Alcohol expectancies of women and men in relation to alcohol use and perceptions of the effects of alcohol on the opposite sex

Abstract

The present study was intended to identify specific alcohol expectancies of women and men that could be targeted in expectancy-based interventions to maximize their impact on alcohol use. The Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (AEQ) was revised to specifically refer to women, men, or the respondent, and was administered to 433 undergraduates with a measure of alcohol use. When asked about expectancies for themselves, females' and males' drinking correlated most highly with expectations of social facilitation. When asked about expectancies for the opposite sex, however, several other types of expectancies were related to respondents' alcohol use in addition to expectations of enhanced social experiences. Males' drinking corresponded to beliefs that women will be happier, more confident, and will sleep better if they have consumed alcohol. Females' drinking corresponded to beliefs that men will be less sexually inhibited and more romantic after drinking. These findings link past expectancy work with more recent attempts to model the mechanism by which expectancies influence alcohol use and may guide development of maximally effective expectancy-based interventions to reduce drinking.