Motives for not drinking alcohol among Australian adolescents: development and initial validation of a five-factor scale

Abstract

Why people drink has been the subject of much research, however, why people do not drink has been largely neglected. The aim of the present study was to develop a Motives for Abstaining from Alcohol Questionnaire (MAAQ) based on Cox and Klinger's [Journal of Abnormal Psychology 97 (1988) 168; Why people drink (1990) 291] motivational model of alcohol use to investigate reasons for not drinking alcohol either at all or on certain occasions. An initial 35-item version of the MAAQ was administered to 187 Australian high school students (years 10 and 12). Analyses supported a five-factor model with the final 19-item version explaining 60% of the variance. The factors were easily interpretable and were labeled: fear of negative consequences, dispositional risk, family constraints, religious constraints, and indifference toward alcohol. Regression analyses showed that different motives for not drinking predicted different aspects of alcohol use. Results are discussed in terms of theories of alcohol use that emphasize the interface of opponent motivational pathways toward decisions to drink.