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Internal drinking motives mediate personality domain-drinking relations in young adults

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Abstract

The present study was conducted in an attempt to replicate previous findings regarding relations between personality domains in the five-factor model of personality and drinking motives, and to examine the potential mediating role of the internal drinking motives in explaining hypothesized relations between personality variables and drinking quantity/drinking problems. A sample of 154 university student drinkers completed the NEO five factor inventory, the revised drinking motives questionnaire, and measures of drinking quantity and alcohol-related problems. Multiple regressions indicated that the two internal drinking motives (coping and enhancement) were predicted by personality domains information, whereas the two external drinking motives (conformity and social) were not. Coping motives were significantly predicted by high neuroticism, whereas enhancement motives were significantly predicted by a combination of low conscientiousness and low neuroticism. Mediator regression analyses demonstrated that coping motives partially mediated the relation between high neuroticism and increased drinking problems, whereas enhancement motives mediated the relation between low conscientiousness and increased drinking quantity. Implications of the findings for prevention of heavy drinking and drinking problems in young adults are discussed.

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... Dans notre étude, nous abordons la personnalité selon une approche dimensionnelle, en nous appuyant sur la théorie des cinq grands facteurs. D'après plusieurs recherches (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8) se basant sur cette approche, il semble que les personnes qui ont des problèmes d'alcool diffèrent des autres par un haut niveau de "névrosisme" (adaptation et stabilité émotionnelle) avec notamment une haute impulsivité, un bas niveau d'"agréabilité" (qui évalue les tendances interpersonnelles) et un bas niveau de "conscience" (planification, organisation et mise à exécution des tâches). Néanmoins, d'autres résultats viennent modérer ce point de vue, en soulignant que les niveaux de "névrosisme" et de "conscience" sont en lien avec l'issue du traitement (9) et que l'"agréabilité" est plus forte chez les patients qui rechutent (10). ...
... Les résultats actuels de notre recherche portent sur un échantillon de 20 patients alcoolodépendants, ce qui ne nous permet pas de généraliser nos résultats. Néanmoins, nous obtenons un "névrosisme" (tendance générale à éprouver des affects négatifs) (30) élevé, comme la plupart des recherches portant sur la personnalité des patients alcoolodépendants (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). Ce résultat semble cohérent avec le faible score obtenu à la facette "émotion positive" (qui appartient à la dimension "extraversion"). ...
... En revanche, nous obtenons des résultats dans la norme pour les facettes "impulsivité" (qui appartient au "névrosisme") et "recherche de sensation" (qui appartient à l'"extraversion"), alors qu'elles sont élevées dans la plupart des recherches (2-8, 15, 31). Mais aussi un score d'"agréabilité" dans la norme alors qu'il est généralement faible (4)(5)(6)(7)(8). Nous obtenons également des résultats différents des autres recherches (11,12,32) concernant l'"extraversion", qui est faible, alors même qu'un tel score se retrouve chez les patients alcoolodépendants ayant des troubles de personnalité (29 ...
Article
L’objectif de cette recherche était d’étudier les caractéristiques de personnalité et d’impulsivité propres aux patients alcoolo- dépendants. Nous avons ainsi mené des entretiens semi-direc- tifs auprès de 20 de ces patients qui ont, par la suite, répondu à deux questionnaires : le Neuroticism Extraversion Openness – Personality Inventory – Revised (NEO-PI-R de Costa et McCrae) et la Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-10 de Barratt). Notre échan- tillon étant de petite taille, nous ne sommes pas en mesure de généraliser nos résultats. Néanmoins, nous apportons des donnés descriptives sur la personnalité d’un échantillon de patients alcoolodépendants en hôpital de jour, pour lequel on retrouve un “névrosisme” élevé et une “extraversion” faible. Nous avons également montré la faisabilité de la passation d’hétéro-questionnaire dans cette population.
... [31][32][33] In some studies, Neuroticism was positively correlated with the diagnosis of alcohol consumption disorders and problem drinking. 31,34 Extraversion was not associated with the diagnosis of alcohol consumption disorders 31,32 or alcohol problems 34,35 but correlated with general levels of alcohol consumption. 32,36 Openness was not consistently associated with the extent of alcohol related problems and the level of alcohol use. ...
... [31][32][33] In some studies, Neuroticism was positively correlated with the diagnosis of alcohol consumption disorders and problem drinking. 31,34 Extraversion was not associated with the diagnosis of alcohol consumption disorders 31,32 or alcohol problems 34,35 but correlated with general levels of alcohol consumption. 32,36 Openness was not consistently associated with the extent of alcohol related problems and the level of alcohol use. ...
... 32,36 Openness was not consistently associated with the extent of alcohol related problems and the level of alcohol use. 32,34,35,37 Impulsivity is another trait that has been found to play a role in alcohol abuse and related problems. 38 Recent research has indicated that high levels of impulsivity may be a contributing factor to risky alcohol use and the development of alcohol use disorders. ...
Article
Objective: Problem-drinking among university students is common and poses serious health-related risks. Therefore, identifying and addressing associated factors is important. Participants and methods: A large cross-sectional online-survey with 12,914 university students from Berlin was conducted from November 2016 to August 2017. Relative-risk- and correlation-analysis was used to identify factors associated with problem-drinking and regular heavy-drinking. Independent t-tests compared impulsivity and personality traits, chi-square-tests compared drinking motives between risk- and non-risk-drinkers. Results: Male gender, tobacco-smoking, illegal substance use, impulsivity and various sociodemographic and psychosocial variables were significantly related to problem/heavy-drinking. Extraversion was a risk, conscientiousness and agreeableness were protective factors. Drinking-motives did not differ significantly between risk- and non-risk-drinkers. Generally, the main drinking-motives were to feel elated, relax and social purposes. Conclusion: The identified markers and related problem behaviors may serve as a tool to enhance the identification of student subgroups at risk for problem/heavy-drinking, and hence improve targeted health-intervention-programs.
... Additionally, multiple meta-analyses support an association between personality traits (e.g., impulsivity and extraversion) and alcohol use/misuse (Coskunpinar et al., 2013;Hakulinen et al., 2015;Kotov et al., 2010). Noteworthy, a number of studies, based on the Big Five Model of Personality, found that the associations involving extraversion and low conscientiousness with alcohol outcomes are fully or partially mediated by enhancement drinking motives (Kuntsche et al., 2008;Mezquita et al., 2014Mezquita et al., , 2010Stewart et al., 2001). These findings support the existence of a positive affect regulation pathway, in which disinhibition and positive emotionality characteristics play a key role. ...
... Additionally, low emotional stability, or neuroticism, has been related to alcohol disorders and alcohol-related problems (Kotov et al., 2010;Ruiz et al., 2003). Coping motives appear to, at least partially, mediate these associations (Blevins et al., 2016;Mezquita et al., 2014Mezquita et al., , 2010Stewart et al., 2001). These results support the relevance of a negative affect regulation pathway, in which neuroticism-related traits would play a prominent role. ...
... Based on former research (Blevins et al., 2016;Mezquita et al., 2010Mezquita et al., , 2014Sher et al., 2005;Stewart et al., 2001), we hypothesized (see Supplementary Material 1 [SM1]) that neuroticism or low emotional stability will be mainly related to alcohol-related problems via coping drinking motives (i.e., the negative affect regulation pathway). Additionally, we expected that both low conscientiousness and high extraversion will be associated with alcohol use via enhancement drinking motives (i.e., the positive affect regulation pathway) (Kuntsche et al., 2008;Mezquita et al., 2014Mezquita et al., , 2010Stewart et al., 2001). ...
Article
Background: Previous research has identified different, but not mutually exclusive, etiological pathways (i.e., the positive affect regulation pathway, the negative affect regulation pathway and the deviance proneness pathway) to alcohol use and misuse in which personality characteristics play a key role. Objectives: The present study aimed to simultaneously and cross-culturally examine all these personality pathways to alcohol use in a large sample of young adult drinkers (N = 1280) from the US, Argentina, and Spain. Method: Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the models. Multi-group models were conducted to test model invariance across countries and gender groups. Results: In the whole sample, low conscientiousness and extraversion were related to alcohol outcomes through enhancement drinking motives (i.e., positive affect regulation pathway), low emotional stability was related through coping drinking motives (i.e., negative affect regulation pathway), and low conscientiousness and low agreeableness were related through antisocial behavior (i.e., deviance proneness pathway). The model was invariant between gender groups. Some minor, yet significant, differences across countries arose. Specifically, antisocial behavior was a significant mediator of the association between agreeableness and alcohol use, but only in the US subsample. Conclusions: The present findings suggest that risky-personality pathways for alcohol use and alcohol-related problems may be generalized across gender groups and cultures in young adults.
... Furthermore, research has suggested that enhancement motives may be predicted by high extraversion, low conscientiousness, and low agreeableness (Stewart & Devine, 2000;Theakston et al., 2004). Additionally, Stewart, Loughlin, and Rhyno (2001) attempted to evaluate the relationship between drinking motives and personality domains based on the classification of internal drinking motives (i.e., coping and enhancement) versus external drinking motives (e.g., social). These authors found that coping and enhancement motives were predicted by personality types of (a) high neuroticism and low conscientiousness and (b) high neuroticism and low neuroticism, respectively, whereas social motives were not predicted by personality traits. ...
... Similarly, high and low expressions of personality traits in various configurations tended to cluster together without much regard to drinking motives, with the exception of Cluster 4. Personalityinformed clusters (Cluster 1, Cluster 3) appeared to be more associated with PTSD risk and resilience and only moderately associated with weekly alcohol consumption, whereas a drinking motives typology (Cluster 2) was associated with heavier weekly alcohol consumption and not was significantly different from Cluster 3 on PTSD severity. However, Cluster 4, which was characterized by both personality (i.e., high neuroticism, low conscientiousness) and slightly high drinking motives, is most representative of research suggesting links between internal drinking motives (i.e., coping and enhancement) and personality factors (i.e., neuroticism and conscientiousness; Stewart & Devine, 2000;Stewart et al., 2001;Theakston et al., 2004) and, in fact, demonstrated the group at highest risk of both PTSD and heavier weekly alcohol consumption. ...
... Because the current sample consisted of primarily men, gender differences were not examined, and results may not be generalizable to female veterans. Indeed, previous research has demonstrated gender differences in drinking motives' associations between drinking motives and personality traits' and associations among drinking motives, personality traits, and alcohol consumption (e.g., Stewart et al., 2001). Additionally, the use of self-report questionnaires to assess drinking motives, personality, and alcohol consumption may subject participants to the potential of recall or social desirability biases. ...
Article
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Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are at elevated risk for alcohol use problems, a relationship commonly explained by using alcohol to cope with unpleasant symptoms of PTSD. However, patterns of alcohol use motives, more broadly, have not been well characterized in veteran samples, nor have they been evaluated in the context of other relevant factors, such as normative personality traits. The aims of the present study were to identify empirically derived drinking motive and personality typologies to determine whether these typologies differ as a function of PTSD status (i.e., nontrauma control, trauma exposed−no PTSD, and PTSD) and to evaluate associations between typology and PTSD symptom severity and alcohol consumption, respectively. Cluster analyses identified a 4-cluster solution. Results indicated that these typologies differed significantly according to trauma group as well as across levels of PTSD symptom severity and alcohol use. Specifically, Cluster 4 represented individuals at highest risk for both PTSD symptom severity and alcohol use compared to all the other typologies; Cluster 1 demonstrated lowest risk for PTSD symptom severity and alcohol use compared to all other typologies; and although Clusters 2 and 3 did not differ according to PTSD symptom severity, individuals in Cluster 2 had significantly higher alcohol use. These results represent certain “at risk” versus “protective” typologies that may facilitate the identification of individuals at risk for comorbid PTSD and problematic alcohol use.
... Nevertheless, several studies have concluded that motives mediate the relationship between personality traits and alcohol consumption (e.g. Kuntsche, von Fischer, & Gmel, 2008;Stewart & Devine, 2000;Stewart, Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001). Generally speaking, internal motives (coping, enhancement) should be more in line with traits than are external motives (social, conformity). ...
... Specific methodological differences may in part be responsible for inconsistent findings. Notably, studies did not necessarily measure all five motives and five traits (e.g., Stewart et al., 2001), and the conditions for mediation, when present, were based on the classic causal steps approach (Baron & Kenny, 1986) which has important limitations that may have led researchers to discard some viable solutions. For example, in Stewart and Devine (2000), because extraversion did not directly predict drinking behaviors, the authors stated that they could not perform mediational analyses involving this trait. ...
... Nevertheless external motives also explained relationships between traits and alcohol in several cases. This alone was surprising because external motives have not significantly explained the relationship between traits and drinking behaviors in other works (Stewart et al., 2001). ...
Article
Abstract Introduction Relationships between personality traits and alcohol consumption behaviors have been inconsistently found. Research suggests that taking into account more proximal factors, such as drinking motives, would aid in explaining these inconsistent findings. Method Participants (N = 690) were administered measures of alcohol use, drinking motives and personality traits. Five multiple parallel mediator models were elaborated wherein drinking motives mediated the relationship between each trait and AUDIT scores once having controlled for age, school group and sex. Results Enhancement, social and conformity motives mediated the relationship between extraversion and alcohol use. The indirect effect between agreeableness or conscientiousness and alcohol use was mediated by decreased coping-depression, enhancement and social motives. Interestingly, neuroticism alone did not predict alcohol consumption, but a case of competitive mediation was observed. Neuroticism led to heightened coping-depression motives, which led to increased alcohol use, but also to increased conformity motives, which led to depleted alcohol consumption. Discussion Our study suggests that most Big 5 personality traits have a relationship with alcohol consumption in part because they develop into drinking motives. Inconsistent findings observed in the extent literature were explained in part by conditional processes. Keywords Alcohol; Drinking motives; Personality; France; Mediation
... This pathway is of concern and seems to be unique relative to the positive reinforcement pathway (e.g., to enhance positive mood) (Cooper, 1994). Drinking for negative reinforcement purposes is not only associated with heavy alcohol use but is also directly linked to elevated alcohol problems (e.g., Cooper, 1994;Keough, Badawi, et al., 2016;Kuntsche et al., 2005;Stewart et al., 2001). The purpose of this study will be to shed insight on the individual differences and motivational mechanisms of the negative reinforcement pathway to alcohol use and related problems. ...
... Students reported experiencing a mean of approximately 12 alcohol problems in the past year. Relative to extant research on North American undergraduate and emerging adult drinkers, our sample had comparable alcohol use and alcohol-related problems (Morris et al., 2019, Read et al., 2006Stewart et al., 2001). ...
Article
Background: Gray's original Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) posits that an oversensitive behavioral inhibition system (BIS) may increase risk for negative-reinforcement-motivated drinking, given its role in anxiety. However, existing data provides mixed support for the BIS-alcohol use association. The inconsistent evidence is not surprising, as the revised RST predicts that the behavioral approach system (BAS) should moderate the effect of the BIS on alcohol use. A strong BAS is thought to bring attention to the negatively reinforcing effects of alcohol, leading to problem drinking among those with a strong BIS. While emerging results support this interaction, we still have much to learn about the mechanisms underlying this effect on alcohol use. Accordingly, we examined motives for alcohol use as mediators of the joint associations of the BIS and the BAS on drinking behaviors. Specifically, our central hypothesis was that individuals with a strong BIS and a strong BAS would endorse increased negative reinforcement motives for drinking (coping and conformity motives), which in turn would predict heavy drinking and alcohol problems. Method: Participants (N=346; 195 women) completed study measures as part of the baseline assessment for a larger study. Results: Overall, results partially supported the hypotheses. Mediated moderation analyses showed that the indirect effect of the BIS on alcohol problems, through coping and conformity motives, was strongest at high levels of the BAS. This effect was not supported for alcohol use. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that clinical interventions should target coping and conformity reasons for drinking among anxious, reward responsive, young adults.
... Thus, although several studies have investigated whether drinking motives predict HID, no prior studies, to our knowledge, have tested whether drinking motives might modify the relationship between personality and HID, specifically. Taken together, drinking motives seem to be a promising avenue to pursue in better understanding the emergence of HID in young adults, particularly since several studies have shown that personality traits are indirectly associated with both typical alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems via motives (e.g., Kuntsche et al., 2008;Littlefield et al., 2010;Stewart et al., 2001;Stewart & Devine, 2000). Therefore, this will be the first study to investigate whether personality traits are indirectly associated with the likelihood of HID via drinking motives. ...
... These findings are consistent with previous research investigating associations between drinking motives and binge drinking, as traditionally defined (Cooper et al., 2016) and HID (Creswell et al., 2020;White et al., 2016). In addition, neuroticism was significantly positively correlated with coping motives, and extraversion was positively correlated with social and enhancement motives, which is consistent with much prior research on alcohol consumption (e.g., Kuntsche et al., 2008;Lee & Sibley, 2020;Stewart et al., 2001;Stewart & Devine, 2000). Contrary to expectations, neuroticism and extraversion were not significantly correlated with HID, which contrasts with the findings of Lee and Sibley (2020), the only other study that examined the Big 5 personality traits as predictors of HID. ...
Article
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Background Researchers have long been interested in identifying risk factors for binge drinking behavior (4+/5+ drinks/occasion for females/males), but many studies have demonstrated that a substantial proportion of young adults are drinking at levels far beyond (often 2 to 3 times) the standard binge threshold. The consumption of such large quantities of alcohol, typically referred to as high‐intensity drinking (HID), can cause severe alcohol‐related problems, such as blackouts, unintended sexual experiences, and death. This study is the first to investigate whether personality is indirectly associated with the likelihood of HID via drinking motives in a large (N = 999) sample of underage young adult drinkers. We hypothesized that trait neuroticism would be indirectly associated with the likelihood of HID via coping motives and that extraversion would be indirectly associated with the likelihood of HID via social and enhancement motives. Methods To investigate these hypotheses, we used two archival data sets that recruited current underage (18‐ to 20‐year‐old) adult drinkers residing in the United States from online panel services. Participants completed self‐report survey items assessing constructs of interest. To investigate the role of drinking motives in the association between personality and HID, both the direct and indirect effects were calculated via three path analyses. Results Findings revealed that neuroticism was partially indirectly associated with the likelihood of HID via coping motives (b = 0.02, SE = 0.004, p < 0.01). In addition, extraversion was indirectly associated with the likelihood of HID via social (b = 0.031, SE = 0.002, p < 0.01) and enhancement motives (b = 0.01, SE = 0.002, p = 0.01). Conclusions These findings are an initial step in examining the interplay among personality traits, drinking motives, and HID in underage drinkers and point to the need for longitudinal studies assessing these associations.
... The high neuroticism personality trait is prone to experience mental distress and maladaptive surviving strategies such as drinking alcohol (Piedmont, 1998;Kuntsche, Von Fischer, & Gmel, 2008). There is a tendency for those who high on neuroticism to occurrence negative emotions and that may lead to alcohol use as a strategy for coping with psychological distress (Stewart, Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001). ...
... d predicting the harshness of addiction (Barnes, Murray, Patton, Bentler, & Anderson, 2000). The APP scale was significantly associated with three of the Five-Factor Personality trait, high APP scores are associated with high Neuroticism, low Agreeableness, and low Conscientiousness (Barnes, Murray, Patton, Bentler, & Anderson, 2000). According to Stewart et. al., (2001), the extraversion personality trait is associated with high alcohol consumption. According to Simons et.al., (2004) impulsivity has a positive significant relationship with alcohol use. Psychoticism is defined as control of behavior by emotional processes, with moderately slight cognitive control such as preparation, precaution, or expe ...
Article
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Perceived Life Stress in adults is one of the main reasons for alcohol consumption in many countries. This study aimed to (i) evaluate the relationship between life stress and alcohol addiction, and (ii) evaluate the related personality traits of alcohol addiction. Exploring the relationship between Alcohol Addiction Personality (AAP), Alcohol Addiction and Perceived Stress in the Sri Lankan context is relatively unexplored. The study was based on a sample of 50 alcohol users and 50 non-alcohol users among Tsunami Resettles in Southern Province in Sri Lanka. The average age of respondents was 24 years. Two clusters were selected to collect data using the stratified cluster sampling method. Addictive Proven Personality, Alcohol Addiction, Perceived Life Stress were measured using already developed scales with necessary changes. Correlation analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were conducted to test the relationship between life stress, addiction-prone personality, and alcohol addiction. The results indicated that: 1) Life Stress is significantly associated with predicting alcohol addiction, 2) Psychoticism and neuroticism personality traits associated with alcohol addiction, 3) Extraversion personality has a negative significant association with alcohol addiction 4) There is a reciprocal relationship between life stress and alcohol addiction. Findings suggest that the scales used in this study could assist to diagnose addictive personality. This understanding is significant to provide suitable interventions to prevent alcohol addiction and perceived life stress. The personalized treatment approach highlights that stress management strategies in those who have a clear connection between stress and alcohol addiction will become particularly significant.
... En términos del estado emocional, los problemas personales se presentan como factores de riesgo, en donde el joven busca compensarlos o aliviarlos recurriendo al alcohol y otras drogas (Espada et al., 2003). El consumo de alcohol se relaciona estrechamente con pobre autoestima y locus de control externo, y con trastornos de ansiedad y del estado de ánimo (Stewart et al., 2001). También existe el consumo asociado a un alto neuroticismo y baja conciencia de los efectos (Stewart et al., 2001). ...
... El consumo de alcohol se relaciona estrechamente con pobre autoestima y locus de control externo, y con trastornos de ansiedad y del estado de ánimo (Stewart et al., 2001). También existe el consumo asociado a un alto neuroticismo y baja conciencia de los efectos (Stewart et al., 2001). Las primeras experiencias asociadas al consumo del alcohol en jóvenes también están asociadas a la búsqueda de nuevas experiencias, mismas que pueden ser tanto positivas como negativas. ...
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La producción y comercialización de cerveza en México se presenta como una de las actividades económicas más relevantes del país, posicionándose como una de las principales bebidas entre la generación millenial. El incremento en su consumo entre jóvenes presenta una paradoja interesante. Por un lado, su consumo en exceso representa una preocupación asociada a los efectos que genera en términos de actos violentos, accidentes y muertes. Por otro lado, su consumo está asociado a factores socioculturales, especialmente en regiones caracterizadas por la producción de esta bebida y las altas temperaturas, tal como es el caso del Área Metropolitana de Monterrey. Ante este contexto, la presente investigación tuvo como objeto el identificar los inicios y motivaciones en el consumo de cerveza de los millennials de esta área, así como los efectos percibidos en su bienestar y su socialización. Para cumplir con este objetivo se realizaron entrevistas a profundidad a 111 jóvenes de diferentes segmentos socioeconómicos, de las cuales se identificó la relevancia que tiene el contexto, tanto cultural como familiar, en los inicios del consumo de la cerveza. Resultado de este análisis fue la identificación de cuatro categorías asociadas a las motivaciones que incitan al consumo de cerveza, y los efectos positivos y negativos de su consumo para los participantes. El presente trabajo demuestra que la cerveza es considerada como un elemento cultural y social, en donde su consumo ha sido impulsado por la sociedad mediante su normalización y aceptación, teniendo como variantes importantes el género y los niveles socioeconómicos de los jóvenes que la consumen.
... One such factor-stress-has been repeatedly linked to increased alcohol consumption among adults in the general population and in college. [9][10][11][12][13][14] While various forms of stressors are prevalent among emerging adults (e.g., increased social demands, financial worries, family obligations, planning for the future, identity exploration), some stressors appear to be unique to the college environment. Specifically, college students may have to adjust to: communal living, reduced access to previous sources of social support, financial constraints related to funding their education, college social climate, and increased academic performance demands, 15 all of which contribute to increased cognitive and emotional burden. ...
... To date, few studies have directly examined maladaptive coping as a mediating factor connecting various forms of stress and alcohol use in young adults, 13 with even fewer focusing on this association among college students. 14,16 Such research would help to corroborate the self-medicating function of alcohol use and identify students at greatest risk for problematic alcohol use. ...
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Objective: Examine the impact of maladaptive coping style on the association between source of stress (academic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, environmental) and alcohol use (consumption, heavy episodic drinking, driving under the influence) among college students. Participants: 1,027 college students completed a survey online in April 2014. Methods: To test the mediating effects of maladaptive coping on the association between academic stress and alcohol use variables, indirect effects were examined using the PROCESS analytical framework for SPSS. Results: Maladaptive coping and academic stress were associated with alcohol use outcomes. Moreover, maladaptive coping mediated the relationship between academic stress and two of three alcohol use outcomes (consumption, heavy episodic drinking). Conclusions: Among college students, the association between academic stress and alcohol use may be driven by maladaptive coping. College students may benefit from interventions that seek to improve coping skills, potentially alleviating the burden of academic stress and decreasing problematic alcohol use.
... One such factor-stress-has been repeatedly linked to increased alcohol consumption among adults in the general population and in college. [9][10][11][12][13][14] While various forms of stressors are prevalent among emerging adults (e.g., increased social demands, financial worries, family obligations, planning for the future, identity exploration), some stressors appear to be unique to the college environment. Specifically, college students may have to adjust to communal living, reduced access to previous sources of social support, financial constraints related to funding their education, college social climate, and increased academic performance demands, 15 all of which contribute to increased cognitive and emotional burden. ...
... To date, few studies have directly examined maladaptive coping as a mediating factor connecting various forms of stress and alcohol use in young adults, 13 with even fewer focusing on this association among college students. 14,16 Such research would help to corroborate the self-medicating function of alcohol use and identify students at greatest risk for problematic alcohol use. ...
... Thus, it important to understand whether children and adolescents endorsing high "negative reinforcement motives" can be characterized by a specific psychological profile. Interestingly, previous research on personality factors and drinking motives suggests a link between neuroticism and coping motives [56,[60][61][62][63]. Thus, individuals scoring high on neuroticism appear to use alcohol consumption as a maladaptive strategy for coping with negative affect [61]. ...
... Thus, it important to understand whether children and adolescents endorsing high "negative reinforcement motives" can be characterized by a specific psychological profile. Interestingly, previous research on personality factors and drinking motives suggests a link between neuroticism and coping motives [56,[60][61][62][63]. Thus, individuals scoring high on neuroticism appear to use alcohol consumption as a maladaptive strategy for coping with negative affect [61]. Negative reinforcement motives might also be linked to catastrophizing as high neuroticism may predispose individuals to catastrophic thinking [64] which in turn has a tendency to exacerbate pain experience [65]. ...
Article
Objective. : Evidence from adult samples suggests a co-occurrence between pain and alcohol abuse. However, studies in adolescents are scarce and results are inconsistent, with some studies observing heightened and others observing reduced alcohol consumption in adolescents suffering from pain. We hypothesized that in adolescents the association between pain and alcohol use will be moderated by drinking motives. Methods. : Data from a large representative sample of Flemish school children and adolescents (N = 10,650, 50.8% boys, age range = 10-21 years, M age = 14.33 years) were collected as part of the World Health Organization collaborative Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey. Pain severity was graded based on a pediatric pain classification system that accounts for both pain intensity and disability. Alcohol consumption was operationalized using two variables: frequency of drinking and drunkenness. The Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised was used to capture drinking motives; it assesses four motive categories (enhancement, coping, social, and conformity). Results. : Findings indicated that higher pain severity was associated with greater frequency of alcohol use and drunkenness. However, drinking motives moderated this association. The positive association between pain severity and drinking frequency was stronger in case of high conformity motives. Likewise, the association between pain severity and drunkenness frequency was stronger at high levels of conformity motives and reached significance only at high levels of coping motives. Conclusions. : Our findings suggest that specific drinking motives are linked to problematic alcohol use in adolescents with pain. Future studies using a longitudinal design are needed to draw conclusions about direction of effects.
... Moreover, the model has strong predictive validity for alcohol problems and misuse. For example, coping motivations are often cross-culturally associated with heavy consumption [13,19,49], conformity and personal-enhancement motivations are associated with alcohol misuse in youth samples [98], [58], and socialising motivations shift from moderate to heavy alcohol use over time [91]. The generalisability of the MMAU allows for applicability across alcohol consuming behaviours where affect change is the intended effect. ...
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Preloading of alcohol and/or drugs before an event has been examined in the research literature for the past two decades. Despite the considerable interest and scrutiny on the behaviour, there are limited, if any, attempts to conceptualise a theoretical understanding of why people preload before an event. Here we propose a Theory of Preloading (TOP)—a general cognitive-behavioural motivational model for alcohol and drug preloading. This conceptualisation reviewed and borrowed relevant cognitive, motivational and behavioural constructs from previous models—i.e., the Motivational Model of Alcohol Use, (Cox & Klinger, 2011), PRIME theory (West, 2007); SORCK analysis (Kanfer & Sanslow, 1965)—applied to the target behaviour of preloading with alcohol and/or drugs. The TOP proposed that a central construct of affective management—guided by distal and cognitive factors—contributes to decisional factors for preloading. Consequential reinforcers and punishers create a reinforcement loop that feeds back into distal and immediate environmental factors for preloading, increasing the likelihood of future occurrences of preloading behaviours. Our proposed theoretical formulation concludes with practical and clinical implications, along with future directions for testing the model.
... Neurotyczność jest cechą mającą w kontekście problemu alkoholowego związek z podatnością na cierpienie psychiczne, co idzie w parze z wykorzystywaniem dezadaptacyjnych strategii radzenia sobie, w tym właśnie z sięganiem po alkohol [21,22]. Psychotyczność natomiast wiąże się z postawami antyspołecznymi i niską wrażliwością. ...
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The paper reviews the literature on alcohol dependence and a form of support based on the assumptions of logotherapy. The concept of alcohol dependence is defined, and the main symptoms are listed on the basis of the ICD-11 and DSM-5 classifications. A reflection is made based on previous research on the factors affecting the onset of alcoholism. Biological, psychological, social and spiritual factors are listed and briefly characterized. The basic tenets of logotherapy were described and the techniques used by this current were detailed. This was followed by an in-depth reflection on the spiritual factors affecting the development of addiction and the recovery process of the person affected by alcoholism. Finally, methods using spirituality in the healing process are given. In conclusion, the view is expressed that this approach can complement existing therapies, increasing their effectiveness. Keywords: alcohol addiction, spirituality, logotherapy
... SD = 8.78). Psychometric properties have been shown to be adequate in prior studies with college samples (Buckner et al., 2007;Stewart et al., 2001), and in this sample (α = 0.94). ...
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Background Alcohol misuse among college students is a public health concern. Protective behavioral strategies (PBS) can be used before, during, after, or instead of drinking to reduce alcohol use and negative consequences, but findings on their utility at the aggregate level are mixed. Although recent work has provided important information on the performance of individual PBS items, it is limited by research designs that are cross‐sectional, do not examine consequences, or do not examine other important correlates, such as drinking motives. This study examines both the association between item‐level PBS and alcohol‐related negative consequences and the moderating effect of drinking motives longitudinally. Methods College students from two universities (n = 200, 62.5% female, Mage = 20.16) completed the Drinking Motives Questionnaire‐Revised, Protective Behavioral Strategies Survey, the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index, and a measure of the quantity of alcohol use at baseline and 3‐month follow‐up. Generalized linear models were conducted to assess direct effects of item‐level PBS on alcohol‐related consequences and the moderating effects of drinking motives. Results Two PBS items were associated with fewer alcohol‐related consequences at follow‐up, and two items were associated with greater alcohol‐related consequences at follow‐up. Drinking motives differentially moderated associations between item‐level PBS and alcohol‐related consequences for a proportion in the sample. Enhancement motives moderated the greatest number of associations, followed by coping, conformity, and social motives. Certain PBS (e.g., drink slowly, rather than gulp or chug) were moderated by several drinking motives, whereas other PBS items were not moderated by any motives. Conclusion Consistent with previous research, some item‐level PBS were associated longitudinally with increased negative consequences, and some were associated with decreased negative consequences. Drinking motives, particularly enhancement, moderated several item‐level PBS and consequence associations, suggesting that reasons for drinking may be important for understanding the associations between PBS strategies and alcohol‐related consequences.
... On the other hand, lower conscientiousness may be associated with an increase in all addictive behaviours due to lower inhibitory control, which, as a health relevant facet of conscientiousness (Bogg & Roberts, 2004), heightens the likelihood of engaging in addictive behaviours (Brand et al., 2019;Goschke, 2014). It has also been argued that individuals with low conscientiousness tend to engage in short-term rewarding activities such as addictive use and are less likely to consider the long-term consequences of these behaviours, which appears to be exacerbated by enhancement motives of use (Stewart et al., 2001). The interaction of a low motivation to regulate addictive behaviours, high valuation of short-term rewards, and low inhibitory control in the face of triggered craving could link low conscientiousness to reduced control of NR and SR addictive behaviours. ...
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Aims: To examine whether personality traits predict the course of addictive behaviours in general and whether predictive associations differ between non-substance related (NR) and substance related (SR) addictive behaviours. Methodology: We recruited 338 individuals (19–27 y, 59 % female) from a random community sample with NR, SR, or no DSM-5 addictive disorder. Predictors were the Big Five personality traits (NEO-FFI) and reward and punishment sensitivity (BIS/BAS questionnaire). Outcomes were the slopes of addictive behaviours (i. e., quantity, frequency, and number of DSM-5 criteria) over three years. Bayesian multiple regressions were used to analyse the probabilities for each hypothesis. Results: The evidence that higher neuroticism, lower conscientiousness, lower agreeableness, higher extraversion, lower openness, higher reward sensitivity, and lower punishment sensitivity predict increased addictive behaviours over time was, overall, moderate to high (69 % to 99 %) and varied by trait and outcome. Predictive associations were mostly higher for NR compared with SR addictive behaviours. Conclusions: Personality traits predict the course of addictive behaviours, but associations were only about half as large as expected. While some personality traits, such as lower conscientiousness, predict increases in both NR and SR addictive behaviours over time, others, such as lower punishment sensitivity, seem to specifically predict increases in NR addictive behaviours.
... However, the current study did not investigate the reasons why African American emerging adults chose or continued to persist in drinking alcohol, which provides limited information for ways to intervene. Stewart et al. (2001) suggest that reasons for choosing to drink may be linked to internal motivation factors. Pittman et al. also found in their study of college-attending emerging adult drinking behavior that African Americans may engage in risky alcohol behavior use in response to racerelated stress (Pittman et al., 2019;Pittman & Kaur, 2018). ...
Article
Racial discrimination jeopardizes a wide range of health behaviors for African Americans. Numerous studies demonstrate significant negative associations between racial discrimination and problematic alcohol use among African Americans. Culturally specific contexts (e.g., organized religious involvement) often function protectively against racial discrimination’s adverse effects for many African Americans. Yet organized religious involvement may affect the degree to which racial discrimination increases problematic alcohol use resulting in various alcohol use trajectories. These links remain understudied in emerging adulthood marked by when individuals transition from adolescence to early adult roles and responsibilities. We use data from 496 African American emerging adults from the Flint Adolescent Study (FAS) to (a) identify multiple and distinct alcohol use trajectories and (b) examine organizational religious involvement’s protective role. Three trajectory classes were identified: the high/stable, (20.76% of sample; n = 103); moderate/stable, (39.52% of sample; n = 196); and low/rising, (39.72% of the sample; n = 197). After controlling for sex, educational attainment, and general stress, the interaction between racial discrimination and organized religious involvement did not influence the likelihood of classifying into the moderate/stable class or the low/rising class, compared with the high/stable class. These results suggest organized religious involvement counteracts, but does not buffer racial discrimination’s effects on problematic alcohol use. Findings emphasize the critical need for culturally sensitive prevention efforts incorporating organized religious involvement for African American emerging adults exposed to racial discrimination. These prevention efforts may lessen the role of racial discrimination on health disparities related to alcohol use.
... With neuroticism, previous studies have found a significant association between it and alcohol and drug use disorder diagnosis (Cooper, Agocha, and Sheldon 2000;Ruiz, Pincus, and Dickinson 2003;Trull and Sher 1994). Likewise, extraversion has generally been associated with illicit drug use as the other two types of personalities (conscientiousness & neuroticism) discussed above (Peterson, Morey, and Higgins 2005;Stewart, Loughlin, and Rhyno 2001). Besides these three personalities (conscientiousness, extraversion & neuroticism), the other two personalities -agreeableness and openness consistently have shown less connection with illicit drug use (Ibáñez et al. 2010;Malouff et al. 2007). ...
Article
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The primary purpose of this study was to examine substance use among university students to identify factors that influence the use and abuse of substances. Specifically, we explored the influence of psychological and personality traits on students’ use of substances. Two research questions guided this study: do psychological problems increase an individual’s risk of using substances such as drugs and alcohol? and do personality traits increase the risk of using substances? To address these questions, we obtained data from students attending one of the largest public universities in the Southern region of the United States. Using multivariate analytical strategies, the study made several important observations. First, drug use and alcohol use were less frequent among the study sample. Second, both psychological issues and personality traits predicted students’ drug and alcohol use, though the specific effects vary slightly. Policy implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.
... In our study, alcohol accounted for a substantial part of the relationship between extraversion and violence in both men and women, and this may explain variation in results in studies that do not control for the effect of alcohol. Extraversion has been consistently shown to be associated with alcohol use and misuse in general population samples (Cooper et al., 2000;Malouff et al., 2007;Peterson & Morey, 2005;Ruiz et al., 2003;Stewart et al., 2001;Vollrath & Torgersen, 2002), although not in samples drawn from those with alcohol use disorder or psychiatric diagnoses (Malouff et al., 2007;Martin & Sher, 1994;Trull & Sher, 1994). It is likely that extraverted individuals are more likely to socialize, and in western societies, socialize in places where alcohol is consumed, and therefore exposure to situations where violence might be precipitated is more likely. ...
Article
Alcohol consumption is known to have a disinhibiting effect and is associated with a higher likelihood of aggressive behavior, especially among men. People with certain personality traits maybe more likely to behave aggressively when intoxicated, and there may also be variation by gender. We aimed to investigate whether the reason why men and women with certain personality traits are more likely to engage in violence may be because of their alcohol use. The Big Five personality traits and anger-hostility, alcohol consumption, and violence were measured by questionnaire in 15,701 nationally representative participants in the United States. We tested the extent to which alcohol mediates the relationship between personality factors and violence in men and women. We found that agreeableness was inversely associated with violence in both genders. Alcohol mediated approximately 11% of the effect in males, but there was no evidence of an effect in females. Anger-hostility was associated with violence in both sexes, but alcohol mediated the effect only in males. We also found that Extraversion was associated with violence and alcohol use in males and females. Alcohol accounted for 15% of the effect of extraversion on violence in males and 29% in females. The mechanism by which personality traits relate to violence may be different in men and women. Agreeableness and anger-hostility underpin the relationship between alcohol and violence in men, but not in women. Reducing alcohol consumption in men with disagreeable and angry/hostile traits would have a small but significant effect in reducing violence, whereas in women, reducing alcohol consumption among the extraverted, would have a greater effect.
... We additionally found that conscientious people had a lower likelihood for increased drinking. This finding is not surprising per se, as low conscientiousness has been generally associated with heavy drinking (Stewart et al., 2001;Kuntsche et al., 2006). In addition, we found that younger workers increased their drinking more than others. ...
Article
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Aims The global crisis caused by the outbreak of a novel coronavirus rapidly increased working remotely in many countries. The aim of this study was to analyze psychological stressors predicting increased drinking during the COVID-19 crisis. Also, individual and socio-demographic differences were analyzed. Methods A nationally representative sample of Finnish workers (N = 1308) was collected before the crisis in September–October 2019 and 82.02% of them responded to a follow-up survey conducted in March–April 2020. Increased drinking was the outcome variable and it was measured with the AUDIT-C before and during the COVID-19 crisis. Predictors measured before the crisis included cyberbullying victimization at work, psychological distress, burnout and work climate. Additional measures included personality factors, socio-demographic factors and occupational information. Results One-fourth of Finnish workers (25.37%) reported increased drinking during the COVID-19 crisis. Cyberbullying victimization at work and psychological distress before the crisis predicted increased drinking during the crisis. Conscientious workers and those working in educational and health and welfare sectors were less likely to increase drinking, while increased drinking was most common among workers under 30 years of age. Conclusions Psychological stressors are risk factors for increased drinking in unusual times such as the COVID-19 crisis. Cyberbullying victimization at work and psychological distress were found as major risk factors. The results suggest that preventive work should be done at workplaces. This is particularly important if alcohol consumption is used as a means of coping during a stressful time.
... Sensation seekers tend to be heavy drinkers at an increased risk for adverse drinking consequences (Conrod et al., 2006). Highly anxious sensitive persons show increased levels of drinking (Stewart, Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001), are more responsive to the anxiety-reducing effect of alcohol, are more likely to use alcohol to cope with negative feelings (Comeau, Stewart, & Loba, 2001) and are at risk for problem drinking (Conrod, Pihl, & Vassileva, 1998). They often cope with their negative feelings by using a combination of withdrawal (from social situations), dependence (on others to make them feel better), or alcohol and/or drug use. ...
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Background: This paper describes the theory and development of Take it personal! an indicated prevention programme aimed at reducing substance use in individuals with mild intellectual disabilities and borderline intellectual functioning. Method: The process of the development of Take it personal! followed the steps of the Intervention Mapping protocol. Take it personal! is based on the theory that personality traits are an important construct to understand substance use (14-30 years old). A small modelling study was conducted with six adolescents to examine the feasibility, user-friendliness and potential effectiveness of the intervention. Results: The results showed that the intervention has good feasibility and user-friendliness. Post-intervention evaluation of frequency, binge drinking and problematic use indicated that use was lower than at pre-intervention. Conclusions: Take it Personal! can be a promising preventive intervention designed to reduce substance use in individuals in this target group. A larger scale study is needed to draw further conclusions.
... Within the conscientiousness and health behaviour literature, it is evident that the methods employed to measure health behaviours have widely varied between studies (Nagoshi, 1999;Schall et al., 1992;Stewart et al., 2001;Vollrath et al., 1999). As a result of such variations in measurement, it is unclear whether individuals high in conscientiousness are meeting the national guidelines for health behaviours. ...
Article
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High conscientiousness is associated with better health and longer life. This relationship is partly accounted for by the performance of health behaviours. The current study aimed to investigate whether conscientiousness was associated with adherence to national health behaviour guidelines as an indicator of healthy lifestyle. A cross-sectional design was used, where participants (N= 886) completed online questionnaires to assess conscientiousness and the facets of conscientiousness (order, virtue, traditionalism, self-control, responsibility, industriousness) and the performance of four health behaviours (fruit and vegetable consumption, alcohol intake, smoking, and physical activity). An index was calculated to combine the health behaviours. Conscientiousness and all its facets significantly predicted the health behaviour guideline index. In comparing high and low conscientious sub-groups, the low conscientious group had lower levels of adherence to all health behaviours guidelines measured. Strikingly, the number of high conscientious participants meeting all health behaviour guidelines was nearly twice the number of low conscientious participants meeting all guidelines. Conscientiousness is associated with adherence to multiple national health behaviour guidelines. Therefore, the positive associations between conscientiousness and health/longevity may be accounted for, in part, by the adoption of a healthy lifestyle across multiple health domains.
... We additionally found that conscientious people had a lower likelihood for increased drinking. This finding is not surprising per se, as low conscientiousness has been generally associated with heavy drinking (Stewart et al., 2001;Kuntsche et al., 2006). In addition, we found that younger workers increased their drinking more than others. ...
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BACKGROUND The global crisis caused by the outbreak of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) rapidly increased working remotely in many countries. Hazardous drinking during lockdown has caused worry among experts and increased consumption might be more prevalent among workers facing mental health risks prior to the crisis. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to analyze increased hazardous drinking during the COVID-19 crisis. The analysis focused on investigating whether mental health risks such as cyberbullying victimization at work, burnout and psychological distress experienced prior to the crisis predicted increased hazardous drinking during the crisis. We also investigated individual and socio-demographic differences in increased hazardous drinking during the COVID-19 crisis. METHODS A nationally representative sample of Finnish workers (N = 1,308) was collected before the crisis in September–August 2019 and 82.02% of them responded to a follow-up survey conducted in March–April 2020. Increased hazardous drinking was the outcome variable and it was measured with the AUDIT-C before and during the COVID-19 crisis. Predictors included cyberbullying victimization at work, psychological distress, burnout, work climate, and personality factors. Number of socio-demographic factors including occupational information were also investigated. RESULTS Approximately one fourth of Finnish workers (25.37%) reported increased hazardous drinking during the COVID-19 crisis. Cyberbullying victimization at work and psychological distress before the crisis predicted increased hazardous drinking during the crisis. Conscientious workers and those working in educational and health and welfare sectors were less likely to increase hazardous drinking, while increased hazardous drinking was most common among workers under 30 years of age. CONCLUSIONS Psychological stressors are risk factors for hazardous drinking in unusual times such as the COVID-19 crisis. Cyberbullying victimization at work and psychological distress were found as major risk factors. The results suggest that preventive work should be done at workplaces. This is particularly important if alcohol consumption is used as a means of coping during a stressful time, as increased alcohol drinking for the purpose of coping may persist even after the stressor is gone.
... For instance, literature has posited that bullying leads person bullying to anxiety, aggression, insecurity and loneliness, direct results of bullying behavior (Juvonen, et al. 2006). Similarly, alcoholism directly impacts alcoholic with performance at school, low consciousness (Stewart, et al. 2001), while racism impacts racist with isolation (Lowe, et al. 2012) and drug abuse leads to low self-esteem, sensation seeking (Newcomb, et al. 1986). ...
Article
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Contract cheating is a growing menace that most academic institutions are grappling with globally. With governments now taking steps to help combat the industry and ban such services, it is also important to encourage students to stay away from such services through proactive strategies to raise awareness so that students stop using such services. This paper uses a case study approach to capture a time-series data from three years of a university campus’s efforts to raise awareness by celebrating the International Centre for Academic Integrity (ICAI)‘s International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating. This is in order to explore if such campaigns can be used as tools to increase student understanding of contract cheating as an academic misconduct issue and what roles students can play in raising awareness among other students on contract cheating. Proposing to look at contract cheating as a social issue, the paper positions the misconduct as such and explores how awareness campaigns can help address contract cheating. Over the three years, results show steep increase in awareness of contract cheating, a type of academic misconduct, and that students themselves have a positive influence on other students when raising awareness. An interesting finding of the study is that graduated students have had an impact by showing responsibility to younger students and by actively denouncing contract cheating companies and their approaches on social media; thus providing solid evidence that awareness campaigns can help increase awareness which is the first step towards building a culture of integrity in any campus.
... Internal consistency of the RAPI in the current sample was good (Cronbach's ␣ ϭ .87); this was consistent with findings from previous studies using college student samples (Buckner, Keough, & Schmidt, 2007;Stewart, Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001). ...
Article
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Reducing risk associated with college student drinking is a major public health concern. The free-pour assessment has the potential to inform interventions aimed at reducing risks associated with college student drinking. Yet, few studies have assessed conditions that influence pouring abilities, and no identified studies have assessed pouring behavior under the influence of alcohol. Participants trained to pour a standard drink of beer received a dose of alcohol (n = 7) or a placebo dose (n = 6) and repeated free-pours along the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) curve. Results suggested that participants were able to pour a standard drink of beer within the 10% training criterion range (12 oz) after a stimulus fading training procedure. Further, free-poured ounces were not subject to acute tolerance, as the majority of free-pours in the alcohol dose group (85.8% of pours) and the placebo dose group (83.3%) was within the training criteria. These data suggest that free-pouring a standard drink of beer is a trainable skill that persists despite a moderate dose of alcohol. Future studies should examine if skills training of other protective skills in the context of elevated BAC reduces the risks associated with intoxication among college students.
... For instance, literature has posited that bullying leads person bullying to anxiety, aggression, insecurity and loneliness, direct results of bullying behavior (Juvonen, et al. 2006). Similarly, alcoholism directly impacts alcoholic with performance at school, low consciousness (Stewart, et al. 2001), while racism impacts racist with isolation (Lowe, et al. 2012) and drug abuse leads to low self-esteem, sensation seeking (Newcomb, et al. 1986). ...
Article
Full-text available
Contract cheating is a growing menace that most academic institutions are grappling with globally. With governments now taking steps to help combat the industry and ban such services, it is also important to encourage students to stay away from such services through proactive strategies to raise awareness so that students stop using such services. This paper uses a case study approach to capture a time-series data from three years of a university campus’s efforts to raise awareness by celebrating the International Centre for Academic Integrity (ICAI)‘s International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating. This is in order to explore if such campaigns can be used as tools to increase student understanding of contract cheating as an academic misconduct issue and what roles students can play in raising awareness among other students on contract cheating. Proposing to look at contract cheating as a social issue, the paper positions the misconduct as such and explores how awareness campaigns can help address contract cheating. Over the three years, results show steep increase in awareness of contract cheating, a type of academic misconduct, and that students themselves have a positive influence on other students when raising awareness. An interesting finding of the study is that graduated students have had an impact by showing responsibility to younger students and by actively denouncing contract cheating companies and their approaches on social media; thus providing solid evidence that awareness campaigns can help increase awareness which is the first step towards building a culture of integrity in any campus.
... This suggests a more uncontrolled style of drinking that is less responsive to social controls experienced in other drinking environments (Hussong, 2007). Drinking to cope appears to underlie maladaptive drinking behavior and is accentuated by deficits in adaptive ability to regulate emotional experiences (Cooper, 1994;Cooper et al., 2016;Simons, Gaher, Correia, et al., 2005), and appears to serve as an intervening variable to explain the affect and alcohol use and problem association (Cooper, 1994;Read, Wood, Kahler, Maddock, & Palfai, 2003;Simons, Gaher, Correia, et al., 2005;Stewart, Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001). Thus, drinking to down-regulate negative emotional experiences may perpetuate use by making drinking more reinforcing and contributing to the intractable cycle of substance use (Lee, Derefinko, Davis, Milich, & Lynam, 2017). ...
Article
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This study tested a multiple group path model in a sample of young adults (n = 402; 233 university participant pool/169 Amazon MTurk) linking positive and negative affect to alcohol consumption and problems via enhancement and coping motives, respectively. Motivational models of alcohol use suggest that individuals drink in order to alleviate negative affective states or to enhance positive moods or feelings. Deficits in modulating attention toward emotional experience (i.e., involuntary attention to emotion [IAE]); and poor distress tolerance may contribute to maladaptive patterns of substance use (i.e., negative reinforcement). As negative affect increases, those with deficits in the ability to efficiently attend to emotions as well as the inability to withstand distress may seek more external means of regulating unwanted or intrusive emotional experiences via alcohol. It was hypothesized that involuntarily attending to one's emotions would contribute to negative reinforcement drinking and problems. Coping motives were directly associated with alcohol-related problems, while enhancement motives were directly associated with problems both directly and indirectly via alcohol consumption. The hypothesized interaction between negative affect and IAE to coping motives was conditional upon levels of distress tolerance, with the moderating effect of involuntary attention being significant at high but not low levels of distress tolerance. Distress tolerance exhibited direct, inverse associations with alcohol-related problems. This pathway was significant over and above the direct effects of both coping motives and alcohol consumption. This suggests that while tolerance for emotional distress may reduce negative reinforcement drinking, it also fosters adaptive regulation when intoxicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
... For instance, literature has posited that bullying leads person bullying to anxiety, aggression, insecurity and loneliness, direct results of bullying behavior (Juvonen, Graham and Schuster, 2006). Similarly, alcoholism directly impacts alcoholic with performance at school, low consciousness (Stewart, Loughlin and Rhyno, 2001), while racism impacts racist with isolation (Lowe, Okubo and Reilly, 2012) and drug abuse leads to low selfesteem, sensation seeking (Newcomb, Maddahian and Bentler, 1986). ...
Conference Paper
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Trying to create a culture of integrity can feel like an uphill battle. Experts suggest that building a culture of integrity may be the best weapon against academic misconduct. Student cheating is not a new phenomenon and researchers and academics have grappled with this issue for generations. Every generation of teachers feel they are having it worst, with newer, sneakier ways students cheat in and out of classrooms. With the infiltration of technology in today’s blended classrooms, the challenges are as complex as they are supposed to be varied. However, the problem remains the same – that of loss of academic integrity inside classrooms and what that means for the greater society. Academic integrity is a vital part of education system. As academics we strive to instill the Fundamental Values as recognized by International Centre for Academic Integrity, these being honesty, trust, fairness, responsibility and respect. But how do we go about instilling these values in our students? Of interest to this research is one type of academic misconduct – that of buying and selling assessments. Research has shown that there is a distinct rise in the proliferation of essay mills and number of students involved in buying assessments globally. It would seem with the rise of the internet, ease of setting up a website and e-commerce, essay mills have transformed into e-mills that are rampant, mushrooming all over the digital space, flooding students’ mailboxes and hounding them on social media. Known commonly now as contract cheating, this form of academic misconduct is not new. Dated as far back as mid nineteenth century where fraternity houses hosted essay mills in their basements and encouraged recycling of submitted essays, these fraternity essay mills transformed into ghostwriting and the modern-day contract cheating that researchers and academics are vehemently opposing, calling for bans on such practices, promotion of such services and illegalizing such businesses (Singh, S. and Remenyi, D.; 2015). Students are the target consumers of the essay mill industry. By buying and using their services, students are providing social license for these businesses to operate. If we look at this business model, then the question arises – how do we stop students from giving their acceptance and the social license, thus developing a culture of integrity in them? In this study we compared student awareness of contract cheating, and student understanding of contract cheating as a misconduct, before and after a series of awareness activities that were carried out on the campus. This study used exploratory case report method (Yin, 1984) that has gained reputation over the years as an effective methodology particularly when investigating complex issues in areas such as social sciences, education and even business (Harrison, Birks, Franklin & Mills, 2017). The case was developed based on time series over three years of data collected before and after the celebration of the Global Ethics Day and International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating. We felt this method allowed us to go beyond the “statistical results and really understand the behavioral con- 58 ditions through the [students’] perspective” (Tellis, 1997), at the same time allowing us to include both qualitative and quantitative data. The campus celebrated International Day of Actions against Contract Cheating three years in a row. We captured student feedback during the whiteboard pledge campaign based on a series of two simple questions, “Do you know what contract cheating is” and “Did you know students buying essay writing services from online sources is a form of cheating”. Students were then given details on contract cheating, nature of the misconduct, why it was considered a misconduct and how the institutional policy dealt with such misconduct. They were asked to put down their pledge if they so wanted to. It was observed during the first year, that of the 30 students who voluntarily participated in the pledge campaign, none of the students were aware of the term “contract cheating” nor were they aware that such action could be “deemed” as a misconduct or cheating, let alone that it was “in the policies”. During the second year of the celebrations, the student clubs run by some of the students who had taken the whiteboard pledge the previous year decided to join in the awareness campaign and developed a week-long program for the campus. These events included psychological mind frame workshops, painting and design competitions, plenary sessions with Registrars and students on the consequences of misconduct and effectiveness of policies and procedures. All the events were carried out before the final day which marked the whiteboard pledge campaign. This time, more than 40 students volunteered to participate and more than 70% of them knew what contract cheating was and knew it was a misconduct. By the third year, more than 60 students, including post graduate students participated. More than 80% of the students taking the pledge now showed awareness and understanding. It is also important to note here that students who had graduated by this time had begun to track companies that targeted students on social media and started reporting them to the school authorities and raised voice against such ads, pop ups and messages. It was observed that the students speaking out against contract cheating to other students year on year had a tremendous positive impact on student attitude against contract cheating where students became advocates for integrity, posting messages against essay mills, and confronting the service providers as unethical and irresponsible businesses on open, public platforms and at events where the service providers showed up to promote their questionable services. This case report suggests that regular, consistent awareness programs involving students as co-developers in the integrity-culture building process has a significantly high impact on student contribution, participation, and knowledge. The next step of the project is to map how and if this attitude and awareness has any real impact on student behavior and curbing students’ likelihood to contract cheat in the future.
... Research based on the DMQ and similar classifications has produced important findings relating to the most common drinking motives among young people and the frequency of their use. Research conducted in the United States (US), for example, has found that social motives were the most frequently endorsed drinking motives among university students, followed by enhancement, coping, and conformity (Stewart, Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001). Research in the UK also has found that social motives were the most commonly mentioned reasons for drinking among university students (Atwell, Abraham, & Duka, 2011). ...
Article
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Background: There has been little research on the association between drinking motives and alcohol-related harms among university students outside of the immediate physiological and behavioural effects of alcohol use. Much less is known about broader causes and consequences of excessive alcohol use and its impact on university life. The aim of the current research is to add to knowledge by providing contemporary findings on drinking motives among a national sample of university students. Methods: Seven of the nine universities in Wales agreed to take part in the survey. The questionnaire included an open-ended question that asked students about their reasons for drinking alcohol. Results: The quantitative analysis showed that about one-third of users said that they or somebody else had been injured because of their drinking and between 10 per cent and 15 per cent of students said that they had been in a fight during or after drinking. The qualitative analysis revealed that coping motives were often linked to stresses relating to university life and a pervasive social drinking culture. Conclusion: The current research provides new evidence on the possible causes of drinking motives and their independent effect on alcohol-related harms. In particular, the paper examines the role of universities in generating negative drinking motives through maintenance of a pro-drinking student culture and generation of administrative pressures and work-related stress
... However, another four-wave, 32-month study of adolescents failed to find support for this vulnerability model (Malmberg et al., 2013). Though longitudinal mediation models of hopelessness, coping motives, and alcohol problems are largely untested, research does show coping motives mediate the relationship between neuroticism and alcohol problems in cross-sectional studies (Cooper, Agocha, & Sheldon, 2000;Kuntsche, von Fischer, & Gmel, 2008;Stewart, Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001;Willem, Bijttebier, Claes, & Uytterhaegen, 2012) and in an eight-wave, 17-year longitudinal study (Littlefield, Sher, & Wood, 2010). ...
Article
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The 4-factor model of personality vulnerability identifies 4 personality risk factors for alcohol misuse: hopelessness, anxiety sensitivity, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. These personality traits are associated with distinct mechanisms and motivations for alcohol misuse. Individuals high in hopelessness drink to regulate dysphoric affect, while those high in anxiety sensitivity drink to reduce anxiety and to conform to peer expectations. Individuals high in sensation seeking are highly sensitive to the rewarding properties of alcohol, and misuse alcohol to maximize enjoyment. Impulsivity is a broad risk factor contributing to all drinking motives. We hypothesized that personality vulnerabilities would indirectly predict alcohol quantity and problems through specific drinking motives theorized by the 4-factor model. The present study tested hypotheses using a 3-wave, 1-year longitudinal study of undergraduate drinkers (N 302). Data were analyzed using multilevel path analysis. Hopelessness and impulsivity were positively related to drinking motives in the expected fashion. Anxiety sensitivity was related to coping-anxiety and conformity motives only in the between-subjects model (partially supporting hypotheses), while sensation seeking was generally unrelated to all drinking motives and alcohol outcomes (failing to support hypotheses). Enhancement motives predicted alcohol quantity and problems at both levels, coping-depression motives predicted alcohol problems at the between-subjects level only, and coping-anxiety, conformity, and social motives failed to predict alcohol outcomes beyond other motives. Overall, this study partially supports the 4-factor model, with the strongest support emerging for impulsivity and hopelessness. This study suggests that personality traits such as impulsivity and hopelessness may be important targets in prevention and treatment with undergraduate drinkers.
... For example, mediational analyses suggested that people who scored high on neuroticism were more inclined to consume alcohol but only because they wished to reduce their negative affect. Motives were identified as a mediator (Hussong, 2003;Stewart et al., 2001) and are a dispositionalsituational construct, influenced both by characteristics of the individual and of the situation (Cooper, 1994). It is plausible that other variables, along the same lines as drinking motives, may also mediate the relationship between traits and alcohol consumption. ...
Article
Background and aims Personality traits are considered distal determinants of various behaviors including alcohol consumption meaning that the association between traits and behaviors is mediated by other intervening variables. Time perspectives are thought to be both stable dispositions and dependent on situational variables. They are related to personality traits but cannot be reduced to such which may suggest that they explain the relationship between traits and various behaviors. This study aimed to explore the possibility that time perspectives mediate the relationship between personality traits and alcohol consumption behaviors. Methods Five hundred and forty nine young adults living in France were administered online measures of Big 5 personality traits (Big Five Factor Inventory in French), time perspectives (Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory Short Form) and alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test). Five multiple parallel mediator models were elaborated in which personality traits led to time perspectives, which in turn led to alcohol consumption. Results Exclusively conscientiousness and extraversion directly predicted alcohol consumption. However, in all five models at least one time perspective mediated the relationship between each personality trait and alcohol consumption. For example, the relationship between openness and alcohol use was fully mediated by two competitive mediators: past positive and present hedonist time perspectives. The relationship between agreeableness and alcohol use was fully accounted for by two complementary mediators: past positive and future. Fifty seven percent of the direct effect between extraversion and alcohol use was accounted for three competitive mediators: future, past positive and present hedonist perspectives. Conclusions Time perspectives may explain entirely or in part the relationship between Big 5 personality traits and alcohol consumption behavior among young people. Intervening on the level of time perspectives rather than on that of personality traits may be a viable direction for prospective studies regarding alcohol consumption.
... College students drink for different reasons, including social, enhancement, and coping (Carey & Correia, 1997;Cooper, Frone, Russell, & Mudar, 1995;Kuntsche, Knibbe, Gmel, & Engels, 2005). Those who are light or moderate social drinkers experience fewer drinking related consequences and report fewer mood issues (Geisner, Mallett, & Kilmer, 2012;Stewart, Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001). However, those who drink for coping motives are more likely to experience depressive symptoms and alcohol-related problems (Hussong, Galloway, & Feagans, 2005;Hussong, Hicks, Levy, & Curran, 2001;Merrill & Read, 2010). ...
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Introduction: Research has identified college students who experience depressed mood and consume alcohol are at an increased risk for experiencing alcohol problems. The present study identified profiles of differential alcohol use, depression, key psychosocial indicators of drinking (e.g., normative perceptions) and examined the relationship between these profiles and alcohol-related consequences. Method: Students with a history of risky drinking and elevated depressed mood (n=311; 62.4% female) completed a web-based survey assessing typical and peak drinking, depressive symptoms, descriptive norms, drinking to cope motives, protective behavioral strategies, and alcohol-related consequences. Results: Latent profile analysis was used to classify participants into distinct profiles focusing on alcohol use patterns and level of depressed mood and drinking related constructs. Profiles were then compared based on their association with reported rates of alcohol-related consequences. Four profiles emerged: 1) Mild Depression, Heavy Drinkers; 2) Mild Depression, Severe Drinkers; 3) Moderate Depression, Heavy Drinkers; and 4) Moderate Depression, Severe Drinkers. Findings revealed significant differences between the four profiles on both risky drinking and alcohol-related consequences. Conclusion: These findings suggest the importance of assessing and addressing depressive symptoms among college students in order to reduce rates of risky drinking and alcohol-related consequences.
... Importantly, distinctive patterns of mediation are expected. For example, neuroticism (a dispositional sensitivity to punishment and propensity to experience negative affect) should predict the use of alcohol to cope with negative emotions, and coping motives in turn should predict drinking problems both directly and indirectly via increased consumption (e.g., Cooper et al., 2000;Stewart, Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001). ...
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Couture, M., Stewart, S., Cooper, M., Kuntsche, E., O’Connor, R., Mackinnon, S., & DRINC Team, t. (2017). The DRINC (Drinking Reasons Inter-National Collaboration) project: Rationale and protocol for a cross-national study of drinking motives in undergraduates. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 6(1), 7-18. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v6i1.239Drinking motives are a proximal predictor of alcohol use and misuse through which the effects of more distal influences (e.g., personality) on alcohol-related outcomes are mediated. Although Cooper’s (1994) four-factor drinking-motives model has been well validated in North America, few studies have validated this model in other countries. The aim of the present paper is to describe the rationale, protocol, and methods of a project designed to evaluate the cross-national validity and generalizability of Cooper’s (1994) measure, as modified by Kuntsche and Kuntsche’s Drinking Motives Questionnaire Revised Short Form (DMQ–R SF, 2009), and of the theoretical model (Cooper, Frone, Russell, & Mudar, 1995) linking drinking motives to specific personality risks and alcohol consequences. The project uses data from undergraduates representing 10 nations (Brazil, United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Canada, Hungary, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States; total N = 8,478). Findings from this collaboration can be used to guide international researchers in determining the suitability of the DMQ–R SF as a measure of drinking motives in countries outside of North America and may have implications for the development of preventive and therapeutic interventions for alcohol misuse among young adults globally.
... While the nature of this sex difference remains to be determined, we speculate that it may reflect differences in drinking motives between male and female university students. For example, low conscientiousness is associated with drinking to enhance positive emotions (Stewart, Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001), and men tend to exhibit higher enhancement motives than women in university samples (Kuntsche, Knibbe, Gmel, & Engels, 2006). ...
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Personality traits such as conscientiousness as self-reported by individuals can help predict a range of outcomes, from job performance to longevity. Asking others to rate the personality of their acquaintances often provides even better predictive power than using self-report. Here, we examine whether peer-reported personality can provide a better link between brain function, namely threat-related amygdala activity, and future health-related behavior, namely problem drinking, than self-reported personality. Using data from a sample of 377 young adult university students who were rated on five personality traits by peers, we find that higher threat-related amygdala activity to fearful facial expressions is associated with higher peer-reported, but not self-reported, conscientiousness. Moreover, higher peer-reported, but not self-reported, conscientiousness predicts lower future problem drinking more than one year later, an effect specific to men. Remarkably, relatively higher amygdala activity has an indirect effect on future drinking behavior in men, linked by peer-reported conscientiousness to lower future problem drinking. Our results provide initial evidence that the perceived conscientiousness of an individual by their peers uniquely reflects variability in a core neural mechanism supporting threat responsiveness. These novel patterns further suggest that incorporating peer-reported measures of personality into individual differences research can reveal novel predictive pathways of risk and protection for problem behaviors.
... Higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness, which are characteristic of the at-risk profile, are associated with maladaptive coping behavior (Bogg & Roberts, 2004;Stewart, Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001) and coping-motivated alcohol use (Mezquita, Stewart, & Ruipérez, 2010). Higher conscientiousness, on the other hand, is positively associated with engagement in healthy activities (Takahashi, Edmonds, Jackson, & Roberts, 2013), as well as task-oriented coping behaviors (e.g., problem-solving; Penley, Tomaka, & Wiebe, 2002). ...
Article
Objective: The current study examined associations between grandiose and vulnerable subclinical narcissistic traits and alcohol use among college students and whether drinking motives mediated these associations. Methods and Participants: Young adult college students who reported past month alcohol use were invited to complete self-report online surveys (N = 406; 81% female; Mage = 20.13, SD = 1.69; 10% Hispanic; 85% White). Results: Results from path analysis using structural equation modeling indicated that there were no direct associations between grandiose or vulnerable subclinical narcissistic traits and alcohol use. However, several drinking motives mediated these associations. Specifically, the association between grandiose traits and alcohol use was mediated by enhancement and social motives. Similarly, the association between vulnerable traits and alcohol use was mediated by enhancement, social and coping motives. Conclusions: Findings highlight a potential mechanism by which personality traits may contribute to a health risk behavior among young people.
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When editing regular and special issues of numerous journals, we have observed several recurring shortcomings in the manuscripts, particularly in relation to methodology. Many of these manuscripts are often found lacking in providing critical methodological information or justifying the use of the selected methods, thus resulting in desk rejection at the preliminary stage or major revision in the review process. Although the theoretical and managerial aspects of manuscripts are essential to publication consideration, methodological flaws can be detrimental. It is therefore of no surprise that failures to address methodological concerns are some of the common reasons for a manuscript to be rejected from publication, even after going through several rounds of revision. The purpose of this editorial is to provide clear guidelines on effectively reporting the methodological section in a quantitative manuscript in the fields of business and social sciences. Specifically, we present a set of recommendations on implementing and reporting operationalization, instrument validation, sampling techniques, questionnaire administration, and common method bias. Researchers, whether students or academics, should consider these guidelines to ensure methodological rigor in their research projects.
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Introduction Excessive alcohol use amongst college students is associated with low grades, poor mental health, and risks to physical safety. Neuroticism, characterized by emotional instability and anxiety, and self-reported stress have both been shown to be strong predictors of alcohol use and misuse, however, previous studies have shown that measures of stress and Neuroticism are frequently confounded. This study tests the hypothesis that personality traits, and Neuroticism in particular, predict alcohol use/misuse in matriculating freshmen above and beyond reported levels of stress. Methods Data were collected as part of an IRB-approved longitudinal study, MAPme, examining behavioral health in college. Participants were 303 first-year college students (70% female) with an average age of 18.58 (SD = 0.39). Data were collected during the first eight weeks of the first semester at college. Results Overall, domain-level Neuroticism was not associated with alcohol use/misuse above and beyond perceived levels of stress and other Big Five domains (β= 0.14, p= 0.088). Notably, the depression facet of Neuroticism (Neuroticism—Depression), was positively associated with alcohol use/misuse when accounting for the shared effects of stress. Results demonstrated that the Neuroticism—Depression facet moderated the relationship between stress and alcohol use/misuse (β= 0.18, p= 0.020). Conclusions The Neuroticism—Depression facet is a better predictor of alcohol use/misuse than the Neuroticism domain, even when accounting for stress and other personality domains. At low levels of the Depression facet, stress was negatively associated with alcohol use/misuse, but at high levels of the Depression facet, stress was positively associated with alcohol use/misuse. Taken together, our results shed new light into the combined and independent effects of Neuroticism and stress on alcohol use/misuse.
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Background Knowledge of how drinking motives are differentially associated with alcohol use (e.g., frequency, quantity) and drinking problems is critical in understanding risky drinking and the development of alcohol use disorder. The purpose of this paper was to use meta‐analytic techniques to answer 2 overarching questions: (a) Which types of drinking motives (i.e., enhancement, coping, social, conformity) are most strongly associated with alcohol use and drinking problems? and (b) What are the most likely mechanisms (alcohol use or drinking problems) through which motives may be indirectly associated with outcomes? Method A comprehensive literature search identified 229 studies that met inclusion criteria (254 samples; N = 130,705) with a subset containing longitudinal data (k = 5; N = 6283). Data were analyzed using 2‐stage meta‐analytic structural equation modeling. Results Results showed that both enhancement and coping motives were the strongest predictors of drinking problems, but only enhancement motives were the strongest predictor of alcohol use. Enhancement and social motives were indirectly associated with alcohol use through drinking problems and with drinking problems through alcohol use, whereas coping motives were only indirectly associated with alcohol use through drinking problems, although the results differed for cross‐sectional and longitudinal data. Conclusion Overall, findings from this meta‐analysis provide evidence that drinking motives differentially predict alcohol use outcomes through unique direct and indirect pathways.
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Research on those variables that have been shown to influence the consumer’s choice of beer is reviewed. The focus is on the choice of whether to drink beer as opposed to a beverage from another category, and to a greater extent, the choice between different types of beer. Inspired by previous research on a diverse array of factors that have been shown to influence food and beverage choice, the review examines how beer choice is driven by consumer variables (covering biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors), product-intrinsic attributes (the sensory aspects of the beer itself), product-extrinsic attributes (external sensory characteristics, such as packaging), and contextual and environmental influences. These situational factors refer to variables such as the location where choice/consumption takes place (i.e., on- versus off-trade), as well as the context, occasion, and reason for drinking. Current trends related to choice and consumption, such as the emerging interest in beer-food pairing, are also examined. The review groups these attributes which affect people’s beer wanting, choice, and purchase in order to understand the beer consumer’s choice process. Along with general conclusions, a number of key directions for future research are also presented, given that the relative contribution of each type of factor on consumer’s choice behaviour is still unclear.
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Background: Alcohol myopia theory postulates that the level of alcohol use in conjunction with personal cues, such as alcohol attitudes and personality traits help to understand the types of consequences manifested. Objectives: This study examined and identified the personality traits that served as predictors and moderators of the risk connections from drinking attitudes to alcohol use to myopia outcomes. Methods: College students (N = 433) completed self-report measures. In a path analysis using structural equation modeling, personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and neuroticism), drinking attitudes, and personality × drinking attitudes interactions simultaneously served as predictors on the outcomes of alcohol use and myopic relief, self-inflation, and excess. Results: Alcohol attitudes and use consistently emerged as unique predictors of all three myopia outcomes. Extraversion and neuroticism were identified as statistical moderators, but results varied depending on the myopia outcome interpreted. Specifically, extraversion moderated the pathways from attitudes to usage and from attitudes to myopic relief. Neuroticism, however, moderated the relations from attitudes to myopic self-inflation and from attitudes to myopic excess. Conclusions/Importance: Extraverted and neurotic dispositions could exacerbate or attenuate the risk connections from alcohol attitudes to outcomes. Findings offer implications for alcohol prevention efforts designed to simultaneously target drinking attitudes, personality traits, and alcohol myopia.
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Objective : To examine validity and reliability of Drinking Motive Questionnaire-Revised (DMQ-R) in a sample of Thai university students. Method : The participants were 323 undergraduate students from Chiang Mai University. For construct validation, confirmatory factor analyses were performed to investigate factor structure. Correlation coefficients were used to examine nomological network with alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. For reliability, internal consistency reliabilities were performed, using Cronbach’s α and construct reliability. Results : Thefindings supported a four-factor model of DMQ-R (χ2= 491.293, df = 162, p < .001, χ2/df = 3.033, CFI = 0.900, RMSEA = 0.079). Additionally, drinking motive scores correlated with alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in the direction expected by the theory. Results also demonstrated good internal reliabilities of the 4 subscales (Cronbach’s α from 0.748 to 0.895, construct reliability from 0.766 to 0.901). Conclusion : All in all, the findings support that the DMQ-R has promise as psychometrically sound questionnaire, which can be used for research and practice.
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Cooper developed and provided initial support for the Drinking Motives Questionnaire–Revised (DMQ-R). More recently, Kuntsche and Kuntsche introduced the briefer DMQ-R SF. Psychometric properties of the DMQ-R and the DMQ-R SF were examined in samples of high school (n = 131) and underage college student drinkers (n = 189). The original and short-form versions of the DMQ-R were similar with regard to composite score validity, concurrent validity, and internal consistency. Only the Enhancement Motives subscale showed slight decrements in reliability and validity for the short form. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the DMQ-R SF was associated with slightly better goodness-of-fit and invariant factor loadings between the high school and college student samples. Despite its briefer form and reduced task demands for participants, the DMQ-R SF appears to provide nearly equivalent, and in some instances slightly improved, measurement of drinking motives in underage drinkers as does the original DMQ-R.
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College drinking is an important public health issue in many countries, especially in South Korea. This study aims to explore drinking motives and their relationship with drinking behaviors and drinking outcomes among Korean college students (N = 553). Utilizing a Web-based survey, this study found some similarities and differences relative to studies conducted in Western cultures. As previously observed, social and enhancement motives were the primary reasons for drinking, and enhancement motives were associated with drinking-related problems among Korean students. However, results differing from those of previous studies were revealed by comparing males and females: Korean male college students who drink to cope with stress tend to experience more alcohol-related problems, whereas Korean female college students tend to experience alcohol-related problems when drinking for enhancement motives. Implications for future research are discussed.
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Motives ascribed to drinking represent an important area of investigation in alcohol research. The most commonly used measure is the 20-item Drinking Motives Questionnaire – Revised (DMQ-R: Cooper, 1994), which assesses four motives: Enhancement, Social, Coping, and Conformity. Although researchers in Europe have begun to assess the DMQ-R, to date, no published assessment has been undertaken among English-speaking, non-American samples. The current study addressed this omission by conducting exploratory (N = 437) and confirmatory (Ns = 437 and 344) factor analyses with Irish participants. A three-factor solution was optimal: Coping (four items), Conformity (five items), and Positive Motives (seven items). The need to conduct culturally specific psychometric testing is discussed as are directions for future research.
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The aim of this study was to assess the mediating effects of difficulties in emotion regulation (DER) on the relations of negative and positive affects to craving in alcoholic patients. 205 treatment-seeking alcoholic outpatients were included. DER, positive and negative affects as well as craving were evaluated by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Positive/Negative Affect Scales, and the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) respectively. Clinical factors including depression and severity of alcohol dependence were investigated by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) respectively. Results revealed that both increased negative affect and decreased positive affect indirectly influenced craving through limited access to emotion regulation strategies. It was concluded that limited access to emotion regulation strategies may be important in predicting craving for alcoholics who experience both increased negative affect and decreased positive affect. This suggests that treatment and prevention efforts focused on increasing positive affect, decreasing negative affect and teaching effective regulation strategies may be critical in reducing craving in alcoholic patients.
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AIMS: Health behaviours – alcohol drinking, smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity – are influenced by various psychosocial factors. Despite evidence linking work stress and personality constructs independently to health behaviours, only limited literature is available on the relationship between work stress, personality and health behaviours. The aims of the thesis are: (1) to examine the potential role of overcommitment (OC) personality in the relationship between work stress defined by the Effort–Reward Imbalance (ERI) model and health behaviours; (2) to investigate the potential role of perceived control (PC) in the relationship between ERI, OC and health behaviours. METHODS: This project used data from the HAPIEE (Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe) study, which randomly selected people aged 45 to 69 years from population registers in Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. A two–wave cohort study for drinking and smoking outcomes (n= 7,513) and a cross–sectional study for dietary outcomes (n= 11,012) were analysed by logistic regression and structural equation modelling. RESULTS: In terms of the potential role of OC in the relationship between ERI and health behaviours, OC and ERI may have bi–directional relationship; the effect of OC on ERI was stronger than the other direction in the middle–aged and older populations. Thus, antecedent role of OC in the relation between ERI and health behaviours was statistically significant, but mediator role of OC was not. With regards to the potential role of PC in the relationship between OC, ERI and health behaviours, both ERI and PC partially mediated the effects of OC on health behaviours; ERI and PC may have bi–directional relationship. CONCLUSION: This thesis will contribute to deeper understanding of intersecting pathways by which work stress (ERI) and personality constructs (OC and PC) jointly influence health behaviours, thereby providing insight into research, practice and policy https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1522338/
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Understanding what types of social norms are more or less influential and how they operate with respect to other psychological variables can provide valuable insights into the design of effective social norm campaigns. To this end, this study explores the roles of two types of social norms (injunctive norms and descriptive norms) and two types of drinking motives (social motives and conformity motives) in collegiate drinking behavior in South Korea. A survey of Korean college students (N = 569) revealed significant positive effects of injunctive norms, descriptive norms, and social motives on students’ drinking frequency and quantity. Conformity motives were positively related to the frequency of drinking but negatively related to the quantity of drinking. Furthermore, the results revealed significant effects of the interactions between descriptive norms and social motives (on both the frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption), such that the positive effect of descriptive norms was more pronounced among individuals with stronger social motives. A similar pattern was observed in the interaction between injunctive norms and conformity motives (on frequency). Theoretical and practical implications of the findings for social norm campaigns seeking to curb drinking among college students are discussed.
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Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is the fear of anxiety sensations which arises from beliefs that these sensations have harmful somatic, social, or psychological consequences. Over the past decade, AS has attracted a great deal of attention from researchers and clinicians with more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles published. In addition, AS has been the subject of numerous symposia, papers, and posters at professional conventions. Why this growing interest? Theory and research suggest that AS plays an important role in the etiology and maintenance of many forms of psychopathology, including anxiety disorders, depression, chronic pain, and substance abuse. Bringing together experts from a variety of different areas, this volume offers the first comprehensive state-of-the-art review of AS--its conceptual foundations, assessment, causes, consequences, and treatment--and points new directions for future work. It will prove to be an invaluable resource for clinicians, researchers, students, and trainees in all mental health professions.
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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) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Despite consistent evidence that alcohol can be used to cope with negative emotions or to enhance positive emotions, research on drinking motives has focused primarily on coping and social motives. This article reports on the development of a 3-factor measure that also assesses enhancement motives. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the authors demonstrated that enhancement motives are empirically distinct from coping and social motives and that a correlated 3-factor model fits the data equally well across race and gender groups in a large representative sample. Each drinking motive was also shown to predict distinct aspects of alcohol use and abuse. Finally, interaction analyses suggested that coping and enhancement motives differ in the magnitude of their effects on drinking behavior across Blacks and Whites and that enhancement motives differ in their effects across men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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A 4-factor measure of drinking motives based on a conceptual model by M. Cox and E. Klinger (see PA, Vol 75:32975; see also 1990) is presented. Using data from a representative household sample of 1,243 Black and White adolescents, confirmatory factor analyses showed that the hypothesized model provided an excellent fit to the data and that the factor pattern was invariant across gender, race, and age. Each drinking motive was related to a distinct pattern of contextual antecedents and drinking-related outcomes, and these relationships did not generally vary across demographic subgroups. Results support both the conceptual validity of Cox and Klinger's model and the utility of this measure for clinical and research purposes across a diverse range of adolescent populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Two studies of coping among community-dwelling adults (N= 255,151) were used to examine the influence of personality on coping responses, the perceived effectiveness of coping mechanisms, and the effects of coping and personality on well-being In both studies a wide range of potential stressors was examined, categorized as losses, threats, or challenges The personality dimensions of neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience, as measured by both self-reports and spouse- and peer-ratings, were systematically related to coping mechanisms in both studies There was general agreement across types of stressors on the use and perceived effectiveness of the 27 coping mechanisms, and individuals who used more effective ways of coping generally reported higher subsequent happiness and life satisfaction However, personality variables are also known to be determinants of well-being, and the associations between coping and well-being were reduced when personality measures were partialled out Some implications for the design and interpretation of coping effectiveness studies are discussed
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The present study examines the relationship of familial and personality risk factors for alcoholism to individual differences in sensitivity to the positively and negatively reinforcing properties of alcohol. Sixteen sons of male alcoholics with multigenerational family histories of alcoholism (MFH) and 11 men who self-report heightened sensitivity to anxiety (HAS) were compared with 13 age-matched family history negative, low anxiety sensitive men (FH-LAS) on sober and alcohol-intoxicated response patterns. We were interested in the effects of alcohol on specific psychophysiological indices of “stimulus reactivity,” anxiety, and incentive reward. Alcohol significantly dampened heart rate reactivity to aversive stimulation for the MFH and HAS men equally, yet did not for the FH-LAS group. HAS men evidenced idiosyncrasies with respect to alcohol-induced changes in electrodermal reactivity to avenive stimulation (an index of anxiety/fear-dampening), and MFH men demonstrated elevated alcohol-intoxicated resting heart rates (an index of psychostimulation) relative to the FH-LAS men. The results are interpreted as reflecting a sensitivity to the “stimulus reactivity-dampening” effects of alcohol in both high-risk groups, yet population-specific sensitivities to the fear-dampening and psychostimulant properties of alcohol in the HAS and MFH groups, respectively.
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Longitudinal data were obtained from a nonclinical sample of 1,308 male and female adolescents covering the age range from 12 to 21. Factor analyses of 52 symptoms and/or consequences of alcohol use yielded three problem dimensions. In addition, a unidimensional, 23-item scale (the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index, RAPI) was constructed with an internal consistency of .92. Correlations between RAPI and alcohol-use intensity were moderately strong for all age groups at each test occasion (ranging from .20 to .57), yet low enough to suggest that identification of problem drinkers requires both types of measures. The results suggest that the RAPI may be a useful tool for the standardized and efficient assessment of problem drinking during adolescence.
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The final, common pathway to alcohol use is motivational. A person decides consciously or unconsciously to consume or not to consume any particular drink of alcohol according to whether or not he or she expects that the positive affective consequences of drinking will outweigh those of not drinking. Various factors (e.g., past experiences with drinking, current life situation) help to form expectations of affective change from drinking, these factors always modulated by a person’s neurochemical reactivity to alcohol. Such major influences include the person’s current nonchemical incentives and the prospect of acquiring new positive incentives and removing current negative incentives. Our motivational counseling technique uses nonchemical goals and incentives to help the alcoholic develop a satisfying life without the necessity of alcohol. The technique first assesses the alcoholic’s motivational structure and then seeks to modify it through a multicomponent counseling procedure. The counseling technique is one example of the heuristic value of the motivational model.
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In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators.
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The present study proposed and tested a motivational model of alcohol use in which people are hypothesized to use alcohol to regulate both positive and negative emotions. Two central premises underpin this model: (a) that enhancement and coping motives for alcohol use are proximal determinants of alcohol use and abuse through which the influence of expectancies, emotions, and other individual differences are mediated and (b) that enhancement and coping motives represent phenomenologically distinct behaviors having both unique antecedents and consequences. This model was tested in 2 random samples (1 of adults, 1 of adolescents) using a combination of moderated regression and path analysis corrected for measurement error. Results revealed strong support for the hypothesized model in both samples and indicate the importance of distinguishing psychological motives for alcohol use.
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The present study examines the relationship of familial and personality risk factors for alcoholism to individual differences in sensitivity to the positively and negatively reinforcing properties of alcohol. Sixteen sons of male alcoholics with multigenerational family histories of alcoholism (MFH) and 11 men who self-report heightened sensitivity to anxiety (HAS) were compared with 13 age-matched family history negative, low anxiety sensitive men (FH-LAS) on sober and alcohol-intoxicated response patterns. We were interested in the effects of alcohol on specific psychophysiological indices of "stimulus reactivity," anxiety, and incentive reward. Alcohol significantly dampened heart rate reactivity to aversive stimulation for the MFH and HAS men equally, yet did not for the FH-LAS group. HAS men evidenced idiosyncrasies with respect to alcohol-induced changes in electrodermal reactivity to aversive stimulation (an index of anxiety/fear-dampening), and MFH men demonstrated elevated alcohol-intoxicated resting heart rates (an index of psychostimulation) relative to the FH-LAS men. The results are interpreted as reflecting a sensitivity to the "stimulus reactivity-dampening" effects of alcohol in both high-risk groups, yet population-specific sensitivities to the fear-dampening and psychostimulant properties of alcohol in the HAS and MFH groups, respectively.
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The present study examined relations between dietary restraint and self-reported patterns of alcohol use, including separate assessment of quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption. One hundred seventy-six female university undergraduates completed the Restraint Scale (RS) and measures of their usual quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption over the past year. Quantity and frequency self-reports were scored separately and were also used to calculate 3 additional drinking variables: a composite weekly alcohol consumption score (drinks per week), a binge drinking categorical variable (where participants were classified as either binge drinkers or non-binge drinkers), and a yearly excessive drinking score (number of times in the past year that each participant consumed at least 4 alcoholic beverages per drinking occasion). RS scores were significantly positively correlated with scores on 4 of the 5 drinking behavior measures (i.e., quantity, drinks per week, binge drinking, and yearly excessive drinking, but not frequency). Thus, chronic dieting appears to be related to a relatively heavy drinking pattern that can be characterized as potentially risky, due to its established associations with adverse health and social consequences.
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Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is the fear of anxiety sensations which arises from beliefs that these sensations have harmful somatic, social, or psychological consequences. Over the past decade, AS has attracted a great deal of attention from researchers and clinicians with more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles published. In addition, AS has been the subject of numerous symposia, papers, and posters at professional conventions.© 1999 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Why this growing interest? Theory and research suggest that AS plays an important role in the etiology and maintenance of many forms of psychopathology, including anxiety disorders, depression, chronic pain, and substance abuse. Bringing together experts from a variety of different areas, this volume offers the first comprehensive state-of-the-art review of AS--its conceptual foundations, assessment, causes, consequences, and treatment--and points new directions for future work. It will prove to be an invaluable resource for clinicians, researchers, students, and trainees in all mental health professions. © 1999 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
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History of the Alcoholic Personality Concept The origin of the alcoholic personality concept is not easily traced. Early papers on this topic tend either to make no references to the origin of the concept or to make vague references to psychoanalytic theory. Wiener (1956) attributed the description of alcoholics as oral characters with fixation at a more passive recipient level to Fenichel. The association between homosexuality and alcoholism is attributed by Armstrong (1958) to Ferenzi. The possible importance of psychopathy as a predisposing factor in alcoholism was attributed to Bowman and Jellinek by Buhler and Lefever (1947). In general, the early research on the alcoholic personality tended to be somewhat atheoretical, originating more from the development of new personality measurement techniques, such as the Rorschach and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) than from any theory of alcoholism.
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Objective. —To examine the extent of binge drinking by college students and the ensuing health and behavioral problems that binge drinkers create for themselves and others on their campus.Design. —Self-administered survey mailed to a national representative sample of US 4-year college students.Setting. —One hundred forty US 4-year colleges in 1993.Participants. —A total of 17592 college students.Main Outcome Measures. —Self-reports of drinking behavior, alcohol-related health problems, and other problems.Results. —Almost half (44%) of college students responding to the survey were binge drinkers, including almost one fifth (19%) of the students who were frequent binge drinkers. Frequent binge drinkers are more likely to experience serious health and other consequences of their drinking behavior than other students. Almost half (47%) of the frequent binge drinkers experienced five or more different drinking-related problems, including injuries and engaging in unplanned sex, since the beginning of the school year. Most binge drinkers do not consider themselves to be problem drinkers and have not sought treatment for an alcohol problem. Binge drinkers create problems for classmates who are not binge drinkers. Students who are not binge drinkers at schools with higher binge rates were more likely than students at schools with lower binge rates to experience problems such as being pushed, hit, or assaulted or experiencing an unwanted sexual advance.Conclusions. —Binge drinking is widespread on college campuses. Programs aimed at reducing this problem should focus on frequent binge drinkers, refer them to treatment or educational programs, and emphasize the harm they cause for students who are not binge drinkers.(JAMA. 1994;272:1672-1677)
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This book provides an updated theory of the nature of anxiety and the brain systems controlling anxiety, combined with a theory of hippocampal function, which was first proposed thirty years ago. While remaining controversial, the core of this theory, of a 'Behavioural Inhibition System', has stood the test of time, with its main predictions repeatedly confirmed. Novel anti-anxiety drugs share none of the side effects or primary pharmacological actions of the classical anti-anxiety drugs on the actions of which the theory was based; but they have both the behavioural and hippocampal actions predicted by the theory. This text is the second edition of the book and it departs significantly from the first. It provides, for the first time, a single construct - goal conflict - that underlies all the known inputs to the system; and it includes current data on the amygdala. Its reviews include the ethology of defence, learning theory, the psychopharmacology of anti-anxiety drugs, anxiety disorders, and the clinical and laboratory analysis of amnesia. The cognitive and behavioural functions in anxiety of the septo-hippocampal system and the amygdala are also analysed, as are their separate roles in memory and fear. Their functions are related to a hierarchy of additional structures - from the prefrontal cortex to the periaqueductal gray - that control the various forms of defensive behaviour and to detailed analysis of the monoamine systems that modulate this control. The resultant neurology is linked to the typology, symptoms, pre-disposing personality and therapy of anxiety and phobic disorders, and to the symptoms of amnesia. © Jeffrey A. Gray and Neil McNaughton 2000 , 2003. All rights reserved.
Article
The purpose of the present study was to place drinking motives within the context of the Five-Factor Model of personality. Specifically, we sought to determine whether certain personality domains and facets of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) predict Enhancement, Coping, Social, and/or Conformity drinking motives from the Revised Drinking Motives Questionnaire (DMQ-R). A sample of 256 university student drinkers (M age =21.3 years) completed the NEO-PI-R and DMQ-R. In bivariate correlations, the two negative reinforcement motives (Coping and Conformity) were positively correlated with Neuroticism and negatively correlated with Extraversion. The two positive reinforcement motives (Enhancement and Social) were positively correlated with Extraversion and negatively correlated with Conscientiousness. Multiple regression analyses revealed that personality domain scores predicted two of the four drinking motives (i.e. the internal drinking motives of Coping and Enhancement), after controlling for the influences of alternative drinking motives. Enhancement Motives were predicted by high Extraversion and low Conscientiousness, and Coping Motives by high Neuroticism. Supplementary correlational analyses involving certain personality facet scores revealed that the depression and self-consciousness facets of the Neuroticism domain were positively correlated with residual Coping and Conformity Motives, respectively, and that the excitement-seeking and gregariousness facets of the Extraversion domain were positively correlated with residual Enhancement and Social Motives, respectively. These results provide further validation of Cox and Klinger’s 2×2 (valence [positive vs negative reinforcement]×source [internal vs external]) model of drinking motivations, and confirm previous speculations that drinking motives are distinguishable on the basis of personality domains and facets. Understanding the relations between personality and drinking motives may prove useful in identifying young drinkers whose drinking motivations may portend the development of heavy and/or problem drinking.
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L'auteur discute un modele a cinq facteurs de la personnalite qu'il confronte a d'autres systemes de la personnalite et dont les correlats des dimensions sont analyses ainsi que les problemes methodologiques
Article
A model of the neuropsychology of anxiety is proposed. The model is based in the first instance upon an analysis of the behavioural effects of the antianxiety drugs (benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and alcohol) in animals. From such psychopharmacologi-cal experiments the concept of a “behavioural inhibition system” (BIS) has been developed. This system responds to novel stimuli or to those associated with punishment or nonreward by inhibiting ongoing behaviour and increasing arousal and attention to the environment. It is activity in the BIS that constitutes anxiety and that is reduced by antianxiety drugs. The effects of the antianxiety drugs in the brain also suggest hypotheses concerning the neural substrate of anxiety. Although the benzodiazepines and barbiturates facilitate the effects of γ-aminobutyrate, this is insufficient to explain their highly specific behavioural effects. Because of similarities between the behavioural effects of certain lesions and those of the antianxiety drugs, it is proposed that these drugs reduce anxiety by impairing the functioning of a widespread neural system including the septo-hippocampal system (SHS), the Papez circuit, the prefrontal cortex, and ascending monoaminergic and cholinergic pathways which innervate these forebrain structures. Analysis of the functions of this system (based on anatomical, physiological, and behavioural data) suggests that it acts as a comparator: it compares predicted to actual sensory events and activates the outputs of the BIS when there is a mismatch or when the predicted event is aversive. Suggestions are made as to the functions of particular pathways within this overall brain system. The resulting theory is applied to the symptoms and treatment of anxiety in man, its relations to depression, and the personality of individuals who are susceptible to anxiety or depression.
Article
The present study was designed to examine the relationship between anxiety sensitivity (AS; fear of anxiety symptoms) and alcohol use motives. The Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait Subscale (STAI-T), and the Drinking Motives Questionnaire (DMQ) were administered to 314 university students. Higher ASI scores were found to be significantly associated with greater scores on the Coping Motives (CM) subscale of the DMQ, particularly in the female subjects. In contrast, ASI scores were not found to be related in a linear fashion to scores on either the Enhancement Motives (EM) or Social Motives (SM) subscales of the DMQ. A regression equation involving a weighted linear combination of scores on the ASI and STAI-T significantly predicted scores on the CM subscale of the DMQ; the regression equation was significantly better at predicting the frequency of coping-related drinking in women than men. When “primary” motives were examined, a significantly greater percentage of high than low AS subjects (particularly high AS women) were found to drink primarily for coping-related motives, and a significantly greater percentage of low than high AS subjects were found to drink primarily for social-affiliative motives. This pattern of drinking motives points to potential difficulties with alcohol in individuals (particularly women) who are high in both AS and trait anxiety, since drinking primarily for CM as opposed to SM has previously been shown to be associated with more drinking alone, heavier alcohol consumption, and more severe alcohol-related problems.
Article
A growing literature suggests a significant relationship between “anxiety sensitivity” (AS; fear of anxiety symptoms) and alcohol use/abuse. The present study examined the relationship between levels of AS and self-reported rates of weekly alcohol consumption and frequency of “excessive drinking” (i.e., number of times legally intoxicated per year). Subjects were 30 nonalcoholic university women, divided into three AS groups (high, moderate, and low) based upon scores on the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI). High AS women reported consuming significantly more alcoholic beverages on a weekly basis and drinking to excess more times per year than low AS controls. ASI scores were found to be significantly positively correlated with both measures of self-reported alcohol consumption. The results support the hypothesis of a positive relationship between AS levels in young adult women and extent of excessive alcohol use.
Article
A survey was conducted of drinking, drug use attitudes, beliefs, personality and demographic characteristics of students on a university campus. Gender, ethnic and social group differences were also examined. It was concluded that a biopsychosocial matrix of determinants influenced alcohol consumption and its excessive consumption. Two general factors emerged from analyses of the results. They may be interpreted as entering into a complex approach-avoidance conflict where the net approach tendency determines overall alcohol consumption. Personality characteristics and presumably their biological correlates, as well as set and setting, or attitudes, beliefs and environmental influences contribute to the approach-avoidance conflict that determines abstinence or varying amounts of alcohol consumption.
Article
Data from 606 (75.8%) undergraduate respondents drawn from a random sample (N = 800) at Rutgers University demonstrate that, although fewer college students may be drinking when compared to some previous estimates, there is still a large number of heavy drinkers. In addition, traditional demographic variables continue to predict alcohol consumption levels. Students also report a similar variety of drinking related problems as in previous college drinking studies. Women constitute half as many heavy drinkers as men, but report an equal amount of alcohol-related problems in this sample. When controlling for race, it appears that white students continue to drink the most, and show heavy drinking rates comparable to a previous large college sample in the northeast. Students who live on campus drink more than their commuting counterparts, and the drinking age has little effect on consumption levels or total reported alcohol-related problems, although it alters the context of drinking somewhat. Findings are generally compared to previous as well as more recent college drinking data. Sex differences and similarities are discussed, as well as the findings concerning legal drinking status. Implications for prevention efforts are suggested.
Article
This study assessed the prevalence of driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana among a sample of 18 and 21 year olds and examined the across-time relationships between intoxicated driving and consumption, risk-taking/impulsive orientation, negative intrapersonal state, stress and use of alcohol and other drugs to cope with problems. Self-report data were collected from 556 men and women, ages 18 and 21, at two points in time. The data indicated that at least a minimum level of drinking and driving, as well as smoking marijuana and driving, is engaged in at least once for the majority of youth. Correlations between eight driving behaviors and consumption variables indicated that frequency of substance use was strongly related to frequency of driving while intoxicated (DWI). Regression analyses revealed that coping use of substances was the strongest predictor of driving under the influence. A path model examining the effect of stress, negative states and risk-taking orientations (T1) on driving under the influence as mediated through coping use (T2) was tested. Results showed that risk-taking orientation was the strongest predictor of DWI, both directly and indirectly (as mediated through coping use). Findings suggest that impaired driving may be part of a global syndrome of risk-taking behavior and is an activity engaged in most often by those who frequently use alcohol and other drugs to cope with problems.
Article
A consensus among researchers about the best way to assess self-reported drug use has not yet emerged. This study evaluates the effect of different response options on the distribution, reliability, and validity of scores on drug-use items. The results suggest that more quantitative measures are not necessarily more reliable or valid than less quantitative measures of drug use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Frequency of drinking occasions appears to be more sensitive than quantity per occasion to social and economic variables, whereas quantity is related only to age and sex.
Article
When alcoholics and nonalcoholics were compared on field dependence, stimulus augmenting (sensitivity to stimuli from the environment), anxiety and ego strength, they differed most in ego strength.
Article
To examine the extent of binge drinking by college students and the ensuing health and behavioral problems that binge drinkers create for themselves and others on their campus. Self-administered survey mailed to a national representative sample of US 4-year college students. One hundred forty US 4-year colleges in 1993. A total of 17,592 college students. Self-reports of drinking behavior, alcohol-related health problems, and other problems. Almost half (44%) of college students responding to the survey were binge drinkers, including almost one fifth (19%) of the students who were frequent binge drinkers. Frequent binge drinkers are more likely to experience serious health and other consequences of their drinking behavior than other students. Almost half (47%) of the frequent binge drinkers experienced five or more different drinking-related problems, including injuries and engaging in unplanned sex, since the beginning of the school year. Most binge drinkers do not consider themselves to be problem drinkers and have not sought treatment for an alcohol problem. Binge drinkers create problems for classmates who are not binge drinkers. Students who are not binge drinkers at schools with higher binge rates were more likely than students at schools with lower binge rates to experience problems such as being pushed, hit, or assaulted or experiencing an unwanted sexual advance. Binge drinking is widespread on college campuses. Programs aimed at reducing this problem should focus on frequent binge drinkers, refer them to treatment or educational programs, and emphasize the harm they cause for students who are not binge drinkers.