Reasons for drinking in the college student context: the differential role and risk of the social motivator

Abstract

Objective: The present study examines the relationships among reasons for drinking, alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related consequences in two college-aged samples. Personal motivators such as mood enhancement and coping (tension reduction) have consistently been shown to predict problematic alcohol use, but because of the salient nature of social drinking in college, we hypothesized that social reasons for drinking would be most frequently endorsed and, in turn, predict negative consequences.

Method: T w o distinct samples--119 co-ed adjudicated students sanctioned by the university for violating campus alcohol policy and 106 co-ed volunteer students--completed measures assessing alcohol consumption, reasons for drinking, and consequences. Differential effects between genders were examined.

Results: Social camaraderie (SC) was the most frequently endorsed reason for drinking. Regression analyses controlling for previous drinking revealed that social reasons for drinking predicted alcohol-related problems among female students in both samples. Additionally, SC was significantly correlated with every drinking measure and problem measure at 1 month for females in both the adjudicated and the volunteer groups. Total drinks, drinking days, and heavy episodic drinking events correlated with SC for males in the adjudicated sample.

Conclusions: For females, these results suggest a relationship between social reasons for drinking and alcohol-related consequences, which previous research has not identified. More research is needed to explore females' reasons for drinking, accompanying problems, and the underlying psychosocial traits associated with these reasons.