Interpersonal Relating, Risk-Taking Behaviour and Alcohol Use in Young Adults

Abstract

Research continues to seek to understand potential underlying mechanisms for alcohol use and problematic patterns of drinking. This chapter explores the association between interpersonal relating as measured with the Person’s Relating to Others Questionnaire Version 3 (PROQ3; Birtchnell et al., Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 20, 36–48, 2013) and binge drinking in young adults and examines the mediating role of risk-taking behaviour as measured with the Risk-Taking Questionnaire-8 items (de Haan et al., International Journal of General Medicine, 4, 575–584, 2011). Participants (N = 2962) were drawn from the online Utrecht Student Survey (de Haan et al., International Journal of General Medicine, 5, 889–898, 2012). For men, scores on the lower close (LC), lower distant (LD), and neutral distant (ND) scales of the PROQ3 decreased, whereas scores on the upper close (UC) and upper distant (UD) scales increased the odds of binge drinking. For women ND decreased and UD increased the odds. These effects were mediated by risk-taking behaviour. Gender differences found in this study could lead towards understanding risky alcohol consumption in young adults.