NCJ Number
201578
Journal
Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education Volume: 47 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 2001 Pages: 31-44
Date Published
2001
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined the interactions among normative beliefs, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol-related problems, as well as whether alcohol-related expectancies mediate associations between normative beliefs and alcohol-related problems.
Abstract
The study sample consisted of 65 undergraduate college students who were participating in the evaluation of an alcohol education curriculum. The Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire was used to measure alcohol-related expectancies. The scales for social assertiveness, tension reduction, and enhanced sexual pleasure were used because they have been shown to vary with heavy drinking among college students. Normative beliefs were measured with a revision of a scale that was part of a survey developed for use with a middle school drug prevention program. It measured perceptions of peers' drinking habits. The College Alcohol Problem Scale was used to assess the consequences of drinking behavior. The analysis found significant relations between both normative beliefs and alcohol expectancies and alcohol-related problems. Positive alcohol expectancies and having perceptions of greater peer alcohol use and acceptance of use were associated with more frequent socio-emotional and community problems. Study findings also provided evidence to support one of the major tenets of social learning theory, i.e., that expectancies at least partially mediate the relationship between normative beliefs and alcohol-related problems. Alcohol expectancies significantly mediated the relationship between normative beliefs and community problems; and this effect approached significance in the prediction of socio-emotional problems. This article concludes with a discussion of the contributions of this study to research on college alcohol prevention. 3 tables and 37 references