Alienation and drinking motivations among adolescent females.

188 female and 140 male 9th–12th graders in a small Wyoming community completed measures of alienation, drinking motivations, and positive social and personal psychological functions of drinking. Among females, problem-related drinking motivations correlated positively with alienation, whereas social-convivial motivations correlated negatively with this attribute. No comparable correlations were found among the males. It is concluded that important sex differences in the dynamics of problem drinking are worthy of additional study. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)