ArticlePDF Available

Why My Classmates Drink: Drinking Motives of Classroom Peers as Predictors of Individual Drinking Motives and Alcohol Use in Adolescence--a Mediational Model

SAGE Publications Inc
Journal of Health Psychology
Authors:

Abstract and Figures

A structural equation model was estimated based on a Swiss national sample of 5649 12- to 18-year-olds to test whether individual drinking motives mediate the link between classmates' motives and individual alcohol use. Results showed that the social, enhancement, coping and conformity motives of individual students are associated with the corresponding motive dimension of other students in the class. No direct effect of the four classmates' motives on individual drinking, but an indirect effect via individual motives was observed. It appears that drinking motives within the adolescent social environment exert their influence on drinking by way of shaping individual motives.
Content may be subject to copyright.
http://hpq.sagepub.com
Journal of Health Psychology
DOI: 10.1177/1359105309103573
2009; 14; 536 J Health Psychol
Emmanuel Kuntsche and Sherry H. Stewart
Model
of Individual Drinking Motives and Alcohol Use in Adolescencea Mediational
Why My Classmates Drink: Drinking Motives of Classroom Peers as Predictors
http://hpq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/4/536
The online version of this article can be found at:
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
can be found at:Journal of Health Psychology Additional services and information for
http://hpq.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts:
http://hpq.sagepub.com/subscriptions Subscriptions:
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navReprints:
http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.navPermissions:
http://hpq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/14/4/536 Citations
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
536
Why My Classmates
Drink
Drinking Motives of
Classroom Peers as
Predictors of Individual
Drinking Motives and Alcohol
Use in Adolescence—a
Mediational Model
EMMANUEL KUNTSCHE
Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug
Problems, Switzerland
SHERRY H. STEWART
Dalhousie University, Canada
Abstract
A structural equation model was
estimated based on a Swiss national
sample of 5649 12- to 18-year-olds to
test whether individual drinking
motives mediate the link between
classmates’ motives and individual
alcohol use. Results showed that the
social, enhancement, coping and
conformity motives of individual
students are associated with the
corresponding motive dimension of
other students in the class. No direct
effect of the four classmates’ motives
on individual drinking, but an indirect
effect via individual motives was
observed. It appears that drinking
motives within the adolescent social
environment exert their influence on
drinking by way of shaping
individual motives.
Journal of Health Psychology
Copyright © 2009 SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore
and Washington DC
www.sagepublications.com
Vol 14(4) 536–546
DOI: 10.1177/1359105309103573
COMPETING INTERESTS: None declared.
ADDRESS. Correspondence should be directed to:
EMMANUEL KUNTSCHE, Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and
Drug Problems, Research Department, Av. Ruchonnet 14, PO Box 870,
Lausanne 1001, Switzerland. [email: ekuntsche@sfa-ispa.ch]
Keywords
adolescents
alcohol use
classmates
drinking motives
mediation
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
Introduction
ALCOHOL use is known to be determined by a large
variety of factors both within the individual (e.g.
genetic disposition, personality characteristics,
cognitions) and within his or her environment
(e.g. factors at the level of the society, neighbourhood,
family, peer groups and drinking situations: for
reviews see Ham & Hope, 2003; Hawkins, Catalano,
& Miller, 1992; Kuntsche, Rehm, & Gmel, 2004).
From both the conceptual point of view, and in terms
of prevention, the factors most proximal to drinking
are of greatest strategic importance. These factors are
not only thought to be more easily accessible targets
for prevention efforts than most of the more distal
factors, but they also tend to reflect distal factors such
as culture, situation or personality (Cox & Klinger,
1988, 2004).
According to the Motivational Model of Alcohol
Use (Cox & Klinger, 1988), drinking motives are the
most proximal factor for engaging in drinking.
Consequently, empirical studies have demonstrated
that drinking motives are the gateway through which
more distal factors such as personality factors or
alcohol expectancies are mediated (Catanzaro &
Laurent, 2004; Cooper, Frone, Russell, & Mudar,
1995; Kuntsche, Knibbe, Engels, & Gmel, 2007;
Kuntsche, von Fischer, & Gmel, 2008b; Stewart,
Loughlin, & Rhyno, 2001). Unfortunately, not much
is known about the degree to which this mediation
also holds true for the drinking motives of other
individuals in the drinkers’ social environment such
as peers in the school classroom. For most of the
year, European students typically spend more than
two-thirds of their waking hours each week at school
or engaged in school-related activities (Alsaker &
Flammer, 1999). Thus, school largely determines
their peer group (Steinberg, 2000). Therefore, it is
important to focus on the behaviours, cognitions and
motivations of classmates as one of the major social
environments and influences in adolescence. The
present study’s first aim is to determine to what
degree individual students’ drinking motives are
consistent with those of all other students in the
class. Second, this study investigates to what degree
the alcohol use of individual students is directly
associated with their classmates’ drinking motives
and indirectly through the shaping of their own
drinking motives.
Drinking motives represent a subjectively derived
decisional framework for alcohol use that is based
on personal experience, situation and expectancies
(Cooper, 1994; Cox & Klinger, 1988). The decision
to drink is based on the rewards that the person
expects to achieve by drinking compared with not
drinking. These expected rewards can involve either
positive reinforcement (to enhance positive
outcomes) or negative reinforcement (to avoid or
attenuate negative outcomes). The source of the
expected rewards can further be either internal (i.e.
changes in personal affective states) or external (i.e.
changes in the individual’s social environment).
Accordingly, there are four categories of drinking
motives (Cooper, 1994): drinking to enhance
positive mood or well-being (enhancement: positive,
internal), to obtain social rewards (social: positive,
external), to attenuate negative emotions (coping:
negative, internal) and to avoid social rejection
(conformity: negative, external). By adopting a
specific motive for drinking, the decision to engage
in alcohol consumption (vs not to drink) is made.
For example, an adolescent may decide to drink
because it gives him or her a pleasant feeling or
because it helps him/her when depressed or nervous.
Concerning characteristics of the personal social
environment, association with drinking peer groups
has been found to be among the strongest predictors
of substance use in adolescence (see Kuntsche et al.,
2004, for a review). Adolescents tend not only to
select their peers in accordance with their own
substance-use habits (Dishion & Owen, 2002;
Kandel, 1985) but also to initiate or increase their
substance use when associated with substance-
using peers. Being together with peers, adolescents
tend to accept alcohol offers, to feel pressured to
drink or to submit to the peer-drinking norm or to
social modelling (Borsari & Carey, 2001; Dishion
& Owen, 2002; Jones-Webb et al., 1997; Kandel,
1985). It is plausible to assert that affiliations
with peers who have particular drinking motives
might shape an individual adolescent’s own drink-
ing motives. Application of social learning theory
(Maisto, Carey, & Bradizza, 1999) to the acquisition
of drinking motives would suggest that adolescents
would observe the drinking motives of their peers,
observe the rewarding consequences obtained by
their peers and then model the motives displayed
by their peers. For example, those who go out with
friends who drink for social motives might also
learn to drink for the same motives themselves due
to observation and imitation of these peer motives.
In addition to this vicarious conditioning, learning
of motives could also occur via verbal transmission
of information between peers (Rachman, 1977). For
KUNTSCHE & STEWART: WHY MY CLASSMATES DRINK
537
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
example, those adolescents who have peers who
drink for enhancement motives might learn through
verbal exchanges with peers about alcohol being a
good way to enhance internal positive states, and
then may subsequently adopt enhancement motives
for their own drinking behaviour.
The present study tests the following three
hypotheses. First, concerning the way in which
individual drinking motives are linked with those of
other students in the school class, we expect a con-
gruency between the individual and classmate
motive dimensions. That means that the strongest
relationship should occur when the dimensions are
matched (e.g. individual social–classmate social,
individual enhancement–classmate enhancement,
etc.). Either the modelling or the verbal transmis-
sion route to adolescents’ motive acquisition from
peers would predict such specificity. For example,
an adolescent observing a peer drinking in response
to peer pressure and observing a peer’s social
acceptance by drinking should subsequently model
conformity drinking. As another example, an ado-
lescent hearing frequently from his or her peers that
drinking alcohol is a good way to relieve tensions or
alleviate worries should be specifically prone to
coping motivated drinking him- or herself.
Second, the individual drinking motive dimen-
sions are closely related to individual alcohol use
(measured by the number of drinks consumed in the
past 12 months and the frequency of having five or
more drinks on single occasions in the last 30 days).
Previous research has demonstrated that enhance-
ment, social and coping motives are positively
related to adolescent alcohol use whereas confor-
mity motives are negatively related (Cooper, 1994;
Kuntsche, Stewart, & Cooper, 2008a; Stewart et al.,
in press). Enhancement and coping motives are
additionally associated with heavy drinking
(Kuntsche, Knibbe, Gmel, & Engels, 2005).
Third, according to the assumption that individ-
ual drinking motives shape the final decision
towards individual alcohol use (Cox & Klinger,
1988; Cooper, 1994), we hypothesize that environ-
mental factors (in our case the drinking motives of
other students in the class) exert their influences
exclusively through individual drinking motives.
Thus, we expect that the link between classmates’
drinking motives and individual drinking is
indirect—mediated through the individual’s
drinking motives. Such mediation occurs when the
indirect link (classmates’ motives–individual’s
motive–individual’s alcohol use), but not the direct
one (classmates’ motives–individual’s alcohol use),
is significant (Baron & Kenny, 1986).
Method
Participants
The present study used data from the 2003 Swiss
contribution to the ‘European School Survey
Project on Alcohol and Drugs’ (Hibell et al., 2000),
which is described in detail elsewhere (Kuntsche,
Knibbe, Gmel, & Engels, 2006b, 2006c; Kuntsche
et al., 2007). Once permission to conduct the survey
was obtained from the relevant educational authori-
ties in the different federal states in Switzerland
(called ‘cantons’), principals of the schools to be
sampled were informed. Self-completion question-
naires were administered in school classes between
April and June 2003. The time frame for filling out
the questionnaires was one school lesson (about
45 minutes). Consistent with the APA Ethical
Principles (American Psychological Association,
2002), the students could freely choose to participate
and confidentiality was ensured at all stages of
the study.
Based on a list of all classes of public schools in
Switzerland from eighth to 10th grade, random
cluster sampling was used, where the classes served
as the primary sampling unit. Although the Swiss
school system varies slightly from canton to canton,
students are usually assigned to classes based on
regional and not on individual characteristics, and
they usually remain in class with the same peers for
the entirety of the school day. An overall response
rate of 83.1 per cent was reached. The sample can
be considered as representative for all eighth, ninth
and 10th graders in the German-, French- and
Italian-speaking regions of Switzerland.
Since drinking motives were exclusively assessed
among drinkers, those who did not indicate at least
one drinking occasion in the last 12 months (n=
1415, 19.7%) were excluded. Those who had more
than two missing values on drinking motives (n=
71; 1.2%), or who did not answer questions about
alcohol use (n=58; 1.1%) were likewise excluded.
Remaining missing values (n=363; 6.3%) were
imputed by means of Markov Chain Monte Carlo
estimates (Gilks, Richardson, & Spiegelhalter,
1996). The advantage of such an imputation method
is that the information on observed values for an
individual is taken into account, that is, imputation
is conditional on individuals that have the same
JOURNAL OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY 14(4)
538
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
KUNTSCHE & STEWART: WHY MY CLASSMATES DRINK
539
reponse pattern on all but the missing items. The
final sample consisted of 5649 12- to 18-year-old
alcohol-using students (age mean (M)=15.1 years,
standard deviation (SD) =0.95; 49% girls). The
students came from 408 classes in 328 schools
(average number of alcohol-using students per class
=13.8, SD =3.9) in the German- (70.9%), French-
(22.3%) and Italian-speaking (6.8%) regions of
Switzerland.
Measures
An interdisciplinary research group from the
participating countries developed the core ESPAD
questionnaire (Hibell et al., 2004) and the
adolescent version of the Drinking Motive
Questionnaire (DMQ-R; Cooper, 1994) was added
for the Swiss survey. Subsequently, the resulting
questionnaire was translated into the three
languages most frequently spoken in Switzerland:
German, French and Italian. Translations from one
national language to the other as well as translations
back into English were conducted to guarantee the
accuracy of the three national language versions.
Drinking motives were assessed with the DMQ-
R (Cooper, 1994), which is a 20-item self-report
measure that includes four conceptually and empir-
ically distinct dimensions. Each dimension consist-
ing of five items was rated on a six-point relative
frequency scale with anchors ranging from ‘Never’
to ‘Almost always’. Because of high internal con-
sistencies (internal consistencies: αenhancement =.85,
αsocial =.82, αconformity =.86, αcoping =.88) in the pre-
sent study, the items for each motive dimension
were added up to form summary scale scores as
suggested by Cooper (1994). To obtain a score for
the motives of all other students in the class, we
used the following formula:
Classmate motive scorei=((class mean motive
scorej* number of classmatesi) individual
motive scorei) / (number of classmatesi 1)
where iindicates a particular individual student in a
particular class j. This formula was applied for the
four drinking motive dimensions separately.
Based on the epidemiological literature, there
are two main dimensions of alcohol consumption
which are differently related to a variety of health-
related outcomes (Rehm et al., 2004): average vol-
ume of alcohol consumption was found to be
related to more long-term negative consequences
such as disease whereas pattern of drinking (often
measured by having five drinks or more in a row,
Gmel, Rehm, & Kuntsche, 2003) was found to be
linked to acute negative consequences such as
accidents and injuries (Gmel et al., 2003; Rehm
et al., 2004). To cover these two dimensions of alco-
hol consumption, drinking volume and 5+drinking
were chosen as outcome variables. To measure the
number of drinks consumed in the last 30 days
(‘Volume’), the 30-day frequency (from 0 to 40 or
more) was multiplied by the total number of stan-
dard drinks of any alcoholic beverage consumed
on a typical occasion (from 0 to 5 or more).
Additionally, the 30-day frequency of having five
or more drinks in a row (‘5+drinking’; from 0 to
10 or more times) was included. Both alcohol use
variables were log-transformed to approximate a
normal distribution and to reduce the impact of
extreme values which can be possibly due to
outlier effects (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001). All
descriptive statistics of the alcohol use variables
provided in the manuscript are calculated prior to
log-transformation.
Data analysis
Figure 1 provides a graphical representation of the
regression model, which was estimated using the
Mplus 5.1 software (Muthén & Muthén, 2007).
Since individual drinking motives and alcohol
use in adolescents tend to differ according to gender
and age groups (Cooper, 1994; Kuntsche, Gmel,
Wicki, Rehm, & Grichting, 2006a; Kuntsche,
Knibbe, Gmel, & Engels, 2006d), the mediators and
the outcome variables were adjusted for the effects
of gender and age. Since the links between drinking
motives of other students in the class and students’
alcohol use might additionally depend on character-
istics of the school class, the outcome variables
were additionally adjusted for effects of class size
and the proportion of drinkers in the class. Mediated
effects, that is, the product of the coefficient of the
path between classmates’ and individual motives
and the path between individual motives and alco-
hol use (Baron & Kenny, 1986), are directly pro-
vided in Mplus. Standard errors and significance
levels of mediated effects were obtained by means
of the delta method (Muthén & Muthén, 2007). The
robust estimation of standard errors in Mplus has
the additional advantages of accounting for non-
normal distribution of outcomes and non-indepen-
dence of observations due to cluster sampling
(Muthén & Muthén, 2007). Reported effect sizes
are standardized regression coefficients (Betas) and
explained variance (R2).
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
JOURNAL OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY 14(4)
540
5+drinking
Classmates’
Conformity
Motives
Classmates’
Coping
Motives
Classmates’
Enhancement
Motives
Classmates’
Social
Motives
Volume
Individual
Conformity
Motives
Individual
Enhancement
Motives
Individual
Coping
Motives
Individual
Social
Motives
Figure 1. Graphical representation of the estimated regression model.
Note: Outcome effects have been adjusted for the effects of gender, age, class size and the proportion of drinkers in
the class
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
To evaluate the overall model fit, we used the
comparative fit index (CFI), the Tucker-Lewis index
(TLI), the root mean square error of approximation
(RMSEA) and the standardized root mean square
residual (SRMR). The CFI and TLI relate to the
total variance accounted for by the model, where
values close to 1 (i.e. higher than .90), were sought
(Kline, 2005). The RMSEA and SRMR relate to the
residual variance, where values close to 0 (i.e. lower
than .10), were sought (Kline, 2005).
Results
Descriptive analyses revealed that, on average, there
were 18.4 students per class (SD =3.6, range =6 to
30, kurtosis =–0.6, skewness =–1.0) and, on aver-
age, 85.8 per cent of students in each class were
drinkers (SD =0.1, range =35.0 to 100 per cent,
kurtosis =1.1, skewness =–1.1). The students
scored highest on social motives (M=2.8, SD =1.2,
kurtosis =–0.7, skewness =0.4) followed by
enhancement (M=2.7, SD =1.3, kurtosis =–0.6,
skewness =0.5), coping (M=1.9, SD =1.1, kurto-
sis =1.7, skewness =1.4) and conformity (M=1.4,
SD =0.7, kurtosis =11.7, skewness =3.1) motives,
in that order, similar to findings from previous stud-
ies on adolescent drinking motives (Kuntsche et al.,
2008a). On average, the participants had five drink-
ing occasions (M=5.0, SD =7.5, kurtosis =12.0,
skewness =3.2) and consumed 17 drinks in the last
30 days (M=16.6, SD =35.5, kurtosis =20.3,
skewness =4.1), and had about two drinks at a typ-
ical occasion (M=2.2, SD =1.8, kurtosis =–0.7,
skewness =0.5). The participants had about one
occasion in the last 30 days on which they con-
sumed five or more drinks in a single sitting (M=
1.3, SD =2.3, kurtosis =7.1, skewness =2.6).
Zero-order correlations of all variables used in the
structural equation model are provided in Table 1.
As can be seen, there were significant (p< .001),
positive bivariate correlations between all class-
mates’ drinking motives variables and the individ-
ual drinking variables (volume and 5+drinking) in
all cases but one (i.e. between classmates’ confor-
mity motives and individual drinking volume).
Relations between classmates’ motives and individ-
ual students’ motives, and between individual stu-
dents’ motives and individual students’ drinking
behaviour, are described in more detail below.
Results from the structural equation model showed
high congruency between individually indicated
motives and those indicated by the other students in
the class (Table 2). Individual social motives were
related to the social motives, but not to any other
motives, indicated by the classmates. The same was
the case for enhancement motives. Also for coping
and conformity motives, the relation was strongest
when there was congruency between the classmates’
and the individual motives (coping-coping, confor-
mity-conformity). However, particularly for individ-
ual conformity motives, social, enhancement and
coping motives of the other students in the class, also
showed a significant association.
Concerning alcohol use, particularly the individ-
ual social and enhancement motives were positively
related to typical drinking volume. Individual
enhancement and coping drinking were positively
related to 5+drinking (Table 3). There was also a
significant negative link between individual confor-
mity motives and both alcohol use variables.
Concerning the motives of all other students in the
class, no significant relation to individual alcohol
use was found. However, the corresponding indirect
effects of classmates’ motives through individual
motives on individual alcohol use were significant.
This was the case for all four motive dimensions
and both alcohol use variables.
Discussion
The aims of the present study were to investigate:
(1) to what degree social, enhancement, coping and
conformity motives of individual students are asso-
ciated with the corresponding motive dimensions of
all other students in the class; and (2) to what degree
the alcohol use of individual students is directly
associated with their classmates’ drinking motives
and indirectly through the shaping of their own
drinking motives.
The results demonstrated that particular motive
dimensions of individual students are related to
the corresponding motive dimension indicated by
their classmates (i.e. social–social, enhancement–
enhancement, etc.). This is consistent with predic-
tions of social learning theory (Maisto et al., 1999)
that individual drinking motives are shaped in
accordance with the drinking motives of others in a
particular social environment (in our case the school
class) through mechanisms such as modelling or
verbal transmission (Rachman, 1977). Alternatively
or in addition, it might be that adolescents select
peers who are not only similar in terms of drinking
KUNTSCHE & STEWART: WHY MY CLASSMATES DRINK
541
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
JOURNAL OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY 14(4)
542
Table 1. Zero-order correlations among the variables used in the study
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
2. Age .00
3. Class size –.04 –.08
4. Proportion –.01 .33 –.05
of drinkers in
the class
5. Classmates’ .01 .12 –.07 .20
social motives
6. Classmates’ .00 .14 –.04 .22 .81
enhancement
motives
7. Classmates’ .01 –.01 –.11 .06 .59 .53
coping motives
8. Classmates’ .02 –.12 –.05 –.05 .41 .23 .53
conformity
motives
9. Individual .14 .06 –.02 .07 .17 .14 .11 .07
social motives
10. Individual .11 .06 –.01 .08 .14 .16 .08 .03 .80
enhancement
motives
11. Individual –.04 .01 –.04 .02 .11 .08 .15 .10 .51 .51
coping motives
12. Individual .09 –.05 –.02 –.02 .07 .02 .10 .13 .36 .25 .42
conformity
motives
13. Volume .14 .17 –.06 .15 .14 .14 .09 .01 .51 .55 .34 .06
14. 5+drinking .16 .09 –.09 .07 .13 .11 .11 .05 .46 .50 .36 .11 .66
Note:1=Gender (girls coded as 0, boys as 1); for r>.04: p<.001
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
KUNTSCHE & STEWART: WHY MY CLASSMATES DRINK
543
habits (Borsari & Carey, 2001; Dishion & Owen,
2002; Jones-Webb et al., 1997; Kandel, 1985), but
also similar in terms of drinking motives. For exam-
ple, adolescents who drink to enjoy parties and cel-
ebrations better may select to affiliate with peers
who drink for the same motives at social events.
Future longitudinal research is necessary to disen-
tangle the direction of causality in the relation
between individual and peer drinking motives (i.e.
social causation or social selection).
Although in general there appears to be a high
congruency of drinking motives among the different
students in the classroom, there was one exception
from this general pattern. Although the classmates’
conformity motives were still the strongest predictor
for individual conformity motives, unlike the other
motive dimensions, social, enhancement and coping
motives of other students in the class were also
related to individual conformity motives. This might
be related to the fact that conformity motives are
usually reported by adolescents who rarely drink,
that is, only on special occasions such as family cel-
ebrations, weddings or New Year’s Eve, to fit in with
a group and not to feel left out (Kuntsche, 2007).
Thus an adolescent, who may be just considering
whether or not to drink, might be more likely to
drink to fit in with peers when in a social environ-
ment where other students are drinking for various
reasons. Hence, unlike the other motives, individual
conformity motives may be shaped by a variety of
different drinking motives in the peer group.
Also for coping motives, a significant relation to
social and conformity motives of other students in
the class was found. However, unlike conformity
motives, the effect size was rather small and only
significant at the 5 per cent-error level. This might
be simply due to the high sample size in the present
study of more than 5600 adolescents. Taken
together, the motives of other students in the class
explained between 3 and 5 per cent of the variance
of individual drinking motives. That means that
there are a variety of other variables responsible for
the individual drinking motivation besides the
motives of classmates. Other possible routes of
Table 2. Drinking motives of other students in the class as predictors of individual students’ drinking motives in the
structural equation model presented in Fig. 1 (standardized regression coefficients, t-ratios in brackets and explained
variance)
Individual drinking motives
Classmates’ drinking motives Social Enhancement Coping Conformity
Social .14*** (6.0) .01 (0.6) .05* (2.5) .06** (2.8)
Enhancement .00 (0.1) .15*** (7.3) –.03 (–1.6) –.06*** (3.3)
Coping .03 (1.6) .01 (0.4) .12*** (6.5) –.05** (3.2)
Conformity .00 (0.1) –.01 (–1.1) .03* (2.0) .08*** (4.1)
Explained variance (R2) 5.0% 4.1% 2.6% 2.8%
Note: All regression coefficient are adjusted for the effects of gender and age; model fit: CFI =.999, TLI =.993,
RMSEA =.017, SRMR =.005
*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001
Table 3. Drinking motives as predictors of alcohol use
in the structural equation model presented in Fig. 1
(standardized regression coefficients, t-ratios in brackets
and explained variance)
Volume 5+ drinking
Individual motive scores
Social .22*** (10.8) .13*** (6.0)
Enhancement .32*** (15.7) .32*** (14.6)
Coping .12*** (7.9) .16*** (9.6)
Conformity –.15*** (–10.4) –.09*** (–6.4)
Classmates’ motive scores
Social .05 (1.9) .05 (1.8)
Enhancement –.03 (–1.3) –.03 (–1.4)
Coping .03 (1.8) .03 (1.8)
Conformity –.02 (–1.4) –.00 (–0.5)
Mediated effect (classmates’ motives
though individual motives)
Social .03*** (5.2) .02*** (4.2)
Enhancement .05*** (6.7) .05*** (6.5)
Coping .01*** (4.7) .02*** (5.2)
Conformity –.01*** (3.8) –.01*** (–3.3)
Explained 36.4% 29.9%
variance (R2)
Note. All regression coefficient are adjusted for the
effects of gender, age, class size, and the proportion of
drinkers in the class; *** p <.001
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
acquisition of individual drinking motives include
social learning (modelling and verbal transmission)
from family members or from the mass media.
Also, personal experience with specific rewarding
consequences of alcohol consumption (e.g. anxi-
olytic or stimulant effects) may be at play in the
shaping of adolescents’ drinking motives.
The results also showed that, despite the high
sample size, there was no direct effect of all four
classmates’ drinking motive dimensions on individ-
ual alcohol use and heavy drinking. However, for all
four dimensions, there was an indirect effect via
individual drinking motives that was significant,
even at the 0.1 per cent error level.Thus, the results
provide empirical support for the assumption that,
adjusted for class size and the proportion of drink-
ing students in the class, individual drinking
motives function as mediators in the link between
the motives of others in the same social environ-
ment (the school class) and individual alcohol use.
While previous studies demonstrated such a media-
tion by drinking motives for either alcohol
expectancies (Catanzaro & Laurent, 2004; Cooper
et al., 1995; Kuntsche et al., 2007) or personality
factors (Cooper et al., 1995; Kuntsche et al., 2008b;
Stewart et al., 2001) and young people’s alcohol
use, this is, to our knowledge, the first study demon-
strating that such mediation of drinking motives is
also the case for environmental factors and individ-
ual alcohol use. In this way, the present study pro-
vides further support for the main assumption of
the motivational Model of Alcohol Use (Cox &
Klinger, 1988), namely, that drinking motives are
the gateway through which the influence of other
more distal factors is mediated.
A strength of the study is the use of an interna-
tionally validated and theory-based instrument to
assess drinking motives (i.e. the DMQ-R; Cooper,
1994; Kuntsche et al., 2008a) and the large number
of students and classes included in this nationally
representative classroom-based survey (Kuntsche
et al., 2006b, 2006c, 2007). For most of the year,
European students typically spend more than two-
thirds of their waking hours each week at school or
engaged in school-related activities (Alsaker &
Flammer, 1999) and, thus, school largely determines
their peer group (Steinberg, 2000). Unfortunately, it
was not possible in the present study to include the
motives of friends outside the school class. In future,
by means of a bar lab design (Bot, Engels, &
Knibbe, 2005), for example, it would be possible to
investigate the impact of close friends’ drinking
motives on individual drinking motive patterns.
Future research should also investigate to what
extent the mediation reported in this article holds
true for particular subgroups (e.g. gender and age).
Taken together, the results of the present study
point to the possibility that the drinking motives of
others in a particular social environment exert their
influence on individual drinking by way of shaping
individual drinking motives. Unfortunately, due to
the cross-sectional nature of the presented data, this
causal chain could not be investigated. Using longi-
tudinal designs in future research, it would be possi-
ble to test to what degree motives of others causally
influence individual motives which in turn causally
influence individual drinking patterns over time.
The presented results have nevertheless some
important implications for prevention. Authors
argue that, to be effective, programmes should be
targeted at homogenous groups of adolescents who
share a particular constellation of needs and prob-
lems rather than be applied universally (Conrod,
Stewart, Comeau, & Maclean, 2006; Masterman &
Kelly, 2003). Concerning alcohol use, such needs
and problems might be expressed in the adoles-
cents’ particular drinking motives (Cooper et al.,
1995). Given the present findings of influences of
both the peer group’s motives (indirect) and the
individual’s motives (direct) on the individual ado-
lescent’s drinking behaviour, programmes that take
into account both the individual’s drinking motiva-
tions and those of other individuals in the same
social environment might be particularly effective
in reducing heavy drinking among young people.
References
Alsaker, F. D., & Flammer, A. (1999). The adolescent
experience: European and American adolescents in the
1990s. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
American Psychological Association. (2002). Ethical prin-
ciples of psychologists and code of conduct. American
Psychologist,57(12), 1060–1073.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-
mediator variable distinction in social psychological
research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical consider-
ations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
51(6), 1173–1182.
Borsari, B., & Carey, K. B. (2001). Peer influences on col-
lege drinking: A review of the research. Journal of
Substance Abuse,13(4), 391–424.
Bot, S. M., Engels, R. C. M. E., & Knibbe, R. A. (2005).
The effects of alcohol expectancies on drinking
behaviour in peer groups: Observations in a naturalistic
setting. Addiction,100(9), 1270–1279.
JOURNAL OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY 14(4)
544
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
KUNTSCHE & STEWART: WHY MY CLASSMATES DRINK
545
Catanzaro, S. J., & Laurent, J. (2004). Perceived family
support, negative mood regulation expectancies, cop-
ing, and adolescent alcohol use: Evidence of mediation
and moderation effects. Addictive Behaviors,29(9),
1779–1797.
Conrod, P. J., Stewart, S. H., Comeau, N., & Maclean, A.
M. (2006). Efficacy of cognitive behavioral interven-
tions targeting personality risk factors for youth alcohol
misuse. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent
Psychology,35(4), 550–563.
Cooper, M. L. (1994). Motivations for alcohol use among
adolescents: Development and validation of a four-
factor-model. Psychological Assessment,6(2), 117–128.
Cooper, M. L., Frone, M. R., Russell, M. A., & Mudar, P.
(1995). Drinking to regulate positive and negative emo-
tions: A motivational model of alcohol use. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology,69(5), 990–1005.
Cox, W. M., & Klinger, E. (1988). A motivational model
of alcohol use. Journal of Abnormal Psychology,97(2),
168–180.
Cox, W. M., & Klinger, E. (2004). A motivational model
of alcohol use: Determinants of use and change. In
W. M. Cox & E. Klinger (Eds.), Handbook of motiva-
tional counseling: Concepts, approaches, and assess-
ment (pp. 121–138). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Dishion, T. J., & Owen, L. D. (2002). A longitudinal
analysis of friendships and substance use: Bidirectional
influence from adolescence to adulthood. Develop-
mental Psychology,38(4), 480–491.
Gilks, W. R., Richardson, S., & Spiegelhalter, D. J. (Eds.).
(1996). Markov Chain Monte Carlo in practice:
Interdisciplinary statistics. London: Chapman & Hall.
Gmel, G., Rehm, J., & Kuntsche, E. N. (2003). Binge
drinking in Europe: Definitions, epidemiology, and con-
sequences. Sucht, 49(2), 105–116.
Ham, L. S., & Hope, D. A. (2003). College students and
problematic drinking: A review of the literature.
Clinical Psychology Review,23(5), 719–759.
Hawkins, J. D., Catalano, R. F., & Miller, J. Y. (1992).
Risk and protective factors for alcohol and other drug
problems in adolescence and early adulthood:
Implications for substance abuse prevention.
Psychological Bulletin,112(1), 64–105.
Hibell, B., Andersson, B., Ahlström, S., Balakireva, O.,
Bjarnason, T., Kokkevi, A. et al. (2000). The 1999
ESPAD report: Alcohol and other drug use among
students in 30 European countries. Stockholm: The
Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other
Drugs, CAN Council of Europe. Co-operation Group to
Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs
(Pompidou Group).
Hibell, B., Andersson, B., Bjarnason, T., Ahlström, S.,
Balakireva, O., Kokkevi, A. et al. (2004). The ESPAD
report 2003: Alcohol and other drug use among students
in 35 European countries. http://www.espad.org
(accessed 28 February 2007).
Jones-Webb, R. J., Toomey, T. L., Short, B. J., Murray,
D. M., Wagenaar, A. C., & Wolfson, M. (1997).
Relationships among alcohol availability, drinking loca-
tion, alcohol consumption, and drinking problems in ado-
lescents. Substance Use and Misuse,32(10), 1261–1285.
Kandel, D. B. (1985). On processes of peer influences in
adolescent drug use: A developmental perspective.
Advances in Alcohol and Substance Abuse,4(3–4),
139–163.
Kline, R. B. (Ed.). (2005). Principles and practice of
structural equation modelling, 2nd edn. New York: The
Guilford Press.
Kuntsche, E. (2007). Tell me ... why do you drink? A study
of drinking motives in adolescence. Lausanne: SIPA-
Press.
Kuntsche, E., Gmel, G., Wicki, M., Rehm, J., & Grichting,
E. (2006a). Disentangling gender and age effects on
risky single occasion drinking during adolescence.
European Journal of Public Health,16(6), 670–675.
Kuntsche, E., Knibbe, R. A., Engels, R. C. M. E., & Gmel,
G. (2007). Drinking motives as mediators of the link
between alcohol expectancies and alcohol use among
adolescents. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs,
68(1), 76–85.
Kuntsche, E., Knibbe, R. A., Gmel, G., & Engels, R. C.
M. E. (2005). Why do young people drink? A review of
drinking motives. Clinical Psychology Review,25(7),
841–861.
Kuntsche, E., Knibbe, R. A., Gmel, G., & Engels, R. C.
M. E. (2006b). ‘I drink spirits to get drunk and block
out my problems ...’: Beverage preference, drinking
motives and alcohol use in adolescence. Alcohol and
Alcoholism,41(5), 556–573.
Kuntsche, E., Knibbe, R. A., Gmel, G., & Engels, R. C.
M. E. (2006c). Replication and validation of the Drinking
Motive Questionnaire Revised (DMQ-R, Cooper, 1994)
among adolescents in Switzerland. European Addiction
Research,12(3), 161–168.
Kuntsche, E., Knibbe, R. A., Gmel, G., & Engels, R. C.
M. E. (2006d). Who drinks and why? A review of socio-
demographic, personality, and contextual issues behind
the drinking motives in young people. Addictive
Behaviors,31(10), 1844–1857.
Kuntsche, E., Rehm, J., & Gmel, G. (2004).
Characteristics of binge drinkers in Europe. Social
Science and Medicine,59(1), 113–127.
Kuntsche, E., Stewart, S. H., & Cooper, M. L. (2008a).
How stable is the motive-alcohol use link? A cross-
national validation of the drinking motives question-
naire revised among adolescents from Switzerland,
Canada, and the United States. Journal of Studies on
Alcohol and Drugs,69(3), 388–396.
Kuntsche, E., von Fischer, M., & Gmel, G. (2008b).
Personality factors and alcohol use: A mediator analysis
of drinking motives. Personality and Individual
Differences,45(8), 796–800.
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
Maisto, S. A., Carey, K. B., & Bradizza, C. M. (1999).
Social learning theory. In K. E. Leonard & H. T. Blane
(Eds.), Psychological theories of drinking and alco-
holism (2nd edn, pp. 106–163). NewYork: The Guilford
Press.
Masterman, P. W., & Kelly, A. B. (2003). Reaching ado-
lescents who drink harmfully: Fitting intervention to
developmental reality. Journal of Substance Abuse
Treatment,24(4), 347–355.
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2007). Mplus: User’s
guide, 5th edn. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
Rachman, S. (1977). The conditioning theory of fear-
acquisition: A critical examination. Behaviour Research
and Theory,15(5), 375–387.
Rehm, J., Room, R., Monteiro, M. G., Gmel, G., Graham,
K., Rehn, N. et al. (2004). Alcohol use. In M. Ezzati,
A. D. Lopez, A. Rodgers, & C. J. L. Murray (Eds.),
Comparative quantification of health risks: Global and
regional burden of disease attributable to selected
major risk factors (vol. 1, pp. 959–1108). Geneva:
World Health Organization (WHO).
Steinberg, L. (2000). Adolescence. New York: MacGraw-
Hill.
Stewart, S. H., Loughlin, H. L., & Rhyno, E. (2001).
Internal drinking motives mediate personality domain:
Drinking relations in young adults. Personality and
Individual Differences,30, 271–286.
Stewart, S. H., Watt, M., Zvolensky, M. J., Mushquash,
C. J., Eifert, G. H., & Samoluk, S. B. (in press).
Psychometric evaluation of the Revised Drinking
Motives Questionnaire in young adult student samples.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using multi-
variate statistics, 4th edn. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
JOURNAL OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY 14(4)
546
Author biographies
EMMANUEL KUNTSCHE, PhD, trained in
developmental and social psychology, sociology,
statistics and health sciences, is a senior researcher
and principal investigator at the SIPA (Swiss
Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug
Problems). In 2006, he received the Early Career
Scientist Award from the International Kettil
Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological
Research on Alcohol.
SHERRY H. STEWART, PhD, is a Killam Research
Professor and Canadian Institutes of Health
Research Investigator in the Departments of
Psychiatry, Psychology, and Community Health
and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University in
Halifax, Canada, as well as a licensed clinical
psychologist in the Canadian province of Nova
Scotia.
at DALHOUSIE UNIV on May 1, 2009 http://hpq.sagepub.comDownloaded from
... Two studies to date have extended beyond dyads and begun to examine social influences within social networks. In a cross-sectional study of classmates, Kuntsche and Stewart (2009) found an indirect effect of classmates' drinking motives on adolescents' alcohol use via the adolescents' own drinking motives. The coping, conformity, social, and enhancement drinking motives of classmates influenced the adolescents' own matching drinking motives, which then went on to influence their own alcohol use. ...
... were used to indicate good fit (Kline, 2011). Aligning with sample size recommendations (Koopman et al., 2014;Özdil & Kutlu, 2019), and replicating Kuntsche and Stewart (2009), the Sobel Test was used to test indirect effects (i.e., product of T1 network motives predicting T2 participant motives, and T2 participant motives predicting T2 binge drinking). Results indicated T1 perceived network motives predicted T2 participant binge drinking frequency indirectly through participants' own T2 motives in the case of enhancement, coping-with-anxiety, and conformity motives, but not social or coping-with-depression motives. ...
... We investigated the impact of social network drinking motives on the motives and binge drinking of emerging adults. While research suggested social network motives may impact an individual's drinking through the individual's own motives (e.g., Kuntsche & Stewart, 2009), previous studies did not examine selection, did not allow participants to identify their own social networks, did not examine participant perceptions, were conducted in restricted social networks or dyads, and/or focused on adolescents. Our study significantly advanced the literature in this area by filling the above-mentioned gaps. ...
Article
Introduction: A significant body of research has investigated the impacts of social influence and social selection on binge drinking and risk factors for binge drinking in emerging adults; however, one risk factor for binge drinking that has yet to be thoroughly investigated in this regard is drinking motives. Preliminary research suggests the motives of others may impact emerging adults’ own alcohol use indirectly through their own motives (i.e., social influence). While these are important findings, research to date has been only conducted with adolescents or dyads and has not examined selection (i.e., selecting social network members with similar motives). We filled these gaps with a longitudinal egocentric social network design. Methods: Emerging adults (N = 177) completed measures on their alcohol use, drinking motives, and social networks at baseline (T1) and four-month follow-up (T2). Results: A cross-lagged panel model indicated T1 perceived network drinking motives predicted T2 participant drinking motives (for all motives but social), but T1 participant drinking motives did not predict T2 perceived network drinking motives. Path analysis indicated T1 perceived network drinking motives predicted T2 participant binge drinking frequency indirectly through T2 participant drinking motives for enhancement, coping-with-anxiety, and conformity, but not social or coping-with-depression, motives. Discussion: Results suggests drinking motives of those around emerging adults impact their own drinking motives, and indirectly, their own alcohol use. We found evidence of social influence, but not social selection. Conclusion: It appears that those around emerging adults have the capacity to influence their drinking behaviors and drinking motives.
... Limited prior work suggests drinking motives confer influence via a socialization process. Adolescent drinking motives (enhancement, conformity, coping, and social) are positively predicted by classmate drinking motives (Kuntsche & Stewart, 2009), demonstrating motives can be transmitted via peer social influence. Moreover, a peer group's drinking motives influence an adolescent's own drinking motives, which subsequently influence that adolescent's drinking levels . ...
... To expand on Hussong's (2003) focus on drinking frequency, we included two distinct measures of drinking behavior: days spent drinking per month (frequency) and the total number of drinks consumed per month divided by the number of drinking occasions (quantity). Finally, we investigated whether the influence of drinking buddy motives on individual drinking behavior occurs indirectly via changes in the individual's own drinking motives, given similar mediational findings in adolescent classroom peers (Kuntsche & Stewart, 2009), adolescent nominated peers , and emerging adult romantic couples . This would provide a mechanism for how drinking buddy motives effect change in individual drinking behavior. ...
... The present study's aim was to investigate drinking motives' effects on drinking behavior (Cooper, 1994) within the influential social context of emerging adult drinking buddy relationships (Lau-Barraco & Linden, 2014). Previous research had shown that drinking motives can be transferred between classroom peers (Kuntsche & Stewart, 2009), a close friend/ romantic partner's drinking motives can influence an 3 Consistent with Kehayes et al. (2019), drinking outcomes for abstainers on any given month were coded as missing data as opposed to zeros. This meant that when only one buddy drank in a specific month, their data was used to calculate actor effects (but not partner effects). ...
Article
Background: Heavy alcohol consumption and frequent alcohol use are associated with many adverse social and physical consequences. The different motivations underlying why people drink predict different patterns of alcohol consumption. A drinking buddy (i.e. a friend with whom a person drinks alcohol) influences a person’s drinking via social learning, leading to escalations in drinking over time. Purpose: Few studies have investigated drinking motives among peers and none have studied whether the drinking motives of a drinking buddy can influence another person’s drinking behavior; we sought to fill that gap. Method: Same-sex drinking buddies (N = 174; 66.1% female) were assessed once monthly for four months using self-report questionnaires. Participants were on average 18.66 years-old (SD = 1.17). Results: Indistinguishable actor–partner interdependence models using multilevel path analysis were conducted, with each drinking motive predicting drinking frequency and quantity, respectively. There were significant actor effects for social, enhancement, conformity, and coping motives; moreover, the enhancement, social, and coping-anxiety motives of the drinking buddy influenced the individual’s drinking frequency across the four months of the study. Conversely, only the enhancement motives of the buddy predicted drinking quantity in the individual when averaged across time. Sex was not a significant moderator of these effects. Importance: When targeting risky drinking behavior in a therapeutic context, assessing and addressing a person’s reasons for drinking, as well as their drinking buddy’s reasons for drinking, may reduce the risk of escalations in either friend’s drinking frequency over time.
... Because the enhancement motive appears to play a particularly important role in young people's use of alcohol [26,27] we decided to focus on the relationship between enhancement motives and drinking behavior. Kuntsche and Stewart [11] noted that in social contexts individuals' enhancement motivation was influenced by that of their peers. Moreover, because young people are particularly vulnerable to group pressure and because enhancement motives might be acquired from peers through verbal exchanges about alcohol being a good way to enhance positive states, peers' enhancement motivation may have a strong influence on individual drinking behavior in this age group [11]. ...
... Kuntsche and Stewart [11] noted that in social contexts individuals' enhancement motivation was influenced by that of their peers. Moreover, because young people are particularly vulnerable to group pressure and because enhancement motives might be acquired from peers through verbal exchanges about alcohol being a good way to enhance positive states, peers' enhancement motivation may have a strong influence on individual drinking behavior in this age group [11]. On the basis of this research we propose a second hypothesis. ...
... We started by recruiting Educational Psychology students, who were asked to administer the questionnaire to at least three close friends with whom they often socialized. Although other studies have considered the class as the group of influence [11], we considered that given our participants In model 1, the individual variable (drinking refusal self-efficacy, Hl) is a predictor of drinking behavior. In model 2, the collective-level variables (peers' enhancement motivation, H2; peers' protective behavioral strategies, H3) are considered predictors of drinking behavior. ...
Article
Full-text available
In both developing and underdeveloped countries there has been a worrying increase in the number of young people drinking alcohol; this public health problem warrants more research. This multilevel study analyzed the influence of drinking refusal self-efficacy, peers’ motivation, and protective behavioral strategies as predictors of alcohol consumption in a sample of 261 young people arranged into 52 social groups (peers who regularly shared leisure activities). A series of questionnaires were administered individually to evaluate beliefs and behaviors related to alcohol consumption at both individual level (drinking refusal self-efficacy) and peer level (enhancement motivation and protective behavioral strategies). The results showed that the individual variable (drinking refusal self-efficacy) predicted alcohol consumption behaviors. The multilevel design allowed us to evaluate the direct and moderated effects of peers’ enhancement motivation and protective behavioral strategies on the relationship between self-efficacy and drinking behavior. These results show the importance of developing cognitive, behavioral, and educational intervention programs to increase young people and university students’ confidence and ability to use protective strategies, in order to reduce alcohol use.
... (Quevedo et al., 2009) . Young people's reasons for drinking, which have been thoroughly studied, frequently include obtaining social benefits including approbation and companionship, enhancing positive mood or wellness, coping with unpleasant emotions, and preventing social rejection (Kuntsche & Stewart, 2009). The spectrum of peer involvement has significantly expanded in the modern day because to the internet or other social media, and earning the respect of peers is a key factor in why teenagers are at risk for alcohol use addiction. ...
... In still-developing Asian countries, a recent World Health Institution (WHO) report highlighted the growing negative effects of alcohol use, especially on young people when compared to older adults (Gore et al., 2011), noting that alcohol use among this group merits special attention due to their genetic and psychological vulnerability. (Kuntsche & Stewart, 2009). The current study examines alcohol consumption trends as well as associated health and social concerns among teenagers in Asian nations; young people are defined as those between the ages of 15 and 29. ...
Research Proposal
Full-text available
Drinking indecently is a severe public health issue. Sipping or tasting frequently leads to regular alcohol or worsening habits such dangerous excessive drinking or addiction, alcoholism, or even death. Social and structural factors that have an impact on adolescents' health at the individual, family, community, and societal levels have a significant impact. Violence, mental health issues, creating the risk but rather self-harm, HIV or other viral infections, poor educational performance and dropout rates, limited employment opportunities, and accidents here on road or other unintentional injuries are just a slew of negative effects of adolescent alcohol consumption. The purpose of this review is to look at the research and determine what factors lead to teen consumption in Asian countries. The study made extensive use of internet resources including Pubmed and CINHAL. The study made extensive use of internet resources including Pubmed and CINHAL. After that, databases were accessed to conduct a more extensive literature search using key phrases and chemical operator to find publications pertinent to the issue. 64 records were found. Duplicate entries and those that didn't fit the criteria were removed. A criteria for inclusion/exclusion was used to filter 8 items. Results indicated that elevated risks of teenage drinking were linked with male gender, age, melancholy, religious belief, parental/family members' drinking, lower parental attention, peer drinking/pressure/approval, and urban neighborhood. Given that they assist young people in controlling their drinking, such organizations may be crucial to consider when developing health programs for teens in the region. In order to protect south Asian young teenagers from the harmful effects of alcohol use, it is important to have a thorough knowledge of the factors that influence adolescent substance use in Asia. This will allow 11366 for the development of context-specific public health initiatives that are effective and assisted by strict regulatory guidelines.
... (Quevedo et al., 2009) . Young people's reasons for drinking, which have been thoroughly studied, frequently include obtaining social benefits including approbation and companionship, enhancing positive mood or wellness, coping with unpleasant emotions, and preventing social rejection (Kuntsche & Stewart, 2009). The spectrum of peer involvement has significantly expanded in the modern day because to the internet or other social media, and earning the respect of peers is a key factor in why teenagers are at risk for alcohol use addiction. ...
... In still-developing Asian countries, a recent World Health Institution (WHO) report highlighted the growing negative effects of alcohol use, especially on young people when compared to older adults (Gore et al., 2011), noting that alcohol use among this group merits special attention due to their genetic and psychological vulnerability. (Kuntsche & Stewart, 2009). The current study examines alcohol consumption trends as well as associated health and social concerns among teenagers in Asian nations; young people are defined as those between the ages of 15 and 29. ...
Article
Full-text available
Drinking indecently is a severe public health issue. Sipping or tasting frequently leads to regular alcohol or worsening habits such dangerous excessive drinking or addiction, alcoholism, or even death. Social and structural factors that have an impact on adolescents' health at the individual, family, community, and societal levels have a significant impact. Violence, mental health issues, creating the risk but rather self-harm, HIV or other viral infections, poor educational performance and dropout rates, limited employment opportunities, and accidents here on road or other unintentional injuries are just a slew of negative effects of adolescent alcohol consumption. The purpose of this review is to look at the research and determine what factors lead to teen consumption in Asian countries. The study made extensive use of internet resources including Pubmed and CINHAL. The study made extensive use of internet resources including Pubmed and CINHAL. After that, databases were accessed to conduct a more extensive literature search using key phrases and chemical operator to find publications pertinent to the issue. 64 records were found. Duplicate entries and those that didn't fit the criteria were removed. A criteria for inclusion/exclusion was used to filter 8 items.
... While there is robust evidence of partner influence on drinking behavior [36,66], there is emerging evidence that one's own drinking behavior can be influenced by the drinking motives of important network members. This research has primarily focused on peers [67][68][69], but a handful of studies have examined and supported this effect in romantic couples [37]. However, the existing literature and the partner influence hypothesis would predict a consistent positive association between a partner's coping drinking motives and an individual's drinking behavior regardless of gender [66]. ...
Article
Full-text available
The COVID-19 pandemic spurred public health measures to reduce viral spread. Concurrently, increases in alcohol consumption and conflict in romantic partnerships were observed. Pre-pandemic research demonstrated a bidirectional association between couples’ conflict and drinking. Recent research shows one’s drinking motives (proximal predictors of drinking behavior) can influence another person’s drinking in close relationships. It is possible that individuals are drinking to cope with distress following romantic conflict. The current study examined 348 cohabitating couples during the first lockdown in the spring of 2020. Our analyses examined coping motives as a mediator between dyadic conflict and drinking behavior using actor–partner interdependence models. Results showed that conflict was associated with greater reports of own drinking in gendered (distinguishable) and nongendered (indistinguishable) analyses through coping motives. Further, in mixed-gender couples, men partners’ coping motives predicted less drinking in women, while women partners’ coping motives predicted marginally more drinking in men. Partner effects may have been observed due to the increased romantic partner influence during the COVID-19 lockdown. While these results suggest that men’s coping motives may be protective against women’s drinking, more concerning possibilities are discussed. The importance of considering dyadic influences on drinking is highlighted; clinical and policy implications are identified.
... In adolescents, it has been found that peer drinking motives influence individual drinking motives (Kuntsche & Stewart, 2009). It was therefore unexpected in the present study that coping motives were unrelated between friends over time. ...
Article
Full-text available
Drinking to cope with negative affect is a strong predictor of alcohol-related problems. We hypothesized that the association between friendship conflict and alcohol-related problems would be mediated by coping-with-depression motives in emerging adults’ close friendships. We used a 4-wave, 4-month longitudinal self-report survey design measuring friendship conflict, coping motives, and alcohol-related problems from 174 same-sex friendship dyads. Participants were recruited from Nova Scotia, Canada between September 2016 and February 2019. Participants had a mean age of 18.66 ( SD = 1.17) and were 66.1% female. Data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling. Coping-with-depression motives mediated the link between conflict and alcohol-related problems at the between- and within-subject levels. Unexpectedly, coping-with-anxiety motives was an additional mediator at the within-subjects level. Interventions for emerging adults’ problem drinking should consider the influence of friendship conflict and its impact on emerging adults’ tendencies to drink to cope with both depression and anxiety. Materials/Syntax: https://osf.io/krs3v/
... Previous studies indicated that the young generation recognizes wine as a social drink (Olsen et al., 2007;Teagle et al., 2010;Treloar et al., 2004), as it is mostly served in public places such as restaurants and is preferred to be consumed on social occasions. Studies using younger participants have consistently reported that social motives are given the highest priority toward behavioral intention (Kuntsche et al., 2008;Kuntsche and Stewart, 2009). The third factor was identified as consumption reason (mood, enjoyment and relaxation). ...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand consumers in the emerging wine market of India to ensure the best services. To this end, factors were identified to describe Indian wine consumer behavior and further segments for consumers were created based on the factors identified. Design/methodology/approach The research design is descriptive in nature and based on primary data. Data was collected by a structured questionnaire from 232 respondents in five major cities of India (Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad). The scale was mainly adopted from wine-related lifestyle approaches. Findings The principal component factor analysis resulted in six factors, namely, drinking ritual, consumption reason (social), consumption reason (mood, enjoyment and relaxation), consumption practice, consumption planning and quality. Cluster analysis resulted in a three-cluster solution. These clusters were named as cautious social drinker, loner regular drinker and highly engaged drinker based on the attributes possessed. Originality/value The segmentation of urban Indian wine consumers will be helpful for marketers to identity and describe the differences in attributes and behaviors, to create customized promotions to match the needs.
Article
Objective: Accumulating evidence suggests that particular parenting behaviors (e.g., elevated psychological control) may increase risk for both problematic social anxiety and alcohol use among youth; however, no work has yet examined these factors together in a single model. Building developmentally-sensitive models of problematic alcohol use trajectories is key to developing effective prevention and intervention strategies. Method: The present study includes 94 adolescents (ages 14-17 years; 53.3% girls; 89.2% White) entering a treatment facility for a variety of internalizing and externalizing forms of psychological distress. Levels of perceived parental psychological control, social anxiety, and coping-related drinking motives were assessed. Results: Higher levels of perceived psychological control was associated with a greater endorsement of coping-related drinking motives; however, a significant proportion of that association was accounted for by elevated social anxiety symptoms. Conclusions: These data extend the existing literature and lay groundwork for more sophisticated experimental and longitudinal designs to corroborate the findings. Moreover, personality-targeted drinking interventions for adolescents may benefit from identifying elevated perceived psychological control as a developmentally relevant risk-factor for social anxiety and problematic drinking motives and administering relevant interventions (e.g., personality-targeted coping skills training, parent-involved care) before drinking patterns are established.
Article
Perceived drinking motives of social network members appear to influence emerging adults’ alcohol use indirectly through their own drinking motives. Ascertaining the accuracy of motive perceptions can determine the relevance of social norm interventions for drinking motives and the utility of egocentric versus direct-reporting social network designs. As part of a larger study, 60 emerging adults (70% female; mean age = 21.57) reported cross-sectionally on their own drinking motives and the drinking motives of a peer. Peers were recruited and reported on their drinking motives. Regression analyses utilizing the truth and bias model indicated social, coping-with-anxiety, and coping-with-depression motives exhibited accuracy. Participants also overestimated peers’ social, enhancement, and conformity motives. Coping-with-depression and enhancement motives exhibited assumed similarity. Most motive perceptions were heavily or singularly influenced by bias. Whether to include actual and/or perceived motives in social network research designs should be carefully considered.
Article
Full-text available
The reciprocal relation between deviant friendships and substance use was examined from early adolescence (age 13–14) to young adulthood (age 22–23). Deviance within friendships was studied using direct observations of videotaped friendship interaction and global reports of deviant interactions with friends as well as time spent with friends. Substance use was assessed through youth self-report at all time points. Multivariate modeling revealed that substance use in young adulthood is a joint outcome of friendship influence and selection processes. In addition, substance use appears to influence the selection of friends in late adolescence. Findings suggest that effective preventions should target peer ecologies conducive to substance use and that treatment should address both the interpersonal underpinnings and addiction processes intrinsic to chronic use, dependence, and abuse.
Article
Full-text available
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. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Ziel: Erstellung eines Überblicks über Definitionen, Prävalenzen, Konsumentwicklungen und Folgen des Binge-Trinkens, definiert als Konsum großer Mengen Alkohol pro Anlass, mit besonderem Schwerpunkt auf Europa. Methode: Qualitativer Review aufgrund computerunterstützter Literaturrecherche. Ergebnisse: Männer zeigen deutlich mehr Binge-Trinken als Frauen. Im relativen Anteil an Binge-Trinken ergibt sich in Europa ein Nord-Süd Gefälle. Besonders unter Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen finden sich Zuwachsraten. Außerdem ergeben sich eine Vielzahl negativer sozialer und gesundheitlicher Folgen. Jedoch ist die Vergleichbarkeit der Studien aufgrund von unterschiedlichen Definitionskriterien stark eingeschränkt. Schlussfolgerung: Kulturübergreifende Studien mit vereinheitlichten Definitionskriterien und europäische Forschung mit dem Schwerpunkt auf Konsequenzen des Binge-Trinkens sind dringlich.
Article
Adolescence is traditionally considered to be the period in life when peer influences are most intense. Because adolescents are still members of parental family units and occupy the social roles of children toward whom parents have since their births exerted important socialization functions, a basic issue in adolescent socialization is the extent to which adolescent development proceeds in response to peer or to parental influences (Brofenbrenner, 1970; Hartup, 1979; Kandel & Lesser, 1972). A pervasive notion is that there is a “generation gap”, with adolescents assumed to function completely independent and in opposition to the world of adults. Social commentators such as the late Margaret Mead (1970) or the noted sociologist James S. Coleman (1970, 1973) stress the emergence of strong adolescent subcultures and the increased separation between parents and their adolescent children. The emergence of these distinct subcultures has been attributed to structural changes in social organization: the fact that adolescents spend most of their lives segregated in schools with peers of their own age; the lengthening of schooling; and the reduced responsibilities for participation in the labor force. Insulation from parents and other adults is assumed to result in the elimination of parental ability to influence their adolescent children.