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Objective: The present study examined the influences of personality dimensions (extraversion, neuroticism) on college alcohol involvement both (1) directly and (2) mediated by positive and negative alcohol expectancies across two imagined (high and low) alcohol doses. Method: Participants (N = 339; 176 women) were regularly drinking college students who completed a questionnaire battery on demographic characteristics, personality, expectancies, and alcohol use and problems. Results: Structural equation modeling analysis of low- and high-dose models revealed partial support for the Social Learning Theory conceptualization of expectancies as mediators of more distal (personality) influences. Interestingly, patterns of association differed by dose. At high-expectancy doses, positive alcohol expectancies fully mediated the extraversion-use association. At low doses, positive expectancies did not playa critical role. Two distinct pathways from neuroticism to alcohol use were observed: a direct pathway, whereby neuroticism is a protective factor for alcohol use, and an indirect pathway, through positive expectancies, whereby neuroticism is a risk factor. The protective pathway was evident regardless of expectancy doses, whereas the risk pathway was evident only at high doses. Negative expectancies partially mediated the association between neuroticism and alcohol problems at both high- and low-expectancy doses. Conclusions: These data underscore the unique role of both positive and negative expectancies in the association between personality and drinking behavior and point to the importance of considering alcohol dose when assessing expectancies. Findings suggest that it may be beliefs about the effects resulting from heavy (rather than moderate) drinking that may be the active mechanism underlying drinking behavior., HEAVY DRINKING IN COLLEGE IS associated with numerous consequences (e.g., Abbey, 2002; Donovan and McEwan, 1995; Perkins, 2002; Scott et al., 1999) and is a significant problem on U.S. college [...]

Objective: A substantial proportion of U.S. college students drink alcoholic beverages and report significant deleterious effects. The present study describes the development and initial validation of a measure designed to capture a broad range of alcohol-related consequences experienced by male and female college students. Method: College students (N = 340, 176 women) completed a self-report questionnaire battery consisting of information about demographic characteristics, drinking behaviors, and drinking consequences. Drinking consequences were assessed with a composite measure based on the Drinker inventory of Consequences, the Young Adult Alcohol Problem Screening Test (YAAPST) and items developed by the researchers. To assess concurrent validity, a subset of the total sample (n = 126) also completed the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI). Results: Confirmatory factor analyses supported an eight-factor solution (Social-Interpersonal Consequences, Impaired Control, Self-Perception, Self-Care, Risk Behaviors, Academic/Occupational Consequences, Physical Dependence, and Blackout Drinking), with all factors loading on a single, higher-order factor. YAACQ total scores correlated with alcohol quantity and frequency, and the RAPI. Gender comparisons suggest that the YAACQ assesses constructs of interest equally well for women and men. Conclusions: These results offer preliminary support for this measure. Research and clinical applications include the potential to predict future problems by specific type of consequence and to offer detailed feedback about drinking consequences to students as part of a preventive intervention. As such, the YAACQ may serve as an aid in both the description of and intervention for heavy drinking in college., A SUBSTANTIAL PROPORTION of U.S. college students drink and experience significant consequences (Abbey, 2002; Giancola, 2002; Harford et al., 2003; Montgomery and Haemmerlie, 1993; Perkins, 2002; Wood et al., 2000) [...]

Objective: The present study used structural equation modeling to test whether prospective relations between prematriculation social influences and alcohol involvement in college were most consistent with peer selection, peer socialization or reciprocal determinism explanations and to determine if observed relations varied according to measurement interval. We tested the hypotheses that 'active' (alcohol offers) and 'passive' (social modeling, perceived norms) social influences would be uniquely and reciprocally associated with alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences across two and three waves of assessment. Method: Prospective undergraduates (N = 388) completed self-report assessments in the summer before matriculation (Wave 1), in the spring of their freshman year (Wave 2) and in the spring of their sophomore year (Wave 3). Results: Reciprocal effects were observed between social influences and alcohol use in both two- and three-wave models. Some evidence was observed for reciprocal associations for social modeling with alcohol use and alcohol problems. Overall, however, only modest support was found for a reciprocal influence conceptualization of social influences in alcohol problems. For alcohol problems, the results were more consistent with selection effects. No significant reciprocal associations were observed for perceived norms. Conclusions: Findings generally support the Social Learning Theory concept of reciprocal determinism but suggest the relationship between individual drinking behaviors and the social environment varies when distinguishing between alcohol use and alcohol problems. These findings also point to the importance of distinguishing among different types of social influences when delineating processes that result from and lead to heavy drinking in college. (J Stud. Alcohol 66: 23-34, 2005), ALCOHOL MISUSE during the college years has received much recent attention in both the popular and professional literatures. Collegiate alcohol misuse has been linked to numerous negative health and social [...]

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the accuracy with which the depressive episodes of alcoholics undergoing treatment are classified as substance-induced depression (SID) or independent major depressive disorder (MDD). Method: Participants were 95 patients (64 men) undergoing partial hospital treatment for alcohol dependence. Affective disorders were assessed at baseline and 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months later. Results: Over one quarter of the depressive episodes originally diagnosed as SID were reclassified as MDD during the I-year follow-up, due to a continuation of the depressive episode despite a period of prolonged abstinence from alcohol and drugs. Both history of MDD and lower levels of alcohol dependence were associated with diagnostic change from SID to MDD. Conclusions: These findings support the diagnostic complexity of these two types of depressive disorders and point to clinical features that may differentiate them. (J Stud. Alcohol 65: 672-676, 2004), THE CO-OCCURRENCE of major depressive disorder (MDD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) is well documented (Grant and Harford, 1995; Helzer and Pryzbeck, 1988; Kandel et al., 2001; Kessler et al., [...]

Objective: This study examines the validity of the distinction between substance-induced and independent major depressive disorder (MD) among alcoholics utilizing variables theoretically linked to the etiology and course of depression: specifically dimensions of coping and dysfunctional attitudes about the self that can lead to extreme negative interpretations of life events. Method: Participants were 166 alcohol-dependent patients with elevated depressive symptoms. Comparisons were made between participants who met criteria for a current substance-induced major depressive episode and did not have a history of independent MDD (SIDD) and those who met criteria for a current major depressive episode and had either a past or current episode of independent MDD (IMDD). We also compared both of these groups to participants who have never met criteria for a depressive episode (NMDE). Results: Depressive symptoms were correlated negatively with dimensions of adaptive coping and positively with maladaptive coping and dysfunctional attitudes. Women were overrepresented in the IMDD group, but the diagnostic groups did not differ significantly in other demographic characteristics or in measures of substance use. Participants with IMDD reported greater dysfunctional attitudes than those with NMDE and those with SIDD, who did not differ from each other. Frequency of antidepressive coping behaviors was lowest among those with IMDD, was significantly higher in those with SIDD and was highest among those with NMDE. Conclusions: Results suggest depressed alcoholics who have experienced episodes of depression independent of excessive substance use possess cognitive vulnerabilities and coping deficits that may render them prone to depression., THE COMORBIDITY OF ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE (AD) and depression has been well-documented in community samples (Grant and Harford, 1995; Helzer and Pryzbeck, 1988; Kessler et al., 1997; Regier et al., 1990). [...]

Objective: Social influences are among the most robust predictors of adolescent substance use and misuse. Studies with early adolescent samples have supported the need to distinguish among various types of social influences to better delineate relations between social factors and alcohol use and problems. Method: The first major goal of the present study (N = 399, 263 women) was to examine unique relations between particular facets of social influence and alcohol use and problems in a relatively heavy-drinking population (i.e., college students). We hypothesized that active social influences (offers to drink alcohol) and passive social influences (social modeling and perceived norms) would demonstrate positive associations with measures of alcohol use and problems. We also tested the hypothesis that alcohol outcome expectancies would mediate associations between social influences and drinking behaviors. Results: Structural equation modeling analyses provided strong support for the first hypothesis. Social modeling demonstrated the strongest association with alcohol use and problems, and active social influences demonstrated significant associations with both use and problems. Perceived norms were related to alcohol use, but not directly with alcohol problems. Support for the second hypothesis was positive but limited to one type of social influence. Strong evidence for a mediational role of outcome expectancies was found for relations between social modeling and alcohol use and problems. Conclusions: Together, these findings demonstrate the unique and relative contribution of active and passive social influences and provide limited support for a hypothesized process by which social factors influence cognitions and alcohol-related behaviors. (J Stud. Alcohol 62: 32-43, 2001), THE PREVALENCE of heavy drinking and drinking-related consequences among college students has been documented in at least three national studies (Johnston et al., 1999; Presley et al., 1996; Wechsler et [...]