| Abstract: | Examines the role of alcohol-related expectancies as predictors of adult and adolescent problem drinking and offers a hypothesis as to why expectancy factors lacking in situational specificity predict problem drinking so successfully. It is argued that problem drinkers rely excessively on alcohol to obtain reinforcers, failing to employ different behaviors as a function of different stimulus contexts. Problem drinkers are seen as showing situational insensitivity in this overreliance. Thus, the situation-general nature of the expectancy factors may account for their success in predicting the situation-general behavior of problem drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
