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This study investigates the relationship between marijuana use, perceived norms of use by friends and students in general, and negative experiences or problems from alcohol and drug use. It was hypothesized that students would overestimate the marijuana use of students in general and that perceptions about the prevalence of marijuana use would be related to drug-related consequences.In this study, 5,990 participants provided information on the perceptions and consequences of drug use via an online survey or via a paper-based survey.Although two thirds of participants reported no marijuana use, 98% of respondents incorrectly predicted that students in general use marijuana at least once per year. Perceptions of use by friends and students in general accounted for variance in drug use and related problems or experiences.Given the relationship between norm misperception and behavior with marijuana use, future research could explore the impact of targeting misperceived norms through prevention and intervention efforts.

Descriptive social norms have been pervasively incorporated in adolescent and college student alcohol interventions based on two key relationships; (1) perceived norms are typically higher than actual norms, and (2) perceived norms are positively correlated with drinking. With few exceptions (Marks et al 1992; Read el al., 2005), most studies have been cross-sectional or have examined only how perceived norms are associated with later drinking, rather than how drinking relates to later perceived norms (Kahler et al., 2003; Larimer et al., 2004; Read el al., 2002). The present research was designed to evaluate the stability of normative misperceptions, perceived norms, and drinking. In addition, the ability of perceived norms to predict future drinking is compared with the ability of drinking to predict future perceived norms. As a general term, “social norm” usually refers to what is considered to be normal within a given population of people. Terminology used in empirical investigations related to social norms is discordant and varied but can perhaps best be understood by considering two dimensions: injunctive versus descriptive norms and perceived versus actual norms. The “injunctive versus descriptive” distinction was suggested by Cialdini and colleagues (1990). “Injunctive norms” refer to the extent to which some population approves or disapproves of a given behavior. “Descriptive norms” refer to the frequency or quantity of a given behavior within some population. The present research focuses on descriptive norms. The “perceived versus actual” distinction is important because people often do not know the extent to which others approve, disapprove, or engage in a particular behavior. It is usually the perception of others’ attitudes or behaviors that is directly influential on the individual rather than others’ actual attitudes or behaviors (Lewin, 1943). Past research has shown that college students overestimate the prevalence of peers’ drinking (Borsari and Carey, 2003). Moreover, the magnitude of overestimation is associated with more problematic drinking (Baer and Carney, 1993; Baer et al 1991; Lewis and Neighbors. 2004; Perkins and Berkowitz, 1986). Perceived approval and prevalence of peer drinking is associated with one’s own drinking (Borsari and Carey, 2001; Lewis and Neighbors, 2004; Perkins, 2002; Prentice and Miller, 1993). It is clear from previous studies that perceived norms and behaviors go hand in hand: the reason for this, however, is less clear. Several explanations have been offered regarding normative misperceptions, including pluralistic ignorance (Miller and Prentice, 1996; Prentice and Miller, 1993), false consensus (Ross et al., 1977; Marks and Miller, 1987), and false uniqueness (Suls et al., 1988). The temporal relationship between perceived norms and drinking remains unclear. In theory, perceived norms about drinking will influence people’s behavior to the extent that they are motivated to be seen as similar to the group. If individuals are afraid to be viewed as deviants, they will behave in accordance with what they believe the group norm to be. These ideas are supported by classic research on conformity (Asch, 1951; Deutsch and Gerard, 1955; Sherif, 1936), as well as by a host of literature related to social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954), social impact theory (Latane, 1981), and social identity and self-categorization theories (Tajfel and Turner, 1986; Turner et al., 1987). Empirical support for the notion that perceived norms temporally precede drinking can be derived indirectly from intervention studies incorporating normative feedback. Perceived norms are experimentally manipulated by providing feedback that highlights the discrepancies between one’s own drinking, one’s perceptions of peer drinking, and peers’ actual drinking. A number of studies have found provision of normative feedback to result in drinking reductions (Agostinelli et al., 1995; Collins et al., 2002; Walters and Neighbors, 2005; Walters et al., 2000). Other studies have shown that reductions in perceived norms mediate drinking reductions (Borsari and Carey, 2000; Mattern and Neighbors, 2004; Neighbors et al., in press). In contrast to the notion that perceived norms temporally precede drinking, at least two phenomena—projection and social selection—suggest the opposite. Students may base their estimates of others’ drinking on their own behavior This idea is consistent with false consensus (Marks and Miller, 1987; Ross et al., 1977) and false uniqueness (Suls et al., 1988) effects. An alternative is that heavier drinkers may choose to associate with heavier-drinking peers, which may influence both their perceived norms and subsequent drinking. Previous research suggests that social or peer selection has a clear impact on student drinking (Bullers et al., 2001; Kahler et al., 2003; Read et al., 2005). In sum, previous research and theory suggest three possibilities: perceived norms will be better predictors of later drinking, drinking will be a better predictor of later perceived norms, or both will be equally predictive of the other. The present study was designed to examine mean differences in, and correlations between, perceived and actual drinking norms among college students over time.

OBJECTIVE: Negative alcohol-related consequences often occur during specific events and in specific contexts (e.g., 21st birthday celebrations and tailgating [pregaming] parties). A lack of available event- and context-specific interventions suggests the need to better understand factors associated with heavy drinking in these contexts, with an eye toward developing specific interventions. The purpose of this research was to lay the foundation for developing personalized normative feedback interventions for 21st birthday celebratory drinking and tailgating drinking by evaluating whether students overestimate norms in these specific contexts, as they do more generally. METHOD: Perceived descriptive norms and alcohol consumption were assessed at event- and context-specific levels in two studies. Study 1 included 119 students turning 21 years old who reported their 21st birthday drinking behavior and estimated the typical number of drinks consumed by students celebrating their 21st birthday. Study 2 included 140 undergraduates drawn from a stratified random sample who reported their behavior regarding drinking and tailgating and their perceived norms for typical drinking and tailgating behavior. RESULTS: Results from Study 1 revealed that students overestimated peer drinking during 21 st birthday celebrations, and this overestimation was associated with heavier drinking on one's own 21st birthday. In Study 2, students underestimated the percentage of tailgaters who drank but overestimated typical consumption. Overestimation was consistently associated with heavier drinking during tailgating. CONCLUSIONS: Successful correction of general normative misperceptions has been shown to reduce drinking in other research. Documentation of normative misperceptions for specific events and contexts provided by these results represents an important step in developing event- and context-specific interventions utilizing specific normative feedback.

Modeling, or the imitation of another's behavior, has been proposed to influence alcohol consumption. The literature dealing with effects of modeling on alcohol consumption was reviewed using meta-analytic procedures in order to determine the strength of the modeling effect and the variables that moderate the effect.Thirteen studies were examined in which participant's alcohol consumption in the presence of a high consumption model was compared to a low consumption model condition or a no-model condition. Analyses were conducted for the four dependent measures utilized in the literature: amount consumed, blood alcohol concentration, number of sips taken and volume per sip. Mean effect sizes (d) were calculated for each dependent measure and moderator variables were examined.Modeling had a significant effect on all four dependent measures, with the strongest effects being on amount consumed and blood alcohol concentration. In addition, analyses identified numerous variables that moderate the effect of modeling on alcohol consumption, including the drinking history of the participant, the drinking task used and the nature of the interaction between model and participant.Results indicated that modeling has a strong effect on alcohol consumption; however, several variables do mediate this effect.

Less is known about heavier drinking in adolescents than about alcohol initiation. The present study examined the emergence of regular (weekly) and heavy episodic (five or more drinks at a time) adolescent drinking as a function of social influence (modeling and social control) from parents and peers.A three-wave study was conducted using a representative household sample of families in metropolitan Buffalo, New York (N = 612). Over half (54%) of the adolescent respondents were female. Black families made up 30% of the sample. Interviews were conducted at 1-year intervals. Adolescent drinking was dichotomized at each wave into abstinence/light drinking versus regular drinking. Logistic regression including only adolescents who were abstainers/light drinkers at Wave 1 was performed to assess which Wave- variables could predict regular-drinking onset by Wave 2; a similar analysis examined the onset of heavy episodic drinking by Wave 2. Parallel analyses using Wave-2 variables to predict the onset of the drinking outcomes by Wave 3 were also conducted.Across the different analyses, the strongest psychosocial predictors of advancement to heavier drinking were friend's drinking and low parental monitoring. Also, white adolescents were at greater risk than their black counterparts.A multidimensional approach to prevention that addresses different processes of influence (e.g., modeling and social control) involving both parental and peer domains is likely to be most successful in deterring the onset of heavier drinking in adolescents.

Social settings and situations of underage drinking were described for students from 15 communities in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Reports of their last drinking event, including setting, number of persons drinking with them, number of those persons under age 21, and whom they were with, were examined. The role of these variables in the prediction of having five or more drinks on one occasion was assessed.Ninth graders (n = 2,269) and 12th graders (n = 2,377) who reported using alcohol in the last 30 days were included in the sample from a nested cross-sectional survey design. Bivariate analyses were performed between the situational variables and gender, number of older siblings and drinking behavior. Chi-square statistics were divided by an estimate of the design effect and multivariate analyses used mixed-model regression to correct for the nesting of individuals within communities.Situations and settings of drinking differed according to age and drinking behavior. Twelfth graders were less likely to drink with parents or other adults than 9th graders and more likely to drink in someone else's home, and in large groups where nearly everyone was underage. Persons reporting having five or more drinks on one occasion in the last 2 weeks were more likely to report drinking with peers, in large groups of underage persons and away from home.Interventions to reduce use of alcohol by youth must focus on the context in which the drinking is taking place in addition to other factors. Policy or educational interventions that seek to alter the situations and settings of underage drinking may be effective in reducing consumption of alcohol in adolescents.

We examined the influence of demographic variables, and social (parents and peers), attitudinal and intentions variables regarding alcohol use on actual drinking behavior among Asian and white populations.Asian (n = 148; 79 female, 69 male) and white (n = 132; 72 female, 60 male) college students completed a questionnaire.Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that social and attitudinal factors reflected a common construct of Psychosocial Vulnerability which, in a structural equation model, was significantly predicted by ethnicity. The white population was exposed to more psychosocial risks to alcohol use compared to the Asian population. Ethnicity, however, did not directly predict either drinking intentions or drinking behavior, after the effects on Psychosocial Vulnerability were considered.Our findings suggest that ethnic differences in alcohol use between Asians and whites are mainly due to different levels of exposure to risk factors. Effective prevention programs must consider, not only psychosocial factors, but also certain contextual factors such as sex and ethnicity.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to examine the procurement of alcohol among underage drinkers. Method: The data are based on a survey of 3,571 students in Ontario schools. Underage drinkers were those younger than 19 years of age. Data were gathered with an anonymous questionnaire administered in classrooms in 1992. The data include descriptive analysis of underage procurement and a cluster analysis of underage drinker types (n = 1,125: 566 female). Results: Most students found alcohol easy to obtain, with the most common access being from parents' supplies or older friends. Four types of underage drinkers were identified: bar drinkers (5%), frequent purchasers (10%), frequent obtainers (3%) and infrequent obtainers (83%). Conclusions: Frequent self purchasers and infrequent secondary purchasers have the highest levels of consumption and problems. However, most underage drinkers report no problems.

Although adolescent alcohol use has been consistently associated with parental drinking behavior, sibling drinking behavior and family functioning, the extent to which these associations owe to genetic or shared environmental influences has not been previously investigated. Using an adoption study design, we sought to determine whether the familial correlates of adolescent alcohol involvement were due to common genetic or common environmental effects.The sample consisted of 653 adopted families ascertained through adoption agencies in four U.S. states. Each family consisted of a target adopted adolescent, an adoptive mother and an adoptive father. In addition, 68 birth adolescents (i.e., biological offspring of the adoptive parents) and 187 second adopted adolescents from these families participated in the study. All participants completed a mail survey that included assessment of drinking behavior and family functioning.The relationship between parental problem drinking and adolescent alcohol involvement was moderate and significant among birth offspring (corrected multiple correlation, Rc = .30), but small and non-significant among adoptive offspring (Rc = .00). The relationship between adolescent alcohol involvement and family functioning was substantial for birth offspring (Rc = .39), but only modest for adoptive offspring (Rc = .16). The nonbiological sibling correlation for involvement with alcohol was significant (r = .24) and moderated by sibling pair demographic similarity, such that same-sex, similar-age siblings were substantially more similar (r = .45) than opposite-sex, dissimilar-aged siblings (r = .01).These findings suggest that adolescent alcohol use is affected minimally by the environmental consequences of parent problem drinking and family functioning, but substantially by sibling environmental effects.

Objective: Heavy drinking among college students carries with it the risk of adverse consequences. This study explored the relationship between alcohol-related problems and the social-emotional contexts of drinking in college students. Method: Undergraduate volunteers (N = 139; 61% female; 27% minority) completed an assessment of drinking patterns, the short form of the Inventory of Drinking Situations (IDS-42) and an alcohol problems index. Results: Heavy drinkers drank more, relative to light/moderate drinkers, in five of the eight situations assessed by the IDS-42. Several IDS-42 subscales correlated highly with the number of alcohol-related problems. Subjects identified by their extreme scores on the IDS-42 reported more alcohol problems, greater maximum quantities consumed and more frequent intoxication. Conclusions: The IDS-42 can identify the contexts in which heavy drinking occurs and individuals who are likely to experience alcohol problems.

The limit violation effect (LVE) was studied by inducing male social drinkers to consume either more or less beer than their prestated limit on alcohol intake. Affective and behavioral reactions to the violation of drinking limits were mediated by attributional style and aspects of drinking restraint. Subjects who reported greater than average levels of self-blaming attributions, restrictions on alcohol intake and cognitive preoccupation with alcohol became depressed and angry after the violation of drinking limits. In contrast to the hypothesized excessive-drinking component of the LVE, subjects who experienced negative affective reactions to the violation ordered fewer shots in a subsequent whiskey-tasting task. Possible conceptual and methodological reasons for observing only the affective component of the LVE are discussed.

The Inventory of Drinking Situations (IDS) was developed to assess the likelihood of alcoholic relapse in eight high-risk situations. Previous research questioned the factor stability of the instrument; therefore, an alternative, short form of the IDS (IDS42) was developed and subjected to preliminary examination. This project reports on the further examination of the psychometric characteristics of the IDS42. The instrument's primary factor stability and higher-order factor structure were examined, and subscale means, standard deviations, alpha coefficients, interscale correlations and independence (unique variance) were determined. Also, the relationships between the IDS42 subscale scores and alcohol dependence, social desirability and demographic characteristics were explored. Results of the principal components analysis support the instrument's primary factor stability and indicate that the scales load onto one higher order dimension. The subscale internal consistency estimates were very high. Significantly high positive correlations were found between the IDS42 subscales and alcohol dependence. The IDS42 is influenced by a socially desirable response set that may result in spuriously low IDS42 scale elevations. The subscales initially demonstrated high interscale correlations; however, estimates of unique variance show that the IDS42 scales have an acceptable level of independence. Except for a significant negative correlation with age for three subscales, demographic characteristics do not appear to influence IDS42 results. These findings support the use of the IDS42 in assessing the extent to which heavy alcohol use has occurred in five situations. With this information, it may be possible to prepare to avoid or cope with these situations in the future and, consequently, to reduce the potential for relapse.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Four hypotheses are tested focusing on the small group basis of legal intoxication. A sample of 1,996 isolates and groups gathering to drink at a 12% random sample of 565 bars in a two-county metropolitan area was observed using a stratified random time sampling schedule. Multiple regression was used to test the hypotheses. The hypothesis that group size affects proportion of group drinking heavily during one visit to a bar was not supported. Average group alcohol consumption, group gender composition and average duration of group stay in bar do affect proportion of group drinking heavily.

The self-reported ability of 96 alcohol abusers to resist the urge to drink heavily was assessed after they viewed a videotape of a popular prime time television program complete with advertisements. Different versions of the videotape were used to evaluate the effects of a television program with and without alcohol scenes as crossed with the effects of three different types of commercials (i.e., beer, nonalcoholic beverages, food). Before and after viewing the videotape, subjects, who were led to believe that they were participating in two separate and unrelated sets of experimental procedures, completed several drinking questionnaires. Responses to one of the questionnaires provided an unobtrusive measure of self-reported ability to resist the urge to drink heavily. Results indicated that alcohol cues in a television program affected some alcohol abusers' perceived ability to resist the urge to drink heavily. In particular, those with higher alcohol dependence scores showed a decrease in confidence after viewing a television program with alcohol cues compared to subjects who watched the same program but without the alcohol scenes. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed. Until further research is forthcoming, given the artificial nature of the study setting, the results of this study must be viewed with some caution.

In contextual (cross-level) analysis within multiple longitudinal general population studies, individual-level drinking behaviors (quantity per typical occasion, frequency of drinking per month and total volume of drinks per month) at final measurement are assessed by three models that simultaneously enter individual- and group-level measures. Two age groups (15-20 and 21-30) are independently assessed. In each model, the Time 1 individual-level drinking behavior and one of three group-level factors are entered. The group-level factors are (1) the percentage of abstainers at Time 1 for each age/sex cohort, (2) the Time 1 group mean for the drinking measure for the age/sex cohort and (3) the mean difference of the age/sex cohort's change in the drinking measure over time. All variables in the model are controlled by variations to exposure in per capita consumption of alcohol during the age/sex cohort's formative years and at Time 2. Meta-analysis assesses the homogeneity of the findings across studies. Models were proposed with the rationale that (1) understanding of individual drinking behavior can be advanced if individual-level data and group-level data are considered in the same models, and (2) integration of these two levels of analyses are, to date, rare. The rationale for using meta-analysis is that findings from the models can be assessed across social contexts with respect to their generalizability. The mean difference model, controlling for individual drinking at Time 1, is the most influential of the group-level models for the younger age group: the degree to which the group changes its drinking pattern is positively related to individual-level drinking behavior at final measurement, over and above the individual's drinking behavior at Time 1, for individual-level frequency of drinking among males (homogeneous among drinkers only). Younger females show more significant relationships for the mean difference females show more significant relationships for the mean difference model. Findings are significant for all relationships examined for the mean difference of the drinking of the group and the individual drinking among the older males and females. Measures of individual-level drinking for all measures at Time 1, controlling for the group-level effects, are significantly related to individual-level drinking at final measurement. The results are homogeneous for quantity (drinkers only) and volume among the young. Findings indicate that characterizations of the drinking for both the individual and the group to which the individual belongs predict measures of drinking practices on the individual level over time.

Most empirical approaches to defining patterns of adolescent alcohol consumption focus on frequency of drunkenness. In an attempt to define patterns of drinking in a more comprehensive way, the present study used measures of social context in addition to frequency and quantity of alcohol use. Subjects' scores on frequency, quantity and five social context variables were cluster analyzed separately for males and females. Results yielded four socially appropriate drinking patterns and three problem drinking patterns (two for males and one for females). Socially appropriate patterns for both sexes were light drinkers, light party drinkers, family drinkers and dating drinkers. Problem drinking patterns included school drinkers and solitary/stranger drinkers for males, and solitary/school drinkers for females. These groups of subjects showed significant differences on reasons for drinking and on drinking consequences even after differences due to frequency and quantity were statistically controlled. Effects of drinking primarily attributable to frequency and quantity appeared to be limited to differences concerning the physiological effects of alcohol.

Responses of alcohol abusers and social drinkers were compared on general and alcohol-specific problem situations using role-play methodology. Multiple responses were assessed including behavioral observational ratings, self-reports and psychophysiologic measures. There were few differences between groups in responses to the general situations. Alcohol abusers had higher urges to drink than did the social drinkers in both the general and the alcohol-specific situations. However, in response to the alcohol-specific situations, the alcohol abusers, compared to the social drinkers, were rated by judges as significantly less skillful, and they displayed more self-reported anxiety, had a higher frequency of occurrence of problem situations in the natural environment and reported greater perceived realism of the alcohol-specific situations. Psychophysiologic measures did not differentiate between the groups. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of situation specificity in understanding the precipitants of drinking and their treatment implications.

Objective: The primary aim of this article is to assess young drivers' gender differences in the associations between substance use/environmental influences and high-risk driving behavior. Method: We determine the association of 12th-grade self-reported substance use/ environmental influences with high-risk driving behavior as quantified by the number of offenses, serious offenses, crashes, and single-vehicle crashes on state driving records during subjects' (N = 3,607; 51% male) first 4 years of licensure. Results: The associations between high-risk driving and substance use/environmental influences were generally stron- ger among women than among men. When matched by substance-use profiles, women had fewer risky-driving incidents than men. Conclu- sions: The results indicate that young women who exhibit high-risk driv- ing behavior deviate more from the general population of young women with respect to alcohol use, alcohol misuse, and marijuana use than high- risk-driving young men differ from other young men. In addition, find- ings indicate that even if young men and women were to eventually have equal levels of substance use, women would likely retain their lower- risk driving profiles. These findings suggest the need for (1) future re- search to understand the differential associations, and (2) prevention programs that consider these gender differences. (J. Stud. Alcohol 67: 252-260, 2006)

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.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.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 play a 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.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.

The aims of this study were to compare university students' perceptions of drinking norms with actual student drinking norms, to examine the relationship between norm misperception and individual drinking status and to investigate the relative importance of three reference groups as potential determinants of individual drinking levels: young people in New Zealand of the same age and gender, local university students of the same age and gender and the closest friends of individual respondents.In 2002 a randomly selected representative sample of 1,564 New Zealand university students aged 16-29 years completed an Internet-based survey of their alcohol use (response rate: 82%). Respondents were asked to estimate the incidence of heavy episodic drinking and vomiting in the three reference groups and to rate their own drinking in comparison. Estimates within +/- 10% of actual norms were rated as accurate; estimates above or below actual norms by more than 10% were rated, respectively, as overestimates and underestimates.The vast majority of women (80%) and men (73%) overestimated the incidence of heavy drinking among student peers. The incidence of vomiting was also overestimated, but to a lesser extent. The extents of overestimation for both heavy drinking and vomiting were strongly related to the individual's heavy drinking frequency (p.001). Only 9% of drinkers believed they drank more than other students. Correlations of perceived norms and self-reported drinking increased with the proximity of the social grouping to the individual and were higher for women than for men.This New Zealand university sample showed strong evidence of norm misperceptions, consistent with the results of several U.S. studies. Perceived norms are strongly related to individual drinking levels. It is unclear whether norm misperceptions are a cause or effect of heavy drinking. Research in which norm misperceptions are corrected may assist in understanding their importance in the etiology and treatment of heavy drinking.

This study examines relationships between alcohol-related aggression and drinking at off-campus parties and bars. Other background variables include gender, year in school, residence and heavy drinking in college.The study participants were respondents in the 1997 and 1999 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, national surveys of students attending 119 4-year U.S. colleges. Based on responses from 8,426 students, 18-24 years of age, who were never married and who reported attendance at off-campus parties and bars in the past month, an exploratory factor analysis of the alcohol problem items was specified in a confirmatory factor analysis framework based on a two-factor solution (disruptive behavior and victims of altercations). In addition, the two factors were related to study variables.Among students attending both off-campus parties and bars, level of drinking was related to higher levels of Factor 1 (disruptive behaviors) at off-campus parties and bars. Level of drinking was related to higher levels of Factor 2 (victims of altercations) at off-campus bars but not off-campus parties. Factor 1 was higher among men, freshmen and residents in coed dorms and lower among students living off-campus with parents. Factor 2 was higher among women, freshmen compared with seniors and residents of Greek houses and lower among students living off-campus residence with parents.Findings from this study highlight environmental factors in collegiate drinking practices and support targeted and diverse strategies for prevention activities.

This study examines relationships between type of (current) residence, heavy episodic drinking in high school and alcohol-related problems among college students.The study participants were respondents in the 1993, 1997 and 1999 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS) surveys of students attending 119 4-year U.S. colleges. Based on responses from 6,525 (55.6% female) students in the 1993 CAS, an exploratory factor analysis of the alcohol problem items was specified in a confirmatory factor analysis framework based on a four-factor solution, and related to study variables. The 1993 data were cross-validated with the 1997 and 1999 surveys.When compared with students living in single-gender dormitories, students living off campus with parents reported lower alcohol-related problem consequences and a higher probability of drinking/driving. Students residing off campus without parents, compared with students in single-gender dorms, reported a higher probability of drinking/driving. Associations between off-campus residence and probabilities for drinking/driving were mediated by frequency of driving. Students living in coed dormitories, when compared with students in single-gender dorms, incurred more problem consequences related to drinking but reported significantly lower probabilities associated with designated driving and drinking/driving. Heavy episodic drinking in high school was related to higher probabilities of problems on all outcome measures.The presence of direct and independent effects for both heavy drinking prior to college and high-risk environmental factors in collegiate drinking practices support targeted and diverse strategies for prevention activities.

The aim of this study was to investigate the predictors of the timing of alcohol consumption debut and to analyze possible associations between the timing of debut and later alcohol consumption and possible alcohol-related problems.A population sample of 465 adolescents (249 girls) from the greater Oslo area was followed up through five data collections over a 6-year span. By means of generalized structural equation modeling--accommodating survival variables--parental and friends' influences on debut age were estimated. Further, the consequences of the age of debut on subsequent alcohol consumption and alcohol problems were studied, taking other influences into consideration. In particular, possible gender differences were investigated.The mean age for alcohol consumption debut was 14.8 years. The age of alcohol debut had an independent effect on both future alcohol consumption and the development of alcohol-related problems, and the effects were invariant across sex. According to the estimated model, a 10% delay in debut age will lead to a 35% decrease in subsequent expected alcohol consumption.Alcohol debut was an excellent predictor of subsequent alcohol consumption and alcohol problems. The strong preventive implication is that interventions should be implemented in order to postpone alcohol debut age. A weak implication is that preventive measures should be implemented for the early onset drinkers. Further, it seems to be important to give high priority to more thorough studies on the exact nature of the relationships we have investigated here.

Determinants of initial alcohol use may differ from predictors of accelerated or problematic consumption. Social influences may be strong predictors of initial drinking; however, later stages of problem drinking may be linked developmentally to intrapersonal deficits. This study prospectively examined the influence of chronic and changing risk and protective status in predicting adolescent alcohol involvement and transitions in alcohol use.Data were obtained from a three-wave cohort (N = 823) of 8th-10th grade nonintervention students participating in a school-based drug abuse prevention trial. Cognitive, attitudinal and social influence measures were dichotomized using empirical cut-offs to designate risk or protective status. Using a conceptually based assignment scheme, additive risk indices were created assessing chronic (averaging across time) and changing features of competence, psychological and interpersonal functioning, cognitive-affective and social influences. Three chronic and change protective indices were created tapping competence, psychological, and interpersonal functioning.Controlling for initial drinking and gender, chronic risk for social influence and psychological functioning and increased risk for social influences and competency predicted subsequent drinking behavior. Chronic psychological protection attenuated subsequent drinking. Using categorical measures of drinking behavior to designate nonuse, experimental or moderate-heavy use, chronic social influence and competency risk were associated with an increased likelihood of accelerated drinking, whereas improved psychological functioning diminished the likelihood of increased drinking behavior.Findings underscore the need for implementing prevention strategies that reinforce developmentally appropriate skills and enhance personal competence and psychological functioning as effective barriers against initial and more problematic alcohol use. The unique contribution of protective forces also underscores that risk reduction and protection enhancement are complementary processes and are both required to offset social influences for alcohol consumption.

This study examines whether the age of initiation of alcohol use mediates the effects of other variables that predict alcohol misuse among adolescents and also whether the age of initiation of alcohol use accounts for known gender differences in the severity of alcohol misuse.Data were taken from an ethnically diverse sample of 808 (412 male) students who were recruited in grade 5 at age 10-11 and followed prospectively on an annual basis for the next 7 years to age 17-18. State-of-the-art missing data methodology was used to address nonresponse due to noninitiation of alcohol use. Structural equation modeling was used to examine hypotheses for the prediction of alcohol misuse.A younger age of alcohol initiation was strongly related to a higher level of alcohol misuse at age 17-18 and fully mediated the effects of parent drinking, proactive parenting, school bonding, peer alcohol initiation and ethnicity, all measured at age 10-11, and perceived harmfulness of alcohol use, measured at age 10-11 and age 11-12. However, age of alcohol initiation did not fully account for gender differences in the level of alcohol misuse at age 17-18. To further examine the role of gender, interactions between gender and school bonding, and gender and friend's alcohol initiation, were evaluated. However, neither of the interaction terms had direct effects on either age of initiation or level of alcohol-related problems.Most measured risk factors for alcohol misuse were mediated through age of alcohol initiation. Only gender differences in alcohol misuse at age 17-18 were not mediated by age of alcohol initiation. Variables associated with these differences require further study. The results of this study indicate the importance of prevention strategies to delay the age of initiation of alcohol use.

The present study was undertaken to assess the factor structure and psychometric validity of the Adolescent Relapse Coping Questionnaire (ARCQ). The ARCQ is designed to assess alcohol and other drug abusing adolescents coping with situations providing temptations for alcohol and other drug use.This was a prospective longitudinal study of 136 (79 male) alcohol and other drug abusing adolescents who were an average of 16.9 years old. Consecutive admissions were recruited from two adolescent, inpatient alcohol and drug abuse treatment facilities. Subjects completed the ARCQ as part of a 1-year-posttreatment interview and were subsequently interviewed 2 years posttreatment.Analyses yielded three coping factors which were evaluated for construct and criterion validity. Factor 1 contained generic cognitive and behavioral problem-solving strategies, Factor 2 represented self-critical cognitions and Factor 3 included abstinence-focused coping strategies. The factors had good internal consistency (alpha = .78 to .82) and collectively accounted for 40% of the variance in the principle components analysis. The abstinence-oriented coping factor was significantly correlated with current alcohol and drug use and measures of situation appraisal, and significantly predicted alcohol and drug use during the year following assessment.The findings provide evidence for the psychometric validity of the ARCQ, provide convergent validation for the utility of the temptation-coping construct and further highlight differences between adult and teen addictive relapse.

The research on the relationships between sociability and alcohol consumption has produced inconsistent findings, leading some to conclude that there are no such relationships. However, this research has tended to focus on sociability as a personality construct, not sociability defined as social activity. In the present study, college students (N = 90) used a social interaction diary to provide measures of their social activity, and they provided descriptions of their total alcohol consumption and of their frequency of binge drinking. Although total consumption per se was not reliably related to the quality or quantity of participants' social lives, frequency of binge drinking was related to some aspects of social interaction. Specifically, participants who had no binge-drinking episodes reported less intimacy and less disclosure in their interactions than those who had some episodes. However, men who reported having three or more binge episodes per week experienced less intimacy in their interactions than any other group of men or women. It is possible that because some binge drinking is normative and may be seen as desirable among college students, students who have a more normative number of binge-drinking episodes are integrated more fully into the college community than students who have no episodes or too many episodes.

The current study examined the role of alcohol expectancies and parental alcoholism in prospectively predicting alcohol consumption and consequences among early adolescents. We examined whether personal effects expectancies would predict "problem" alcohol use outcomes and if social effects expectancies would predict "normal" alcohol consumption. Although confirmatory factor analytic techniques showed considerable overlap between personal and social effects expectancies, we found evidence to suggest that distinctiveness between these constructs may increase at higher levels of alcohol consumption. Regression analyses supported the utility of alcohol expectancies in prospectively predicting alcohol consequences over and above pre-existing alcohol consumption, and parental alcoholism. However, there was no consistent support for the hypothesis that personal and social effects expectancies predicted different types of drinking outcomes, possibly because of the young age of the current sample.

This article combines the qualitative tradition of naturalistic observations with quantitative multivariate methods to quantify the relationships between drinker characteristics, group composition, duration of the drinking period and alcohol consumption. Employing observational data on over 6,000 drinkers collected in six on-premise licensed establishments in California, structural equation regression methods were used to estimate the simultaneous effects of duration of the drinking period and total consumption on each other, controlling for patron characteristics and group composition. Results from all six establishments indicate that consumption is higher in larger groups because of longer drinking times at the establishment and not because of any direct effect of consumption on length of the drinking period. Group composition effects on consumption are also indicated since females in mixed drinking groups tend to reduce the alcohol consumption of males, but not the group as a whole.

Adolescent drinking behavior was observed on weekend nights (9 PM until midnight) in three youth bars, three youth centers and two discos located in the most southern part of the Netherlands. Drinking rates, individual characteristics, drinking group variables and aspects of the overall drinking situation were recorded. Boys and girls appeared to differ in the variables of influence on their drinking rates. Boys were observed to drink at a higher rate on evenings with loud music, when they participated in large, all-male groups and when their (estimated) age was less than 20. Together these variables explain 24% of the variance in boys' drinking rates. Girls drank less fast when they participated in a group not buying rounds and in a drinking group of constant composition. Although analysis showed that girls' drinking rates did not vary significantly with aspects of the overall situation and individual variables, still 14% of the total variance here could be explained by the drinking group variables. These results are to some extent consistent with findings from other observational studies on drinking behavior. Most of these studies showed males in large groups to drink at the highest rates. However, only a few observational studies were aimed exclusively at young people's drinking behavior and those studies did not include aspects of the overall drinking situation.

Results of laboratory and psychometric research indicate that beliefs about the behavioral effects of alcohol are related to patterns of alcohol use and abuse. These findings also suggest that expectancy-drinking behavior associations are moderated by several variables, such as gender. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the correspondence of alcohol-related expectancies and drinking patterns was different for black and white men and women undergoing residential treatment for alcoholism using a hierarchical multiple regression algorithm. Relatively few gender- or race-specific expectancy-drinking behavior relations were found, and most of these were identified for beliefs that alcohol enhances sexuality and induces relaxation. Expectations that alcohol improves sociability and elevates mood were the best predictors of multiple, negative drinking-related consequences of drinking for all subjects.

Based on a national probability sample of 2,401 Americans aged 21 and over (1,069 of whom were deemed "drinkers" on the basis of having drunk at least one alcoholic beverage within the previous 7 days), this study looks at differences in the perceived situational appropriateness of drinking beer, distilled spirits, wine and wine coolers in each of six social occasions. It was found that wine is usually deemed appropriate in integrative, social enjoyment-enhancing situations. Beer use tends to be viewed ambivalently, with a sort of "cross-situational neutrality"; its use is neither strongly condoned nor strongly condemned in any of the six social contexts under study. People's attitudes toward the use of distilled spirits are best described as allowing for a "cautious indulgence" in this beverage. The respondents tend to favor drinking distilled spirits during integrative social occasions, feel ambivalently toward drinking in social contexts that are simultaneously integrative and disintegrative and disfavor drinking during disintegrative and anxiety-reductive social occasions. Wine cooler use is viewed inconsistently, perhaps with a tendency toward being seen as appropriate for consumption during integrative social occasions that involve having a good time. Sex, income and marital status differences were found to be minimal. Age, though, was found to be a discerning variable in many of these relationships, such that people aged 65 or older were less likely than their younger counterparts to endorse drinking in all of the social contexts under study, except for drinking as a perfect complement to a nice dinner.

Self-reports of high-risk events, situations and experiences associated with substance abuse and binge-eating behaviors were examined in a sample of hospitalized patients being treated for both problems. The question being posed in the present study is: Are the high-risk situations for heavy drinking and binge eating similar or different? Results suggest some similarities in the intensity of specific high-risk situations as represented by questionnaire subscale scores, for both of the problem behaviors, but they point to interesting differences as well. The hierarchical importance of the high-risk situations for the two behaviors were markedly different.

The correlations between self-reported alcohol use by adolescents and peer and parental alcohol use, tolerance of deviance, emotional maladjustment and self-derogation were studied in two independent samples--172 seventh-grade boys, 221 seventh-grade girls, 131 tenth-grade boys and 164 tenth-grade girls in Sample 1, and 166 seventh-grade boys, 149 seventh-grade girls, 120 tenth-grade boys and 129 tenth-grade girls in Sample 2. Regression analyses were performed to identify the relative contribution of each correlate in a prediction formula for alcohol use at the two grade levels and to determine whether the predictors differed at the two grade levels. The results were cross-validated in the two samples and showed that the predictors were similar at the two grade levels, despite the much greater alcohol use by tenth-graders. The major predictors for both grade levels and for both boys and girls were peer and parental alcohol use. Tolerance of deviance contributed to a much lesser degree and emotional maladjustment did not contribute to the prediction equations.

Data from 1070 recent male drinkers were analyzed using factor analysis (as a form of data reduction) and cluster analysis to identify groups of different types of drinkers. The data were derived from a sample of 3600 face-to-face interviews conducted in the early part of 1982 in six provincial cities in New Zealand. Of this total, 1509 interviews were with male respondents, of whom 28% were either abstainers or were not recent drinkers (i.e., had not consumed alcohol in the 7 days preceding the interview). The variables that were factor analyzed included attitudinal, motivational, situational and consumption items. The resulting factor scores were submitted for clustering and the final cluster solutions were cross-tabulated by alcohol consumption measures and demographic characteristics. Six segments were identified and appeared to be primarily distinguishable on the basis of common drinking situations: Light Drinkers (43%), Frequent Early Evening Drinkers (28%), Heavy Hotel-Tavern Drinkers (21%), Club Drinkers (4%), Solitary Drinkers (2%) and Party Drinkers (2%).

Alcohol consumption in bars is studied not as a personal or cultural variable but as a social activity. The effect on alcohol consumption of bar staff and entertainers, bar policies, other patrons and the drinking setting is discussed.

A number of environmental and personality characteristics of adolescent students and their relationship to types of drinking contexts were examined using a series of canonical correlation analyses. The strongest relationship was defined by the perceived normative support for drinking, which accounted for 55% of the variance in the drinking context items for males (58% among females). Positive functions of drinking, personal attitudes and values, and environmental contexts were also associated with drinking context items but accounted for smaller proportions of the variance. The contribution of important environmental, personality and drinking context variables to each canonical relationship is discussed. Consistency of studies relevant to the major finding is reviewed and possible bases for discrepancies are explored. Further studies relating to antecedent networks of access to various drinking contexts are identified as areas deserving more intensive and extensive research efforts.

In two college samples, resistance to peer pressure to drink and desire to refrain from drinking correlated with variables in the college environment but not with personal background variables.

Panel data and multiple regression of follow-up data on baseline data are used to explore direction of relationship among normative structure, adolescent alcohol use and peer alcohol use. Baseline and follow-up data were collected on a random sample of 100 adolescents (54 males). Two separate measures of each of the six variables--Adolescent Alcohol Involvement Scale (AAIS), Quantity-Frequency Index (QF), close friend drinking level, other friend drinking level, perceived harm due to alcohol use and attitudes toward alcohol--were used. The relationship between adolescent self-drinking and peer alcohol use was found to be reciprocal, complex and limited to close friends. Baseline AAIS predicted follow-up close friend drinking level, but baseline QF Index did not. Baseline close friend drinking level predicted follow-up QF Index but not follow-up AAIS. Normative structure toward alcohol was found to be stable over time and unrelated to baseline self or peer alcohol use. Baseline perceived harm due to alcohol use predicted follow-up QF Index, indicating that adolescents adjust behavior to prior attitudes.