumption (Bot, Engels & Knibbe, 2005;Dijkstra, Sweeney & Gebhardt, 2001;Farber, Khavari & Douglass, 1980;Hittner, 1997;Lee, Greely & Oei, 1999;Leigh & Stacy, 2004;Migneault, Pallonen & Velicer, 1997;Oei & Morawska, 2004;Stritzke & Butt, 2001;Williams & Clark, 1998). Table 1 Expectancies and motives share common variance: motives may mediate the link between expectancies and behaviour (Abbey, Smith & Scott, 1993;Read, Wood, Kahler, Maddock & Palfai, 2003;Williams & Clark, 1998). Like expectancies, motives predict alcohol use (Abbey et al, 1993;Cooper, 1994;Maggs & Schulenberg, 1998).…”

“…Table 1 Expectancies and motives share common variance: motives may mediate the link between expectancies and behaviour (Abbey, Smith & Scott, 1993;Read, Wood, Kahler, Maddock & Palfai, 2003;Williams & Clark, 1998). Like expectancies, motives predict alcohol use (Abbey et al, 1993;Cooper, 1994;Maggs & Schulenberg, 1998). For example, the motive "to get drunk" predicts binge drinking during early adulthood, regardless of alcohol consumption at age 18 (Schulenberg, Wadsworth, O'Malley, Bachman & Johnston, 1996).…”

Are Changes in Financial Strain Associated With Changes in Alcohol Use and Smoking Among Older Adults?

“…The predominant theoretical rationale underlying expected associations between experiences of fi nancial strain and alcohol or tobacco use is commonly referred to as the tension-reduction hypothesis (Abbey et al, 1993;Greeley and Oei, 1999). According to this hypothesis, also referred to as the affect regulation model, people are inclined to increase use of substances, such as alcohol or tobacco, following experiences of stress because these substances are used as a means of relieving the negative emotions resulting from stress exposure.…”