Nomothetic militancy toward alcohol use among abstainers

Abstract

This article proposes a reconceptualization of militancy to reflect the nomothetic goals of the new temperance movement. Although the alcohol literature has examined normative militancy toward alcohol use, a nomothetic form has not been previously considered or analyzed. As well, the effect of problems with others' alcohol use on militant attitude formation of either type has been ignored. Therefore, this study examines the effect of selected socio-demographic variables and problems with others' alcohol use on the formation of nomothetic militancy toward alcohol use among a sample of Canadian abstainers ( n = 276) and drinkers ( n = 922) drawn from the National Alcohol and Other Drugs Survey (1989). The results of the hierarchical regression analysis indicate that problems with others' alcohol use have a small but significant effect on nomothetic militancy toward alcohol use. Gender, religiosity and drinker type were also significantly correlated with nomethetic attitudes toward alcohol and alcohol use. Other socio-demographic variables selected from previous research had no significant effect on nomothetic militancy.