The relationship between cognitive preoccupation with alcohol and alcohol use in male and female college students

Abstract

This research examined the relationship between self-reported cognitive preoccupation with drinking and self-reported and ad lib measures of alcohol consumption in male and female college students. Fifty undergraduates rated their degree of preoccupation with drinking using the Cognitive and Emotional Preoccupation scale and then participated in an individualized taste-rating task, an unobtrusive laboratory measure for determining ad lib alcohol consumption. Regression results showed that individual differences in emotional preoccupation with alcohol predicted self-reported consumption and actual laboratory alcohol consumption, only for women and not for men. This research shows that emotional preoccupation with alcohol appears to be an important factor in determining rates of drinking in college-age women and may be an important factor in identifying those individuals at risk of future problems with alcohol.