Alcohol Expectancy-Adolescent Questionnaire (AEQ-AB): Validation for portuguese college students

Abstract

<jats:p>Excessive alcohol consumption by college students is being recognized more and more, and its negative effects justify the implementation of prevention programs. Positive expectancies of alcohol are frequently acquired in adolescence and assume an important role in young-adult consumption patterns. This paper describes validation of the brief version of the Alcohol Expectancy-Adolescent Questionnaire (AEQ-AB) carried out with a sample of 317 freshman-year college students at a public Portuguese University. Results of confirmatory factor analysis, invariance and internal consistency showed some difficulties in the internal structure of the questionnaire. The two-factor model did not fit because no factor emerged to represent the negative expectation items. A single-factor structure was assumed and its invariance by gender was confirmed, as well as good internal consistency. The validity criterion showed positive and negative correlations with several variables depending on whether they were positively or negatively related to alcohol consumption. The oldest students and students drinking alcohol from early ages had the lowest expectancy of positive effects of the use of alcohol. With regard to academic performance, freshmen with a high GPA showed strong expectancies for the positive effects of alcohol. Positive correlations have been observed between positive alcohol expectancy and consumption levels. Further studies are necessary to include a negative dimension in the measure of expectancies of alcohol consumption.</jats:p>

Positive perceptions of beer consumption among portuguese university students

“…The effects of age at first drink and being on the firstchoice degree course were stronger when the indirect effects of positive perceptions were considered. As in previous studies (Almeida et al, 2018;Davoren et al, 2016), older students and those who started drinking alcohol younger reported higher beer consumption.…”

“…No being in a degree of first option can produces less engagement in learning and other academic activities with more participation in social and interpersonal events out campus, namely during night, where the alcohol consumption increases. Not be in a course of first option can increase the alcohol consumption to reduce unpleasant emotions, low perceptions of self-efficacy and meet social support (Almeida et al, 2018;Simões et al, 2018;Wicki et al, 2017). Students not placed in a first option course tend to present more difficulties in their academic adaptation, what appears related to high alcohol consumptions rates (Costa et al, 2017;Davoren et al, 2018).…”

“…Recent research about alcohol consumption and the reasons for it (Almeida, Casanova, Páramo, Reppold & Rodríguez, 2020;Davoren, Cronin, Perry & O'Connor, 2016;Kuntsche et al, 2015) identified a set of motivations related to alcohol intake that were associated with various determinants. Positive perceptions about the effects of alcohol tend to be associated with higher consumption (Almeida, Casanova, Páramo, Reppold & Rodríguez, 2020;Almeida et al, 2018). In addition, abusive alcohol consumption seems to be associated with impulsiveness or sensations seeking, as a response to negative emotions and the identification with behaviour that is culturally valued by peer groups (Schulte, Ramo & Brown, 2009).…”

Profiles of Violence and Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Relation to Impulsivity: Sustainable Consumption in Adolescents

“…Many of the beliefs that adolescents have about the consequences of using substances such as alcohol or tobacco are erroneous [14], which is associated with minimizing derived risks [15]. Thus, adolescents with positive attitudes and/or expectations toward the use of alcohol show a higher risk in starting and maintaining use behavior [16][17][18]. In this line, several studies have associated impulsivity and sensation-seeking with drug use [17,19,20].…”

Profiles of Violence and Use of Alcohol and Tobacco in Relation to the Impulsivity: Sustainable Consumption in Adolescents

“…Many of the beliefs that adolescents have about the consequences of using substances like alcohol or tobacco are erroneous [14], which is associated with minimizing derived risks [15]. Thus adolescents with positive attitudes and/or expectations toward use of alcohol, show a higher risk in starting and maintaining use behavior [16][17][18]. In this line, several studies have associated impulsivity and sensation-seeking with drug use [17,19,20].…”