Personal and social drinking motives, family drinking history, and problems associated with drinking in two university samples.

Two drinking motives scales, Negative Personal (NP) motives and Positive Social (PS) motives, derived from Mulford and Miller's Definitions of Alcohol Scales, and a Negative Family Models (NFM) scales designed to reflect family modeling of drinking-related problems were evaluated for internal consistency and association with college students' scores on a drinking-related Social Complications (SOCCOMP) scale. In both initial (n = 553) and cross-validation (n = 293) samples, all four scales demonstrated high internal consistency. Multiple regressions of NP, PS, and NFM scales, together with measures of quantity and frequency of drinking on SOCCOMP for both samples, yielded highly significant multiple R's, confirming the additive association of these measures with problem drinking outcomes. An unanticipated finding of positive associations between PS drinking motive and SOCCOMP is reported.

Gender differences in drinking motivations and outcomes.

To investigate gender differences in the dynamics of alcohol use, we gathered self-reported data from male and female college students. Results of our experiment showed that dominance power motivations were correlated with negative drinking outcomes for both men and women; assertiveness power motivations were associated with negative outcomes only for women. For both sexes, a higher proportion of positive social motivations was associated with fewer negative drinking outcomes. We expect that, in addition to the more traditionally defined needs for dominance power shown to be important for drinking among men, women may use alcohol in relation to needs for assertiveness and self-expression.

Expectations, alienation, and drinking motives among college men and women.

Relationships among three motivational variables (negative-personal functions of drinking, alienation, and perceived discrepancies between valued goals and expected success toward valued goals) were evaluated in a group of 257 college drinkers. As predicted, a positive relationship between alienation scores and the extent of discrepancies between values and expectations for academic and social success was found. Negative-personal drinking functions were positively associated with both alienation and value-expectation discrepancies. Results are discussed in terms of heuristic consistency and potential applications.

Eating motivations and bulimic behavior among college women.

Given observed correlations between certain types of motivations for alcohol use and problem-drinking outcomes, it was hypothesized that a similar pattern of eating motivations might predict bulimic eating behavior. For a sample of 161 college women, eating motivations which imply stress reduction or mood alteration correlated positively with bulimia as measured by the Bulimia Test.

Gender differences in the relationship of drinking motivations and outcomes.

Questionnaire data were used to test the hypothesis that stated motivations for drinking would be more directly related to drinking outcomes among adolescent girls than among adolescent boys. Evidence in support of this hypothesis was found, and we suggest that this gender difference might be due to different norms and role expectations in regard to drinking by boys and men and girls and women in our society.

Drinking motivations and alcohol consumption among adolescent females.

The relationship between motivations for alcohol use and drinking patterns was investigated within a sample of 188 adolescent American female high school students. Previous research has revealed a positive correlation between problem-solving drinking motivations and alienation among similar samples. It was predicted that such stated motivations for drinking would correlate positively with heavier rates of drinking in this population. This hypothesis was supported in terms of quantity and frequency of wine, beer, and liquor intake.

Alienation and drinking motivations among adolescent females.

The present study examined a hypothesized relation between alienation and stated motivations for alcohol use. It was predicted that such a relation would emerge more clearly among adolescent females than among adolescent males, and this prediction was confirmed. Among females, problem-related drinking motivations correlated positively with alienation, whereas social-convivial motivations correlated negatively with this attribute. No comparable correlations were found among the male subjects. It was concluded that important sex differences in the dynamics of problem drinking in our society are worthy of additional study.

Population change and public drinking in three rural communities.

Three rural communities are compared in terms of barroom occupancy rates and observed alcohol consumption in that setting. It is hypothesized that rapid population increase will be associated with higher barroom occupancy rates and heavier consumption rates. This hypothesis is not supported. Instead it is found that higher levels of public drinking are found in association with population loss. It is concluded that generalizations concerning the deleterious effects of population growth should be made with caution only until additional studies document more precisely the nature of possible relationships between rapid population change and community mental health. Although it appears that progress has been made in developing methodologies for in-vivo studies of public drinking behaviour (Kessler & Gomber, 1974), such studies remain sparse in the drinking literature. Particularly infrequent are studies of barroom drinking designed to test specific hypotheses about the influence of changes in community life on public drinking behaviour. Many studies have focused on the sociology of bar behaviour (Cavan, 1966; Lewis, 1955; Marcrory, 1952; Rowbuck & Frese, 1976), identifying types of bars, distribution and location of public drinking settings, and characteristics and attitudes of patrons. Other studies have compared barroom drinking in laboratory settings (Billings, Weiner, Kessler & Gomberg, 1976), used observations to validate self-reports of drinking behaviour (Harford, Dorman & Feinhandler, 1976) and measured the effects of setting characteristics on consumption rates (Bach & Schaefer, 1979).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Correlates of alcohol arrests in a rural state.

Arrest and conviction rates for public intoxication, driving while intoxicated, and liquor law violations were correlated with population, population change, liquor sales, number of law officers, Indian population, and overall crime rate for 23 counties in Wyoming. It was concluded that increased liquor sales, but not arrest rates, are associated with population increase. Alcohol arrests are related positively to population magnitude and overall crime rate, but not to number of law officers. Counties with larger Indian populations report higher arrest rates for public intoxication and liquor law violations, but conviction rates for alcohol arrests in these counties are not different.

Internal-external control and drug use among junior high school students in a rural community.

Internal-external (I-E) control and current drug use were assessed among rural junior high school students. As expected, a negative relationship was found between internal control and drug use quantity-frequency. Correlations involving I-E control and drug use outcomes, while in the expected direction, were not significant. Data from the junior high sample were compared with previously collected high school data, and it was found that while overall patterns of use were similar for the two groups, the junior high students report lower quantity-frequency and more social complications.