Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 30, Issue 4, May 2005, Pages 755-765
Addictive Behaviors

Determinants of positive and negative consequences of alcohol consumption in college students: alcohol use, gender, and psychological characteristics

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.08.021Get rights and content

Abstract

To examine the influence of alcohol consumption, gender, and psychological risk and protective factors on college students' experiences of negative and positive consequences, the present study of 181 students assessed frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption, negative and positive consequences of alcohol use, positive alcohol expectancies, constructive thinking, and positive and negative affect. Results indicated that men and women differed in their experience of some consequences and that while alcohol consumption was generally more strongly related to consequences for women than for men, it was unrelated to most consequences. Further, when controlling for alcohol consumption, positive alcohol expectancies and negative affect were positively related to experiencing positive and negative consequences while constructive thinking was related to fewer positive and fewer negative consequences. Results indicate that consequences are much more strongly related to psychological risk and protective factors than to alcohol consumption. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for intervention efforts.

Introduction

Research on college drinking has focused primarily on heavy alcohol consumption (e.g., “binge” or heavy episodic drinking), and the reasons for and correlates of this consumption (e.g., Wechsler, Davenport, Dowdall, Moeykens, & Castillo, 1994). The high levels of problematic consequences of college student drinking, while well-documented (Perkins, 2002, Syre et al., 1999), have received far less research attention (Perkins, 2002; cf., specific negative consequences such as risky sexual behavior; see Cooper, 2002). Examining the consequences of college student drinking offers a useful approach to understanding the context in which problematic drinking occurs. In examining alcohol-related consequences, however, it is important to recognize that while researchers tend to focus on the negative aspects of drinking, students themselves often report encountering rather positive consequences as a result of their drinking (Park, 2004).

The purpose of the present study is to examine several aspects of alcohol-related consequences in greater detail, focusing on both positive and negative consequences. Specifically, this study examines the occurrence of both total levels and specific positive and negative alcohol-related consequences, the relationship of these consequences to alcohol consumption patterns, and the influence of psychological variables in the experiencing of these consequences, particularly when taking into account alcohol consumption. Because of the documented differences by gender in college drinking patterns and consequences (e.g., Park & Levenson, 2002), these relationships are examined separately for men and women.

The negative consequences of undergraduate drinking, including personal injuries, unplanned sexual activity, academic struggles, and legal problems, have been well-documented in both convenience and national samples (e.g., Wechsler, Dowdall, Maenner, Gledhill-Hoyt, & Lee, 1998; see Perkins, 2002, for a review). However, far fewer studies have examined the determinants of these consequences. Further, because very few studies have examined the positive consequences of drinking from the perspective of the students, the extent to which they experience positive alcohol-related consequences has not been established. The present study asked students to report the extent to which they experienced a variety of positive as well as negative alcohol-related consequences. Given the high levels of continued drinking by college undergraduates in spite of its documented negative effects, it was hypothesized that positive consequences will occur at least as frequently as negative consequences, consistent with previous research (Park, 2004).

Gender may also influence the frequency and type of consequences experienced. While numerous studies have reported that men experience more negative consequences than do women (e.g., Hammer & Pape, 1997), Perkins (2002) noted that these findings may be due to the fact that studies have focused on public negative consequences, such as fighting. When more private consequences are examined, gender differences disappear (e.g., Cronin & Ballenger, 1991). Thus, it is hypothesized that men will experience higher levels of negative consequences and more public consequences such as fighting, but that men and women will not differ on other negative consequences. Some research with college students has found that frequency of experiencing positive consequences does not differ by gender (e.g., Park & Levenson, 2002). Thus, we hypothesized that men will experience higher overall levels of negative consequences and more external negative consequences such as fighting than will women, but that men and women will not differ on other negative consequences. No gender differences in positive consequences were expected.

To some extent, the more one drinks, the more likely one is to encounter negative and positive consequences (Sadava & Pak, 1993). For example, Wechsler et al. (1994) found that frequent binge drinkers were up to 16 times more likely than non-binge drinkers to have missed class, gotten behind in their schoolwork, engaged in unplanned sexual activity, or been hurt or injured. However, this relation between drinking (quantity-frequency measures) and problems encountered is of only moderate strength (Sadava, 1985). Research indicates that the relationship between drinking amount (quantity and frequency) and negative consequences is consistent and substantial, but also that these constructs are distinct (e.g., Bonin, McCreary, & Sadava, 2000). In fact, an earlier review indicated that consumption and negative consequences were only modestly correlated (average r=.36) (Sadava, 1985). This means that the connection between drinking alcohol and encountering problems is partially explained by consumption levels, but also that a substantial portion of the problems is related to other factors.

Little is known about the relationship between alcohol consumption and positive consequences, although one study of college students reported positive relations between them (Park & Levenson, 2002). In the present study, it is expected that higher levels of alcohol consumption will be related to higher levels of both negative consequences and positive consequences, given that the more one drinks, the more likely one is to experience resulting consequences. However, because previous research has also indicated that the relationship is modest, and that psychological variables also seem to be important determinants of who experiences positive and negative consequences from their drinking, we expected these relationships to be modest.

Alcohol use and the experiencing of negative consequences may be influenced by some psychological variables that enable students to avoid negative consequences and others that create vulnerabilities for encountering more alcohol-related problems (e.g., Sadava & Pak, 1993). The present study examined a psychological resource that was expected to be protective (constructive thinking) and a psychological vulnerability factor (positive alcohol expectancies). Constructive thinking, a style of appraising and approaching life that involves adaptive reasoning and control of negative emotions to allow appropriate problem-solving actions (Epstein & Meier, 1989), has been found to be related to fewer alcohol problems and less misuse of alcohol (e.g., Ammerman et al., 2001, Epstein & Meier, 1989) and, for women, to fewer negative and fewer positive alcohol-related consequences (Park & Levenson, 2002). Positive alcohol expectancies, positive beliefs about the effects of alcohol, are typically found to be related to heavier drinking and more drinking problems (e.g., Evans & Dunn, 1995), and have been found to be related to more positive and more negative alcohol-related consequences for both men and women (Park & Levenson, 2002).

In addition to the psychological risk and vulnerability characteristics, the present study also examined psychological adjustment, because several studies have found that students with poorer adjustment (e.g., those higher in negative affect) are more likely to experience negative consequences (Camatta & Nagoshi, 1995). In their study of college students, Park and Levenson (2002) found that for women, depressed mood predicted higher levels of positive and negative consequences, but no relations were found between depressed mood and alcohol consequences for men. Based on the existing literature, we hypothesized that higher levels of constructive thinking and psychological adjustment and lower levels of positive alcohol expectancies will be related to fewer alcohol-related consequences (both positive and negative), and that these effects will be stronger for women than for men. In addition, we expected that these relationships between psychological characteristics and adjustment and positive and negative consequences will be maintained even when taking into account the effect of amount of alcohol consumed.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were 181 undergraduates (84 men, 97 women; mean age of 19; 4.5% African-American, 4.2% Asian, 85.7% Caucasian, 2.3% Latino) drawn from the Psychology Department participant pool at the University of Connecticut. These participants were compensated with credit as part of their course requirements.

Measures

Constructive thinking was measured by the Constructive Thinking Inventory (CTI; Epstein & Meier, 1989), a 29-item measure of the extent to which people employ adaptive cognitive and

Alcohol consumption versus abstinence

Of the 181 students in the study, 21 (11.7%) reported that they had not consumed alcohol in the past month, including 7 men and 14 women. The analyses in this paper were conducted only with the 160 students (70 men, 90 women) who reported that they had consumed alcohol in the past month.

Frequency of total negative and positive experiences by gender

As shown in Table 1, both men and women reported experiencing positive alcohol-related consequences more frequently than negative alcohol-related consequences (t's>6.65, p's<.001, item means=2.50 versus 1.84 for

Discussion

In general, these results supported our hypotheses. We expected, and found, fairly high levels of both negative and positive alcohol-related consequences, and found that students reported experiencing higher levels of positive than negative consequences, consistent with previous research (Park, 2004). We also found that men reported encountering more negative consequences than women, particularly those more external consequences such as getting in trouble with the police. However, men also

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