The Role of Positive Alcohol Expectancies in Underage Binge Drinking Among College Students

Abstract

Objective This study explored associations between positive alcohol expectancies, demographics, as well as academic status and binge drinking among underage college students. Participants A sample of 1,553 underage college students at three public universities and one college in the southeast who completed the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey in the spring 2013 semester. Methods A series of bivariate analyses and logistic regression models were used to examine associations between demographic and academic status variables as well as positive alcohol expectancies with self-reported binge drinking. Positive alcohol expectancies were examined in multivariable models via two factors derived from principal component analyses. Results Students who endorsed higher agreement of these two emergent factors (Sociability; Sexuality) were more likely to report an occurrence of binge drinking in the past two weeks. Conclusions Study results document associations between positive alcohol expectancies and binge drinking among underage students; implications for prevention and treatment are discussed.

Consumo intensivo de alcohol en adolescentes: prevalencia, conductas de riesgo y variables asociadas

“…Desarrollar una respuesta eficaz en términos preventivos pasa por identificar algunas de las variables asociadas al CIA. En este sentido, se ha podido comprobar que los adolescentes que hacen un consumo intensivo presentan creencias y expectativas claramente positivas respecto a los efectos del alcohol, mucho más (comparativamente) que aquellos que hacen un consumo más moderado, en la lí-nea de los planteamientos de Cortés et al (2011) y McBride et al (2014. Asimismo, el consumo tanto de alcohol como de otras sustancias por parte de los iguales ha mostrado ser una variable estrechamente relacionada con el CIA.…”

“…Respecto al posible papel de las variables sociodemográficas distintos trabajos coinciden en señalar que los chicos tienden a consumir de manera más intensiva que las chicas (Fuller-Thomson, Sheridan, Sorichetti, y Mehta, 2013;Peralta, Steele, Nofziger, y Rickles, 2010) y que la prevalencia del CIA se incrementa con la edad, alcanzando sus niveles más altos en la adultez temprana (alrededor de los 20 años) (Mota et al, 2010;Windle, Mun, y Windle, 2005). Más allá del género o de la edad, el CIA se ha asociado también con variables personales, tales como un estilo de afrontamiento evitativo (Doumas, Turrisi, y Wright, 2006;Pirkle y Richter, 2006), una baja percepción del riesgo (Parada et al, 2011) o unas expectativas positivas respecto a los efectos del consumo de alcohol (Durkin, Wolfe, y Clark, 2005;McBride, Barret, Moore, y Schonfeld, 2014). También son muchos los trabajos que relacionan el CIA con el consumo de alcohol por parte de los iguales (Coleman y Cater, 2005;Stickley et al, 2013) y con variables del entorno familiar, como pueden ser una actitud parental favorable al consumo de alcohol (Jander, Mercken, Crutzen, y De Vries, 2013), el hecho de pertenecer a una familia desestructurada (Fuller-Thomson et al, 2013) o altos niveles de consumo por parte de los padres (Espada, Pereira, y García-Fernández, 2008;Pons y Berjano, 1999).…”

Use of alcohol and other drugs among male university students and its meanings

“…However, many factors can cause university students to make use of controlled substances, such as the interruption of previous practices and routines, distance from their families (9) , the need fit into an unknown environment, establishment of new friendship links, new forms of leisure, independence, new challenges posed by academic life, concerns about future insertion into the labor market, and the greater possibility of access to legal and illegal drugs (1,6,16) . The poly-drug use standards and their gender, as well as the social and legal implications among university studies were due to the stress (4) generated by university tasks and in order to obtain physical and mental relaxation, including in the university.…”

“…Considering that the university environment is favorable to trying alcohol and/or other drugs because of easy access (9) and because use among students is considered to be natural, students start or continue doing it as a way of belonging and interacting, a ritual of transition to adult life, of courage, freedom, sexual pleasure (1) , and reaffirmation of masculinity.…”

“…It is worth observing that involvement with alcohol and/or other drugs affects both men and women, but women are affected to a lesser extent (4,5,9) . We believe that some behaviors are socially learned, and involvement with the use of alcohol and other drugs may be related to the sociocultural constructs of gender and masculinity, considering that from the time they are born men are induced to have male attitudes (10) .…”