To drink or not to drink: The differential role of alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal self-efficacy in quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption

Abstract

Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between alcohol expectancies (AE) and drinking refusal self-efficacy (DRSE) beliefs on the one hand, and quantity and frequency aspects of alcohol consumption on the other, in a sample of 118 undergraduate students. Specific expectancies that alcohol increases assertiveness and that the subject would have poor control over drinking were directly related to the consumption of larger quantities of alcohol per drinking occasion. Drinking refusal self-efficacy was related inversely to frequency of drinking: Subjects with high opportunistic DRSE and high social pressure DRSE drank less frequently. Females drank less per drinking occasion, drank less frequently, had a lower expectancy that alcohol increases assertiveness, expected to have greater control over their drinking, and had higher opportunistic DRSE than did males. The findings indicate that AE and DRSE play different roles in influencing the frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption. The implication of these findings for future research is discussed.