Legal drinking age and alcohol consumption

Utilizing samples from two states, one where the legal age for the possession and consumption of alcohol was 18 (Louisiana) and one where the legal age was 21 (North Carolina), we examine the assumption that restricting access to alcohol results in lower alcohol consumption rates for the target population (age 18–20). We find little support for this assumption, but considerable evidence that restrictive legislation drives younger drinkers underground, resulting in overall higher consumption rates for the target population.     

Social anxiety, reasons for drinking, and college students

Recent research suggests that social anxiety may be associated with higher rates of alcohol problems in women, yet may be associated with lower levels of drinking in men. The current study investigated putative mechanisms that may underlie potential gender differences in the social anxiety-alcohol relationship. One hundred and eighteen college students (61.0% women) completed an interview assessing drinking behaviors and questionnaires measuring social anxiety, drinking motives, and drinking situations. Although college men and women both reported similar frequencies of drinking in positive situations and to enhance positive emotions, women reported drinking more often in negative situations and to cope with aversive emotions than men. Mediated moderation analyses suggested that women with social anxiety may be at greater risk of encountering adverse consequences because of their likelihood to drink to conform or to cope with the aversive affect they experience in negative situations. Conversely, when men experience high rates of adverse consequences, it may be due to drinking greater quantities of alcohol in positive situations. Highly socially anxious college men may drink less alcohol and experience fewer adverse consequences than their nonanxious or mildly anxious counterparts because they may find themselves in positive situations and drinking to enhance positive feelings less often, potentially due to avoidant behavior. These findings may help to explain why social anxiety serves as a potential risk factor for alcohol-related problems for college women, but a protective factor for college men.     

Alcohol consumption, drinking patterns, and alcohol problems among managerial versus non-managerial women and men

In the present study, we examined alcohol consumption and alcohol problems between managerial and nonmanagerial men and women. We also examined alcohol problems as a function of drinking context (i.e., when they drink and with whom they drink) for each of these four groups. Survey data and data from company records were collected from a large sample of blue and white collar employees (n = 2279). Participants completed a detailed questionnaire aimed at assessing many work-related attitudes, general mental and physical health-related perceptions, motivations for alcohol use, alcohol consumption indices, and alcohol problems. We found that several of the demographic variables differentially predicted alcohol consumption and problems for the four groups. In addition, drinking alone and immediately after work were associated with alcohol problems for women managers at a significantly higher rate than for the other groups of employees. These results support the assertion that more complex models are needed to understand the linkages between work and alcohol use. The research reported in this paper was supported by Grant AA 10690-02, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health.     

Alcohol consumption, drinking patterns, and alcohol problems among managerial versus non-managerial women and men

In the present study, we examined alcohol consumption and alcohol problems between managerial and nonmanagerial men and women. We also examined alcohol problems as a function of drinking context (i.e., when they drink and with whom they drink) for each of these four groups. Survey data and data from company records were collected from a large sample of blue and white collar employees (n = 2279). Participants completed a detailed questionnaire aimed at assessing many work-related attitudes, general mental and physical health-related perceptions, motivations for alcohol use, alcohol consumption indices, and alcohol problems. We found that several of the demographic variables differentially predicted alcohol consumption and problems for the four groups. In addition, drinking alone and immediately after work were associated with alcohol problems for women managers at a significantly higher rate than for the other groups of employees. These results support the assertion that more complex models are needed to understand the linkages between work and alcohol use. The research reported in this paper was supported by Grant AA 10690-02, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health.     

Alcohol drinking parties and consumption of alcohol and other drugs in youth

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the relationships of involvement in the "botellon" (meetings of youth in public places to drink, chat, etc.) with alcohol/other drug abuse and vandalism in young people. A school survey was performed in centres of Compulsory Secondary School (E.S.O.), high school, professional training and University education in Lugo, NW Spain. The sample (aged 12 to 30) was split into three groups according to alcohol use and botellon involvement; drug abuse, drug-related problems and vandalism were assessed in each group. Results indicate that regular botellon attendants display more problems with alcohol and other drugs, as well as higher involvement in vandalism; this relationship is stronger among young students. The increase in adolescent risk associated with the practice of the botellon is explained by peer group pressure to use drugs and the greater accessibility of alcohol/other drugs in these contexts.     

Religious perceptions of alcohol consumption and drinking behaviours among religious and non-religious groups

Evidence indicates that religious involvement is associated with lower levels of alcohol consumption. However, mechanisms underlying the specific effects of religion on alcohol behaviours are still not entirely clear. This study examined potential differences in religious perceptions of alcohol consumption (RePAC) among Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, and non-religious individuals, and between Catholic and Baptist Christian denominations. We also assessed whether these perceptions were associated with quantity and frequency of drinking. Participants (N?=?495; 79% female) aged 18 and above completed self-report measures of alcohol consumption and religious perceptions of alcohol use. Findings indicated that non-religious individuals and Buddhists reported higher RePAC scores (i.e., more favourable attitudes toward alcohol use), followed by Christians and then Muslims. Drinking quantity was more strongly associated with RePAC for Buddhists and Christians than the same association for non-religious participants. These results provide preliminary evidence linking religious perceptions of alcohol to drinking behaviours across religious affiliations.     

Stuttering,alcohol consumption and smoking

PurposeLimited research has been published regarding the association between stuttering and substance use. An earlier study provided no evidence for such an association, but the authors called for further research to be conducted using a community sample. The present study used data from a community sample to investigate whether an association between stuttering and alcohol consumption or regular smoking exists in late adolescence and adulthood.MethodsRegression analyses were carried out on data from a birth cohort study, the National Child Development Study (NCDS), whose initial cohort included 18,558 participants who have since been followed up until age 55. In the analyses, the main predictor variable was parent-reported stuttering at age 16. Parental socio-economic group, cohort member's sex and childhood behavioural problems were also included. The outcome variables related to alcohol consumption and smoking habits at ages 16, 23, 33, 41, 46, 50 and 55.ResultsNo significant association was found between stuttering and alcohol consumption or stuttering and smoking at any of the ages. It was speculated that the absence of significant associations might be due to avoidance of social situations on the part of many of the participants who stutter, or adoption of alternative coping strategies.ConclusionBecause of the association between anxiety and substance use, individuals who stutter and are anxious might be found to drink or smoke excessively, but as a group, people who stutter are not more likely than those who do not to have high levels of consumption of alcohol or nicotine.     

Social anxiety and problematic alcohol consumption: the mediating role of drinking motives and situations

Social anxiety is inconsistently associated with alcohol use variables. To elucidate factors that contribute to the relationship between social anxiety and problematic alcohol use, the present study investigated drinking motives and drinking situations in an undergraduate sample (N = 293). Social anxiety was significantly correlated with endorsement of enhancement drinking motives (i.e., drinking to enhance positive experiences or emotions) but not social or coping motives. Social anxiety was also correlated with endorsement of drinking in the following high-risk situations: unpleasant emotions, conflict with others, social pressure, and testing personal control. Importantly, enhancement motives and each of these drinking situations mediated the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol-related problems. Findings suggest that alcohol use to enhance positive affect or in response to these specific situations may account for the risk for alcohol-related problems among those with social anxiety.     

Gender, alcohol consumption, and parental monitoring

The authors examined the relationships among gender, alcohol consumption, and parental monitoring, including television monitoring. Student volunteers (N = 150; 90% Caucasian, 79% women) participated by reporting retrospective general parental monitoring, television monitoring, and recent drinking behaviors. On the basis of the retrospective reports by the participants, when they were growing up the men received less overall parental monitoring but not less television monitoring than the women. Women's drinking quantity was correlated with parental monitoring, whereas men's drinking frequency was associated with both parental monitoring and television monitoring. Interestingly, men's binge drinking frequency was correlated with television monitoring but not with overall parental monitoring, whereas women's binge drinking frequency was correlated with overall parental monitoring but not with television monitoring. Implications for preventing alcohol misuse and ideas for future research are discussed.     

Ego identity, egocentrism, and formal operations

This study examined the relationship between ego identity and formal operations and egocentrism in an adolescent population. Results indicated significant positive correlations between ego identity and formal operations and between ego identity and grade in school. Multiple regression analysis revealed that grade in school explained 21 percent of the variance while formal operational thinking, egocentrism, and sex accounted for only an additional 2 percent of the variance.     

Anti-intellectualism,egocentrism and bank case intuitions

Salience-sensitivity is a form of anti-intellectualism that says the following: whether a true belief amounts to knowledge depends on which error-possibilities are salient to the believer. I will investigate whether salience-sensitivity can be motivated by appeal to bank case intuitions. I will suggest that so-called third-person bank cases threaten to sever the connection between bank case intuitions and salience-sensitivity. I will go on to argue that salience-sensitivists can overcome this worry if they appeal to egocentric bias, a general tendency to project our own mental states onto others. I will then suggest that a similar strategy is unavailable to stakes-sensitivists, who hold that whether a true belief amounts to knowledge depends on what is at stake for the believer. Bank case intuitions motivate salience- but not stakes-sensitivity.     

The relationship between drinking control strategies and college student alcohol use.

Interventions designed to reduce heavy drinking among college students often contain suggestions for drinking control strategies. However, little is known about the relationship between the use of these strategies and alcohol consumption. The authors developed a measure of drinking control strategies and investigated its psychometric properties in a sample of 250 college drinkers. Strategies clustered into three factors: selective avoidance of heavy drinking activities and situations, strategies used while drinking, and alternatives to drinking. These three types of strategies were independently associated with alcohol use; however, the first and last types were negatively associated with alcohol consumption, whereas the second type was positively associated with alcohol use. The findings from this study suggest that the type of strategy recommended may be important when the goal is alcohol reduction.     

College drinking behaviors: mediational links between parenting styles, parental bonds, depression, and alcohol problems.

Mediational links between parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive), parental bond (positive, negative), depression, alcohol use and abuse were tested. A 2-group, multiple-indicator, multiple-cause structural equation model with 441 (216 female, 225 male) college students was examined. In general, a poor parental bond with one's father was highly predictive of depression, a well-known predictor of alcohol abuse and related problems for both genders. In contrast, a positive parental bond with one's father significantly mediated the positive effects of authoritative fathering on depression, which then decreased alcohol use problems for both genders. For women, a negative parental bond with one's father significantly mediated the effect of having an authoritarian father on depression, which increased alcohol use problems. These findings suggest that parental influences on pathways to alcohol abuse through depression (primarily through fathers for both genders) are distinct from pathways stemming from poor impulse control (with influences primarily from the same-sex parents for both genders).     

Parental alcohol consumption and postneonatal mortality

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of maternal and paternal alcohol consumption as independent risk factors in postneonatal mortality. Questions on the frequency and quantity of alcoholic drinks consumed were included in a questionnaire used as part of a case-control study. Over a period of 11 months the families of 157 cases and 468 controls, matched for age and locality, were interviewed. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were obtained by matched univariate analysis and by multiple conditional logistic regression. Maternal consumption during pregnancy, maternal consumption during breastfeeding and maternal consumption in the past year were not risk factors for postneonatal mortality. A multiple matched analysis did not alter these results. Matched univariate analysis of paternal alcohol consumption gave several positive results, including variables pertaining to the father's consumption in a multiple logistic regression model with traditional risk factors, which revealed that the frequency of paternal consumption in the last year, as estimated by the mother, was found to have a significant effect on postneonatal mortality.     

How trajectories of reasons for alcohol use relate to trajectories of binge drinking: National panel data spanning late adolescence to early adulthood

Developmental changes in both alcohol use behaviors and self-reported reasons for alcohol use were investigated. Participants were surveyed every 2 years from ages 18 to 30 as part of the Monitoring the Future national study (analytic weighted sample size N = 9,308; 53% women, 40% college attenders). Latent growth models were used to examine correlations between trajectories of binge drinking and trajectories of self-reported reasons for alcohol use across young adulthood. Results revealed developmental changes in reasons for use and correlations between the patterns of within-person change in frequency of binge drinking and within-person change in reasons for use. In particular, an increase in binge drinking between ages 18 and 22 was most positively correlated with slopes of using alcohol to get high and because of boredom. Continued binge drinking between ages 22 and 30 was most strongly correlated with using alcohol to get away from problems. Almost no moderation by gender, race, college attendance, employment, or marital status was found. Binge drinking and reasons for alcohol use traveled together, illustrating the ongoing and dynamic connections between changes in binge drinking and changes in reasons for use across late adolescence and early adulthood.     

Assessing gender differences in the relationship between religious coping responses and alcohol consumption

The purpose of this study is to see if the use of religious coping responses is associated with alcohol intake. In addition, tests are conducted to see if the relationship between religion and alcohol use varies by gender. Data from a recent nationwide survey (N?=?2173) indicate that greater use of religious coping responses is associated with less alcohol consumption. The findings further reveal that even though women use religious coping responses more often than men, the relationship between the use of religious coping responses and alcohol consumption is stronger for men than for women. This suggests that, with respect to alcohol consumption, men may benefit more from using religious coping responses than women. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.     

Cross-national comparisons of the association between alcohol consumption and deliberate self-harm in adolescents

How differences in drinking patterns may affect the impact of alcohol consumption on deliberate self-harm among adolescents is explored in this international comparative study. Schools in Australia, Belgium, England, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Norway (N = 30,532) were surveyed. In all countries the risk of deliberate self-harm was significantly elevated among adolescents who reported some or numerous episodes of intoxication, controlling for confounding factors. The results support the assumption that intoxication is significantly related to the association between alcohol consumption and deliberate self-harm in adolescents.