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Objective: A study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of an experimental procedure for inducing adaptive motivation, including its differential efficacy for light/moderate and heavy drinkers. Method: Participants were university-student drinkers (N = 79, males = 26.1%, mean age = 19.86 years) who were randomly assigned to a control or an experimental group. The experimental group underwent an experimental induction involving Concept Identification Cards for enhancing adaptive motivation, whereas the control group received an inert induction. At baseline, all participants completed a demographics questionnaire and the Alcohol Use Questionnaire. To evaluate the effectiveness of the induction, at both baseline and post-induction, participants completed the General Self-Efficacy Scale and the Task-Specific Personal Concern Inventory (TSPCI). Results: At baseline, there were no differences between the two groups on Self-Efficacy or Task-Specific Adaptive Motivation. At the posttest, participants in the experimental group correctly answered more of the Concept Identification Cards than the control group (p <.001). At the posttest, only the experimental group showed improvements in self-efficacy (p <.025) and task-specific adaptive motivation (p <.025). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that adaptive motivational structure can be experimentally induced, and the induction is as effective with Heavy Drinkers as with Light/Moderate Drinkers. Suggestions for future research using the induction of adaptive motivation with heavy drinkers is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationships among reasons for drinking, alcohol consumption, and drinking-related problems were assessed among secondary-school students (N=328) and university students (N=74) in North Wales, United Kingdom, and results were compared with results from North America. The ability of drinking reasons to predict drinking problems was tested in both age groups. Khavari Alcohol Test, Quantity-Frequency-Variability Index, Reasons for Drinking Questionnaire, and Rutgers Alcohol Problems Index were used to measure the variables of interest. Regression and mediational analyses indicated that negative reasons were stronger predictors of drinking problems than were positive reasons among both secondary-school and university students. Results also showed that the effect of both positive and negative drinking reasons on alcohol-related problems was partially mediated by alcohol consumption among both secondary-school students and university students. There were different correlates of problematic drinking among younger and older students, which suggest that different types of intervention should be used with the two age groups.