Personality disorder symptoms, drinking motives, and alcohol use and consequences: Cross-sectional and prospective mediation.

Research shows high comorbidity between Cluster B personality disorders (PDs) and alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Studies on personality traits and alcohol use have identified coping and enhancement drinking motives as mediators in the relations among impulsivity, affective instability, and alcohol use. To the extent that PDs reflect extreme expression of these traits, drinking motives should mediate the relation between PD symptoms and alcohol involvement. This was tested using path models estimating the extent to which coping and enhancement drinking motives mediated the relation between Cluster B symptom counts and alcohol use and problems both concurrently and at a 5-year follow-up. Three hundred fifty-two adults participated in a multiwave study of risk for alcoholism (average age = 29 years at Wave 1). Enhancement motives mediated (a) the cross-sectional relation between Cluster B symptoms and drinking quantity/frequency, heavy drinking, total drinking consequences, dependence features, and AUD diagnosis and (b) the prospective relation to AUDs. Although coping motives mediated the relation between Cluster B symptoms and drinking consequences and dependence features cross-sectionally, prospective effects were limited to indirect effects through Time 1. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational pathways to unique types of alcohol consequences.

Individuals consume alcohol for a variety of reasons (motives), and these reasons may be differentially associated with the types of drinking outcomes that result. The present study examined whether specific affect-relevant motivations for alcohol use (i.e., coping, enhancement) are associated with distinct types of consequences, and whether such associations occur directly, or only as a function of increased alcohol use. It was hypothesized that enhancement motives would be associated with distinct problem types only through alcohol use, whereas coping motives would be linked directly to hypothesized problem types. Regularly drinking undergraduates (N = 192, 93 female) completed self-report measures of drinking motives and alcohol involvement. Using structural equation modeling, we tested direct associations between coping motives and indirect associations between enhancement motives and eight unique alcohol problem domains: risky behaviors, blackout drinking, physiological dependence, academic/occupational problems, poor self-care, diminished self-perception, social/interpersonal problems, and impaired control. We observed direct effects of coping motives on three unique problem domains (academic/occupational problems, risky behaviors, and poor self-care). Both coping and enhancement motives were indirectly associated (through use) with several problem types. Unhypothesized associations between conformity motives and unique consequence types also were observed. Findings suggest specificity in the consequences experienced by individuals who drink to cope with negative affect versus to enhance positive affect, and may have intervention implications. Findings depict the coping motivated student as one who is struggling across multiple domains, regardless of levels of drinking. Such students may need to be prioritized for interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term effects of a personality-targeted intervention to reduce alcohol use in adolescents.

Objective: To examine the long-term effects of a personality-targeted intervention on drinking quantity and frequency (QF), problem drinking, and personality-specific motivations for alcohol use in early adolescence. Method: A randomized control trial was carried out with 364 adolescents (median age 14) recruited from 13 secondary schools with elevated scores in Hopelessness, Anxiety-Sensitivity (AS), Impulsivity, and Sensation-Seeking. Participants were randomly assigned to a control no-intervention condition or a 2-session group coping skills intervention targeting 1 of 4 personality risk factors. The effects of the intervention on quantity/frequency (QF) of alcohol use, frequency of binge drinking, problem drinking, and motives were examined at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months postintervention. Results: Intent-to-treat repeated measures analyses revealed a significant overall intervention effect in reducing problem drinking symptoms, and a Time × Intervention effect on drinking QF and binge drinking frequency. Relative to the control group, the intervention group showed significantly reduced drinking and binge drinking levels at 6 months postintervention and reduced problem drinking symptoms for the full 24-month follow-up period (Cohen's d = 0.33). A significant Time × Intervention × Personality interaction was demonstrated for coping and enhancement drinking motives. In addition to an overall effect of intervention on coping motives, the AS group who received that intervention reported fewer coping motives compared with the AS control group at 12 and 24 months postintervention. Conclusions: This study provides further evidence showing that personality-targeted interventions reduce drinking behavior in adolescents in the short term. Novel findings were that the interventions were shown to produced long-term effects on drinking problems and personality-specific effects on drinking motives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived awareness and caring influences alcohol use by high school and college students.

Perceived awareness and caring, or beliefs about how much parents and peers know and care about students' behavior, was assessed in relation to students' drinking patterns. Prior to and at the end of the first semester at college, participants completed Web-based surveys assessing alcohol use, family and social motives, and perceived awareness and caring from parents and peers. Family motives moderated the effect of perceived parental awareness and caring on the quantity of high school alcohol use, whereas social motives moderated the effect of perceived peer awareness and caring on frequency and quantity of college drinking. Longitudinally, college alcohol use was predicted by perceived awareness and caring from parents. Perceived awareness and caring may affect alcohol use whereby parents exert influence during high school but peers are more influential in college. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal analysis of drinking motives moderating the negative affect-drinking association among college students.

We examined among college students (N = 530; 276 women) the moderating effects of avoidance (coping) and appetitive (social-enhancement) drinking motives on the within-person associations between anxious and depressive affect and drinking frequency and quantity. Once per year for up to 4 years participants completed standard measures of drinking motives and retrospective reports of affect and drinking in the previous month. In addition, each year they completed a 30-day daily diary of affect and drinking. Results from models examining both the retrospective and aggregate daily data indicated that individuals with high compared with low social-enhancement motives showed stronger positive associations among changes in monthly negative affect and drinking frequency. Weak evidence was found for the predicted moderating effects of coping motives, although some results indicated that its effects were contingent on levels of social-enhancement motives. Our findings suggest that appetitive drinking motives might play an integral role in stress- and negative-affect related drinking among college students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic and social motives and drinking behavior.

This longitudinal study of 1,447 first-time college students tested separate time-varying covariate models of the relations between academic and social motives/behaviors and alcohol use and related problems from senior year of high school through the end of the second year in college. Structural equation models identified small but significant inverse relations between academic motives/behaviors and alcohol use across all time points, with relations of somewhat larger magnitude between academic motives/behaviors and alcohol-related problems across all semesters other than senior year in high school. At all time points, there were much larger positive relations between social motives/behaviors and alcohol use across all semesters, with smaller but significant relations between social motives/behaviors and alcohol-related problems. Multi-group models found considerable consistency in the relations between motives/behaviors and alcohol-related outcomes across gender, race/ethnicity, and family history of alcohol problems, although academic motives/behaviors played a stronger protective role for women, and social motives were a more robust risk factor for Caucasian and Latino students and individuals with a positive family history of alcohol problems. Implications for alcohol prevention efforts among college students are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fitting in and feeling fine: Conformity and coping motives as mediators of the relationship between social anxiety and problematic drinking.

The present research was conducted to clarify the relationships among social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and negative-reinforcement drinking motives among college students. Heavy drinking students (N = 316, 53.80% female) completed self-report measures of social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and drinking motives. Findings indicated that students higher in social anxiety consumed less alcohol but experienced more negative consequences. Moreover, the relationship between social anxiety and negative consequences was mediated by coping and conformity drinking motives in addition to alcohol consumption. In the context of social anxiety, the current research demonstrates the importance of examining problematic drinking as distinct constructs: alcohol consumption and negative consequences. Findings are also discussed in terms of implications for interventions with socially anxious students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social influences in motivated drinking among college students.

This study tested whether drinking motives mediate the relation between personality and alcohol use and whether these predictors affected drinking in these individuals' friends. College students and their friends participated in the study as dyads (n=43 dyads, 86 participants). Each person completed surveys and a 28-day experience sampling protocol. Structural equation analyses found that (a) social motives mediated the relation between extraversion and alcohol outcomes, (b) coping motives mediated the relation between neuroticism and alcohol outcomes, and (c) enhancement motives mediated the relation between extraversion and alcohol outcomes. Moreover, young adults' alcohol use, but not their problem use, was influenced by their own drinking motives as well as the drinking motives of their best friends. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do changes in drinking motives mediate the relation between personality change and “maturing out” of problem drinking?

Recent research has indicated that developmental changes in the personality traits of neuroticism and impulsivity correlate with changes in problem drinking during emerging and young adulthood. However, it remains unclear what potential mechanisms, or mediators, could account for these associations. Drinking motives, particularly drinking to regulate negative affect (drinking to cope) and to get “high” or “drunk” (drinking for enhancement), have been posited to mediate the relationship between personality and drinking problems. Recent work indicates that changes in drinking motives parallel changes in alcohol involvement from adolescence to young adulthood. The present study examined changes in drinking motives (i.e., coping and enhancement) as potential mediators of the relation between changes in personality (impulsivity and neuroticism) with changes in alcohol problems in emerging and young adulthood. Analyses were based on data collected from a cohort of college students (N = 489) at varying risk for alcohol use disorders from ages 18 to 35. Parallel process latent growth modeling indicated that change in coping (but not enhancement) motives specifically mediated the relation between changes in neuroticism and alcohol problems as well as the relation between changes in impulsivity and alcohol problems. Findings suggest that change in coping motives is an important mechanism in the relation between personality change and the “maturing out” of problematic alcohol involvement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subtyping pathological gamblers on the basis of affective motivations for gambling: Relations to gambling problems, drinking problems, and affective motivations for drinking.

Pathological gamblers who drink when gambling (n=158; 77% men; mean age=36.0 years) completed the Inventory of Gambling Situations (IGS) and gambling and drinking criterion measures. Principal components analysis on the IGS subscales revealed negative (e.g., Unpleasant Emotions) and positive (e.g., Pleasant Emotions) gambling situation factors. Subjecting IGS factor scores to cluster analysis revealed three clusters: (a) enhancement gamblers, with low negative and high positive factor scores; (b) coping gamblers, with very high negative and high positive factor scores; and (c) low emotion regulation gamblers, with low negative and positive factor scores (59%, 23%, and 18% of the sample, respectively). Clusters were validated with a direct measure of gambling motives. Additional validity analyses showed that coping gamblers scored higher than the other groups on a variety of different gambling activities, gambling problems, drinking frequency, drinking problems, and coping drinking motives, whereas low emotion regulation gamblers scored lower than the other groups on gambling frequency, gambling problems, drinking quantity, and enhancement drinking motives. The findings validate this empirical approach to subtyping gamblers and suggest consistency of motives across addictive behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life stress, physiological and subjective indexes of negative emotionality, and coping reasons for drinking: Is there evidence for a self-medication model of alcohol use?

Alcohol use is often viewed as means of coping with distress, but support for this model has been inconsistent. The author examined stress and negative emotionality and their interaction as predictors of drinking motives in a sample of college drinkers. Both physiological and self-reported reactivity to a mood induction, and self-reported trait negative affect, were assessed. High stress was associated with coping motives, particularly among individuals who exhibited electrodermal reactivity to the mood induction. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity was associated with coping motives. Electrodermal and RSA reactivity and stress were unrelated to enhancement and social motives. Self-reported mood reactivity and trait negative affect were not associated with any of the drinking motives. These findings offer some support for the self-medication model of alcohol use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of a three-dimensional measure of drinking motives.

Despite consistent evidence that alcohol can be used to cope with negative emotions or to enhance positive emotions, research on drinking motives has focused primarily on coping and social motives. This article reports on the development of a 3-factor measure that also assesses enhancement motives. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the authors demonstrated that enhancement motives are empirically distinct from coping and social motives and that a correlated 3-factor model fits the data equally well across race and gender groups in a large representative sample. Each drinking motive was also shown to predict distinct aspects of alcohol use and abuse. Finally, interaction analyses suggested that coping and enhancement motives differ in the magnitude of their effects on drinking behavior across Blacks and Whites and that enhancement motives differ in their effects across men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pregaming in high school students: Relevance to risky drinking practices, alcohol cognitions, and the social drinking context.

Pregaming is the practice of consuming alcohol prior to going out to a social event. Although pregaming has begun to receive research attention in the college setting, very little is known about this risky drinking behavior in high school students. As pregaming has health implications for both students who are college bound and those who are not, we examined the prevalence of this behavior in a sample of high school students who reported current alcohol use and completed pregaming measures (n = 233). The present study examined the associations of gender, age, alcohol expectancies, motivations for drinking (e.g., social, enhancement, and coping), and engagement in other risky drinking practices (i.e., general hazardous use and drinking game participation) with pregaming. Results indicate that pregaming was significantly associated with being older, being a male, having high levels of hazardous alcohol use, and participating in drinking games frequently. Pregaming also occurred most often before parties and sporting events and it was associated positively with frequency of attendance at parties where alcohol is available, the tendency to use alcohol at these parties, and the amount of alcohol consumed at these parties. We discuss the findings in the context of pregaming research that has been conducted with college students, and make suggestions regarding prevention and intervention efforts focused on this risky drinking practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drinking and desired self-images: Path models of self-image goals, coping motives, heavy-episodic drinking, and alcohol problems.

Coping motives for drinking initiate alcohol-related problems. Interpersonal goals, which powerfully influence affect, could provide a starting point for this relation. Here we tested effects of self-image goals (which aim to construct and defend desired self-views) and compassionate goals (which aim to support others) on heavy-episodic drinking and alcohol-related problems. Undergraduate drinkers (N=258) completed measures of self-image and compassionate goals in academics and friendships, coping and enhancement drinking motives, heavy-episodic drinking, and alcohol-related problems in a cross-sectional design. As predicted, self-image goals, but not compassionate goals, positively related to alcohol-related problems. Path models showed that self-image goals relate to coping motives, but not enhancement motives; coping motives then relate to heavy-episodic drinking, which in turn relate to alcohol-related problems. Self-image goals remained a significant predictor in the final model, which accounted for 34% of the variance in alcohol-related problems. These findings indicate that self-image goals contribute to alcohol-related problems in college students both independently and through coping motives. Interventions can center on reducing self-image goals and their attendant negative affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping mediates the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and alcohol use in homeless, ethnically diverse women: A preliminary study.

Homeless women are at increased risk for problematic alcohol use and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While coping motives have been shown to mediate the relationship between PTSD symptoms and alcohol problems in victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, it is unknown whether this relationship is evident in other trauma-exposed populations. The focus of this study was to examine whether drinking to cope mediated the relationship between PTSD symptoms and current alcohol use in a group of homeless, ethnically diverse women. Twenty-three women were recruited from local shelters in a southwestern community and asked to complete measures assessing their current alcohol use, drinking motives, and PTSD symptoms. Results revealed that drinking to cope mediated the relationship between PTSD symptoms and current alcohol use. This finding supports the theory that homeless women may benefit from treatment interventions that address both their substance use and trauma issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational pathways to alcohol use and abuse among Black and White adolescents.

Using data from a biracial community sample of adolescents, the present study examined trajectories of alcohol use and abuse over a 15-year period, from adolescence into young adulthood, as well as the extent to which these trajectories were differentially predicted by coping and enhancement motives for alcohol use among the 2 groups. Coping and enhancement motivations (M. L. Cooper, 1994) refer to the strategic use of alcohol to regulate negative and positive emotions, respectively. Results showed that Black and White youth follow distinct alcohol trajectories from adolescence into young adulthood and that these trajectories are differentially rooted in the regulation of negative and positive emotions. Among Black drinkers, coping motives assessed in adolescence more strongly forecast differences in alcohol involvement into their early 30s, whereas enhancement motives more strongly forecast differences among White drinkers. Results of the present study suggest that different models may be needed to account for drinking behavior among Blacks and Whites and that different approaches may prove maximally effective in reducing heavy or problem drinking among the 2 groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping-anxiety and coping-depression motives predict different daily mood-drinking relationships.

Individuals with different drinking motives show distinctive patterns of alcohol use and problems. Drinking to cope, or endorsing strong coping motives for alcohol use, has been shown to be particularly hazardous. It is important to determine the unique triggers associated with coping drinking. One limitation of past research has been the failure to contend with the complexities inherent in coping motives. Using the Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire–Revised (Grant, Stewart, O’Connor, Blackwell, & Conrod, 2007), which separates coping-anxiety and coping-depression motives, we investigated whether these motives moderated relationships between daily mood and subsequent drinking (statistically controlling for sex, baseline anxious and depressive symptomatology, initial alcohol problems, and additional drinking motives). College students (N = 146) provided daily reports of mood and alcohol consumption online for 3 weeks. Multilevel modeling analyses revealed that, as hypothesized, stronger initial coping-depression motives predicted higher daily depressed mood-alcohol consumption slopes. Also consistent with expectation, stronger initial coping-anxiety motives predicted higher anxious mood-alcohol consumption slopes. We discuss how this identification of the unique mood triggers associated with each type of coping drinking motive can provide the basis for targeted interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Morally based self-esteem, drinking motives, and alcohol use among college students.

This research examined the relationship of morally based self-esteem with drinking motives and alcohol consumption among college students. Basing self-esteem on morals was expected to be negatively associated with drinking behavior. We further expected this relationship to be mediated by drinking motives. Participants (N = 201; 45% male, 55% female) completed self-report measures of contingencies of self-worth, drinking motives, and drinking behavior. Previous research was supported in that college students whose self-esteem was more strongly contingent upon following personal morals consumed less alcohol. The current research extended these findings by showing that this relationship was mediated by drinking motives. Results suggest that it may be useful to better incorporate personal values into interventions for college students. The implementation of personal values in combination with brief treatments is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validating a five-factor marijuana motives measure: Relations with use, problems, and alcohol motives.

This study adapted and extended M. L. Cooper's (1994) Drinking Motives Measure to examine marijuana motives among 299 college students. An exploratory factor analysis supported the hypothesized 5-factor marijuana motives model, resulting in enhancement, conformity, expansion, coping, and social motives. Analyses supported the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the 5 marijuana motives. Marijuana motives were significant predictors of marijuana use and added to the prediction of use-related problems above and beyond the contribution of lifetime use. Motives and gender interacted in predicting use and use-related problems. Parallel regression analyses revealed that marijuana and alcohol motives predicted comparable amounts of variance in use and use-related problems. However, different patterns of relations emerged across drugs, supporting the discriminant validity of the marijuana and alcohol motives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social anxiety and motives for alcohol use among adolescents.

Social anxiety evidences significant comorbidity with alcohol use disorders and alcohol-related problems. In an effort to better understand this co-occurrence, researchers are beginning to evaluate specific drinking-related factors, including alcohol use motives, among socially anxious individuals. Drawing on Cooper's (1994) 4-factor model of drinking motives (enhancement, social, conformity, coping), a growing body of work suggests that socially anxious individuals may consume alcohol in an effort to cope with their anxious symptoms; however, no study to date has examined these relations among youth. Accordingly, we examined alcohol use motives as a function of social anxiety in a community-based sample of 50 adolescents ages 12 to 17 years (Mage = 16.35, SD = 1.10). As predicted, heightened social anxiety was associated with elevated coping-related drinking motives. More important, other alcohol-use motives did not vary as a function of social anxiety. Collectively, these findings uniquely extend research conducted with adults, and suggest socially anxious youth may be motivated to use alcohol to manage their anxious arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)