Drinking motives and college students: Further examination of a four-factor model.

The purposes of this study were to examine the reliability and validity of a 4-factor model of the Drinking Motives Measure and to assess year in school and ethnic differences on different types of motives. Data were collected on 441 volunteer college students. Results indicated that fit indices for the 4-factor model were acceptable; fit indices were also better for the 4-factor model than they were for alternative models. Freshman students and students of color had higher scores on the Conformity motives subscale than senior and White students did, respectively. Additionally, differences in the correlation between Conformity motives and alcohol use existed based on year in school, such that the relationship was significantly smaller for freshmen than it was for other students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fitting in and feeling fine: Conformity and coping motives as mediators of the relationship between social anxiety and problematic drinking.

The present research was conducted to clarify the relationships among social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and negative-reinforcement drinking motives among college students. Heavy drinking students (N = 316, 53.80% female) completed self-report measures of social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and drinking motives. Findings indicated that students higher in social anxiety consumed less alcohol but experienced more negative consequences. Moreover, the relationship between social anxiety and negative consequences was mediated by coping and conformity drinking motives in addition to alcohol consumption. In the context of social anxiety, the current research demonstrates the importance of examining problematic drinking as distinct constructs: alcohol consumption and negative consequences. Findings are also discussed in terms of implications for interventions with socially anxious students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thinking and drinking: Alcohol-related cognitions across stages of adolescent alcohol involvement.

Alcohol-related cognitions, particularly expectancies for drinking and nondrinking and motives for nondrinking, are involved in the initiation, maintenance, and cessation of alcohol use and are hypothesized to play key roles in adolescent decision making. This study explored (a) the relationships between alcohol use expectancies, nondrinking expectancies, and nondrinking motives; (b) the roles of these cognitions across hypothesized developmental stages of adolescent alcohol use; and (c) the relationships between these cognitions and recent or intended future changes in drinking behavior in a cross-sectional sample. Surveys assessing alcohol use behaviors and attitudes were administered to 1,648 high school students. Heavier drinkers reported more positive alcohol use expectancies and fewer nondrinking motives than did lighter drinkers or nondrinkers; however, nondrinking expectancies only differed between nondrinkers and rare drinkers and all subsequent drinking classes. Alcohol use expectancies, nondrinking expectancies, and nondrinking motives differentiated students who recently initiated alcohol from those who had not, while nondrinking expectancies and nondrinking motives differentiated binge-drinking students who had made recent efforts to reduce/stop their drinking from those who had not. Intentions to initiate or reduce drinking in the coming month were also associated with these alcohol-related cognitions. Drinking and nondrinking expectancies and motives for not drinking may play critical roles in decisions to alter alcohol-use behavior during adolescence. Future exploration of temporal relationships between changes in alcohol-related cognitions and behavioral decision making will be useful in the refinement of effective prevention and intervention strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational pathways to unique types of alcohol consequences.

Individuals consume alcohol for a variety of reasons (motives), and these reasons may be differentially associated with the types of drinking outcomes that result. The present study examined whether specific affect-relevant motivations for alcohol use (i.e., coping, enhancement) are associated with distinct types of consequences, and whether such associations occur directly, or only as a function of increased alcohol use. It was hypothesized that enhancement motives would be associated with distinct problem types only through alcohol use, whereas coping motives would be linked directly to hypothesized problem types. Regularly drinking undergraduates (N = 192, 93 female) completed self-report measures of drinking motives and alcohol involvement. Using structural equation modeling, we tested direct associations between coping motives and indirect associations between enhancement motives and eight unique alcohol problem domains: risky behaviors, blackout drinking, physiological dependence, academic/occupational problems, poor self-care, diminished self-perception, social/interpersonal problems, and impaired control. We observed direct effects of coping motives on three unique problem domains (academic/occupational problems, risky behaviors, and poor self-care). Both coping and enhancement motives were indirectly associated (through use) with several problem types. Unhypothesized associations between conformity motives and unique consequence types also were observed. Findings suggest specificity in the consequences experienced by individuals who drink to cope with negative affect versus to enhance positive affect, and may have intervention implications. Findings depict the coping motivated student as one who is struggling across multiple domains, regardless of levels of drinking. Such students may need to be prioritized for interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping, drinking motives, goal attainment expectancies and family models in relation to alcohol use among college students

Associations between coping responses, drinking motivations, expectations of meeting social and academic goals, and family of origin problem drinking and measures of college students' quantity/frequency of alcohol use and social complications of alcohol use were investigated in a sample of 218 college students. Positive associations were found between "emotion-focused" forms of coping such as detachment and the criterion measures, whereas "problem-focused coping" was not significantly associated with quantity/frequency of alcohol use or drinking complications. Positive correlations were also found between drinking motives, goal attainment expectancies and family models measures and the criterion measures. Regression models constructed for alcohol quantity/frequency and drinking complications implicated the total number of drinking motives, family models of problem drinking and the coping strategy of self-blame as strongly related to criterion measures. Positive social drinking motives and coping by seeking social support were implicated as possible protective factors.     

Validating a five-factor marijuana motives measure: Relations with use, problems, and alcohol motives.

This study adapted and extended M. L. Cooper's (1994) Drinking Motives Measure to examine marijuana motives among 299 college students. An exploratory factor analysis supported the hypothesized 5-factor marijuana motives model, resulting in enhancement, conformity, expansion, coping, and social motives. Analyses supported the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the 5 marijuana motives. Marijuana motives were significant predictors of marijuana use and added to the prediction of use-related problems above and beyond the contribution of lifetime use. Motives and gender interacted in predicting use and use-related problems. Parallel regression analyses revealed that marijuana and alcohol motives predicted comparable amounts of variance in use and use-related problems. However, different patterns of relations emerged across drugs, supporting the discriminant validity of the marijuana and alcohol motives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An affective-motivational model of marijuana and alcohol problems among college students.

The study examined models of marijuana (n = 309) and alcohol (n = 731) problems. Impulsivity was directly associated with both marijuana- and alcohol-related problems. Negative mood regulation expectancies were indirectly associated with marijuana problems through coping motives. Sensation seeking was indirectly associated with alcohol problems through enhancement motives. Affect lability and negative affect were indirectly associated with alcohol problems though coping motives. In both models, coping motives were directly associated with use-related problems. A multigroup analysis indicated that the association between negative affect and coping motives as well as use and problems was stronger among participants using both alcohol and marijuana relative to alcohol only. Enhancement motives were a stronger predictor of alcohol use among participants using alcohol only. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do Parents Still Matter? Parent and Peer Influences on Alcohol Involvement Among Recent High School Graduates.

This study investigated the influences of peer and parent variables on alcohol use and problems in a sample of late adolescents in the summer immediately prior to entry into college. Participants (N = 556) completed a mail survey assessing peer influences (alcohol offers, social modeling, perceived norms), parental behaviors (nurturance, monitoring), and attitudes and values (disapproval for heavy drinking, permissiveness for drinking), and alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated significant associations between both peer and parental influences and alcohol involvement, and showed that parental influences moderated peer-influence-drinking behavior, such that higher levels of perceived parental involvement were associated with weaker relations between peer influences and alcohol use and problems. These findings suggest that parents continue to exert an influential role in late adolescent drinking behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social anxiety and motives for alcohol use among adolescents.

Social anxiety evidences significant comorbidity with alcohol use disorders and alcohol-related problems. In an effort to better understand this co-occurrence, researchers are beginning to evaluate specific drinking-related factors, including alcohol use motives, among socially anxious individuals. Drawing on Cooper's (1994) 4-factor model of drinking motives (enhancement, social, conformity, coping), a growing body of work suggests that socially anxious individuals may consume alcohol in an effort to cope with their anxious symptoms; however, no study to date has examined these relations among youth. Accordingly, we examined alcohol use motives as a function of social anxiety in a community-based sample of 50 adolescents ages 12 to 17 years (Mage = 16.35, SD = 1.10). As predicted, heightened social anxiety was associated with elevated coping-related drinking motives. More important, other alcohol-use motives did not vary as a function of social anxiety. Collectively, these findings uniquely extend research conducted with adults, and suggest socially anxious youth may be motivated to use alcohol to manage their anxious arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drink and Be Merry? Gender, Life Satisfaction, and Alcohol Consumption Among College Students.

This study examined the impact of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems on several domains of life satisfaction (LS) in a sample of 353 college students. Alcohol use was associated with lower general satisfaction and anticipated future satisfaction among women. Female abstainers reported higher general and anticipated future satisfaction than did female heavy drinkers. Female students' alcohol use was unrelated to their academic, family, dating, or social satisfaction. Drinking among men showed a positive, curvilinear relation to social satisfaction but was unrelated to other domains of LS. Alcohol-related problems were associated with decreased LS among both men and women. These findings suggest that alcohol use by young adults is associated with both positive and negative outcomes that may be gender specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol expectancies and the risk for alcoholism.

The current study examined alcohol expectancies and drinking motives as correlates of alcohol involvement among adolescents at high and low risk for future alcoholism. Measures of alcohol expectancies, drinking motives, presumed personality risk for alcoholism, family history of alcoholism, and alcohol involvement were completed by 979 high school students. Alcohol expectancies and drinking motives were found to vary as a function of risk status. More important, the strength of the relations between alcohol expectancies or drinking motives and alcohol involvement varied as a function of risk status. Expectancies of altered social behavior were particularly associated with low-risk drinking. Expectancies of enhanced cognitive and motor functioning, expectancies of tension reduction, expectancies of deteriorated cognitive and behavioral functioning, personal motives, and power motives were particularly associated with high-risk drinking. These expectancies and motives are of potential prognostic significance in the development of alcoholism and may be important targets for modification in primary prevention programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reinforcing efficacy moderates the relationship between impulsivity-related traits and alcohol use.

Studies have shown that impulsivity-related traits are associated with alcohol use among college students. It is possible that individual differences in susceptibility to reinforcement from alcohol, which reflects the extent to which an individual values alcohol, moderates this relationship. Data were collected from 255 college students at a large, urban university who reported consuming alcohol at least once in the past 30 days. Two impulsivity-related-traits, Urgency and Sensation Seeking, were examined, as well as the reinforcing efficacy indices of Omax (maximum alcohol expenditure) and Demand Intensity (consumption when price = zero). Findings indicated that Omax moderated the relationship between both impulsivity-related traits and alcohol consumption, and between Urgency and alcohol-related problems. Demand Intensity also moderated the relationship between both impulsivity-related traits and alcohol use, but did not moderate the relationship between either trait and alcohol-related problems. Results from this study suggest that college students high in certain impulsivity-related traits and for whom alcohol is a highly valued reinforcer have a high risk for excessive alcohol consumption and an increased probability of experiencing negative alcohol-related problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Screening and brief intervention for high-risk college student drinkers: Results from a 2-year follow-up assessment.

This randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of a brief intervention designed to reduce the harmful consequences of heavy drinking among high-risk college students. Students screened for risk while in their senior year of high school (188 women and 160 men) were randomly assigned to receive an individualized motivational brief intervention in their freshman year of college or to a no-treatment control condition. A normative group selected from the entire screening pool provided a natural history comparison. Follow-up assessments over a 2-year period showed significant reductions in both drinking rates and harmful consequences, favoring students receiving the intervention. Although high-risk students continued to experience more alcohol problems than the natural history comparison group over the 2-year period, most showed a decline in problems over time, suggesting a developmental maturational effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drinking and desired self-images: Path models of self-image goals, coping motives, heavy-episodic drinking, and alcohol problems.

Coping motives for drinking initiate alcohol-related problems. Interpersonal goals, which powerfully influence affect, could provide a starting point for this relation. Here we tested effects of self-image goals (which aim to construct and defend desired self-views) and compassionate goals (which aim to support others) on heavy-episodic drinking and alcohol-related problems. Undergraduate drinkers (N=258) completed measures of self-image and compassionate goals in academics and friendships, coping and enhancement drinking motives, heavy-episodic drinking, and alcohol-related problems in a cross-sectional design. As predicted, self-image goals, but not compassionate goals, positively related to alcohol-related problems. Path models showed that self-image goals relate to coping motives, but not enhancement motives; coping motives then relate to heavy-episodic drinking, which in turn relate to alcohol-related problems. Self-image goals remained a significant predictor in the final model, which accounted for 34% of the variance in alcohol-related problems. These findings indicate that self-image goals contribute to alcohol-related problems in college students both independently and through coping motives. Interventions can center on reducing self-image goals and their attendant negative affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol and sexual risk behaviors as mediators of the sexual victimization–revictimization relationship.

Objective: Women who experience sexual victimization, whether in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, are at elevated risk of sexual revictimization. The mechanism responsible for this robust association is unclear, however. The present study proposed and tested a prospective, mediated model that posited that the association between adolescent and college victimization is mediated via 2 types of risk exposure in the first semester of college: alcohol-related and sexual risk behaviors. Method: Female adolescents (N = 469) were recruited from the community at the time of high school graduation. They completed baseline assessments as well as follow-ups at the end of the first and second semesters of college. Results: Consistent with hypotheses, adolescent sexual victimization was associated indirectly, via high school risk behaviors, with increased first-semester college risk behaviors (i.e., sexual partners, hookups, heavy episodic drinking, and heavy drinking contexts), which were, in turn, strongly predictive of sexual victimization experiences in the first year of college. College risk behaviors partially mediated the significant association between adolescent and first-year college victimization; however, even women without prior victimization faced elevated risk of college victimization with higher levels of college risk behaviors. Conclusions: Women who have experienced adolescent sexual victimization engage in higher levels of risk taking in college, thereby increasing vulnerability to college victimization. Intervention to reduce these primarily alcohol-related risk-taking behaviors may reduce vulnerability to college sexual victimization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Association between DNA cleavage during apoptosis and regions of chromatin replication

This randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of a brief intervention designed to reduce the harmful consequences of heavy drinking among high-risk college students. Students screened for risk while in their senior year of high school (188 women and 160 men) were randomly assigned to receive an individualized motivational brief intervention in their freshman year of college or to a no-treatment control condition. A normative group selected from the entire screening pool provided a natural history comparison. Follow-up assessments over a 2-year period showed significant reductions in both drinking rates and harmful consequences, favoring students receiving the intervention. Although high-risk students continued to experience more alcohol problems than the natural history comparison group over the 2-year period, most showed a decline in problems over time, suggesting a developmental maturational effect.     

Protective behavioral strategies and the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related negative consequences among college students.

Approximately 40% of college students reported engaging in heavy episodic or "binge" drinking in the 2 weeks prior to being surveyed. Research indicates that college students suffering from depression are more likely to report experiencing negative consequences related to their drinking than other students are. The reasons for this relationship have not been well-studied. Hence, the purpose of this study was to determine whether use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS), defined as cognitive-behavioral strategies an individual can use when drinking alcohol that limit both consumption and alcohol-related problems, mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related negative consequences among college students. Data were obtained from 686 participants from a large, public university who were referred to an alcohol intervention as a result of violating on-campus alcohol policies. Results from structural equation modeling analyses indicated that use of PBS partially mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related negative consequences. Implications for clinicians treating college students who report experiencing depressive symptoms or consuming alcohol are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived awareness and caring influences alcohol use by high school and college students.

Perceived awareness and caring, or beliefs about how much parents and peers know and care about students' behavior, was assessed in relation to students' drinking patterns. Prior to and at the end of the first semester at college, participants completed Web-based surveys assessing alcohol use, family and social motives, and perceived awareness and caring from parents and peers. Family motives moderated the effect of perceived parental awareness and caring on the quantity of high school alcohol use, whereas social motives moderated the effect of perceived peer awareness and caring on frequency and quantity of college drinking. Longitudinally, college alcohol use was predicted by perceived awareness and caring from parents. Perceived awareness and caring may affect alcohol use whereby parents exert influence during high school but peers are more influential in college. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Collegiate heavy drinking prospectively predicts change in sensation seeking and impulsivity.

Recent models of alcohol use in youth and young adulthood have incorporated personality change and maturation as causal factors underlying variability in developmental changes in heavy drinking. Whereas these models assume that personality affects alcohol use, the current prospective study tested the converse relation. That is, we tested whether, after accounting for the effect of traits on drinking, collegiate heavy drinking in turn predicted individual differences in change in alcohol-related aspects of personality. We also examined whether affiliation with heavy-drinking peers better accounted for this relation. Following a cohort of recent high school graduates (N = 1,434) through the college years, we found evidence for transactional relations between heavy drinking and changes in impulsivity and sensation seeking. Both traits predicted increases in heavy drinking, but more important, heavy drinking predicted increases in sensation seeking and impulsivity. In final models, social influences did not underlie the effect of heavy drinking on increases in sensation seeking and impulsivity. The results of this investigation suggest that collegiate heavy drinking may negatively and pervasively impact a wide range of behaviors because of its effect on personality change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extracurricular activities: Beneficial extension of the traditional curriculum or subversion of academic goals?

Effects of total extracurricular activity participation (TEAP) during the last 2 yrs of high school were examined using the large, nationally repesentative High School and Beyond data. After controlling background variables and sophomore outcomes, TEAP had small but statistically significant and positive relations with 17 of 22 senior and postsecondary outcomes (e.g., social and academic self-concept, educational aspirations, coursework selection, homework, absenteeism, academic achievement, and subsequent college attendance). Whereas there were small nonlinear components, increases in TEAP across almost the whole range of TEAP scores were associated with increases in benefits for most of the outcomes. Results contradict zero-sum models positing that TEAP detracts from more narrowly defined academic goals and support a commitment-to-school hypothesis in which identification with school and school values is enhanced by TEAP. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)