Abstract
Although social anxiety and problematic alcohol use co-occur at alarmingly high rates, the mechanism for this co-occurrence is not well understood. The current study examined the mediating role of positive social alcohol expectancies (i.e., beliefs related to the desirable social effects of drinking) in the relationship between social anxiety and hazardous drinking (i.e., heavy drinking and negative consequences) among an ethnically and racially diverse (87% racial and/or ethnic minority) sample of undergraduate volunteers (n = 610; Mage = 19.1; 69% women). The results of structural equation modeling analyses (using AMOS 7.0) indicated that social (but not tension reduction, sexual enhancement, positive cognitive changes, or negative affective changes) alcohol outcome expectancies partially mediated the association between social anxiety and hazardous drinking; however, social anxiety had a negative direct effect on hazardous drinking. Findings implicate social alcohol outcome expectancies as a mechanism to target in treatment and prevention among socially anxious students.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Babor, T. F., de la Fluente, J. R., Saunders, J. B., & Grant, M. (1992). AUDIT: The alcohol use disorders identification test: Guidelines for use in primary health care. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
Babor, T. F., Higgins-Biddle, J. C., Saunders, J. B., & Monteiro, M. G. (2001). AUDIT: The alcohol use disorders identification test—Guidelines for use in primary care (2nd ed.). Geneva: World Health Organization.
Blackwell, E., & Conrod, P. J. (2003). A five-dimensional measure of drinking motives. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia.
Bollen, K. (1996). An alternative 2SLS estimator for latent variable models. Psychometrika, 61, 109–121. doi:10.1007/BF02296961.
Brown, T. A. (2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. New York: Guildford Press.
Bruch, M. A., Heimberg, R. G., Harvey, C. H., McCann, M., Mahone, M., & Slavkin, S. (1992). Shyness, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol use: Discovery of a suppressor effect. Journal of Research in Personality, 23, 137–149. doi:10.1016/0092-6566(92)90050-E.
Bruch, M. A., Rivet, K. M., Heimberg, R. G., & Levin, M. A. (1997). Shyness, alcohol expectancies, and drinking behavior: Replication and extension of a suppressor effect. Personality and Individual Differences, 22(2), 193–200. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(96)00190-0.
Buckner, J. D., Bonn-Miller, M. O., Zvolensky, M. J., & Schmidt, N. B. (2007). Marijuana use motives and social anxiety among marijuana using young adults. Addictive Behaviors, 32, 2238–2252. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2007.04.004.
Buckner, J. D., Schmidt, N. B., Bobadilla, L., & Taylor, J. (2006a). Social anxiety and problematic cannabis use: Evaluating the moderating role of stress reactivity and perceived coping. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 1007–1015. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2005.08.002.
Buckner, J., Schmidt, N., & Eggleston, A. (2006b). Social anxiety and problematic alcohol consumption: The mediating role of drinking motives and situations. Behavior Therapy, 37, 381–391. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2006.02.007.
Buckner, J. D., Schmidt, N. B., Lang, A. R., Small, J. W., Schlauch, R. C., & Lewinsohn, P. M. (2008). Specificity of social anxiety disorder as a risk factor for alcohol and cannabis dependence. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 42, 230–239. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2007.01.002.
Byrne, B. (2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Carrigan, M. H., & Randall, C. L. (2003). Self-medication in social phobia: A review of the alcohol literature. Addictive Behaviors, 28, 269–284. doi:10.1016/S0306-4603(01)00235-0.
Clark, D. M., & McManus, F. (2002). Information processing in social phobia. Biological Psychiatry, 51, 92–100. doi:10.1016/S0006-3223(01)01296-3.
Conger, J. (1956). Reinforcement theory and the dynamics of alcoholism. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 17, 296–305.
Corbin, W. R., Morean, M. E., & Benedict, D. (2008). The positive drinking consequences questionnaire (PDCQ): Validation of a new assessment tool. Addictive Behaviors, 33, 54–68. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2007.06.003.
Crum, R. M., & Pratt, L. A. (2001). Risk of heavy drinking and alcohol use disorders in social phobia: A prospective analysis. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 1693–1700. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.158.10.1693.
Eggleston, A. M., Woolaway-Bickel, K., & Schmidt, N. B. (2004). Social anxiety and alcohol use: Evaluation of the moderating and mediating effects of alcohol expectancies. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 18, 33–49. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2003.07.005.
Gilles, D., Turk, C., & Fresco, D. (2006). Social anxiety, alcohol expectancies, and self-efficacy as predictors of heavy drinking in college students. Addictive Behaviors, 31, 388–398. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2005.05.020.
Goldman, M. S., Del Boca, F. K., & Darkes, J. (1999). Alcohol expectancy theory: The application of cognitive neuroscience. In H. Blane & K. Leonard (Eds.), Psychological theories of drinking and alcoholism (pp. 203–246). New York: Guilford Press.
Grant, B. G., Hasin, D. S., Blanco, C., Stinson, F. S., Chou, S. P., Goldstein, R. B., et al. (2005). The epidemiology of social anxiety disorder in the United States: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on alcohol and related conditions. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 66, 1351–1361.
Ham, L. S., Carrigan, M. H., Moak, D. H., & Randall, C. L. (2005). Social anxiety and specificity of positive alcohol expectancies. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 27(2), 115–121. doi:10.1007/s10862-005-5385-x.
Ham, L. S., & Hope, D. A. (2003). College students and problematic drinking: A review of the literature. Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 719–759. doi:10.1016/S0272-7358(03)00071-0.
Ham, L. S., & Hope, D. A. (2005). Incorporating social anxiety into a model of college problematic drinking. Addictive Behaviors, 30, 127–150. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.04.018.
Ham, L. S., & Hope, D. A. (2006). Incorporating social anxiety into a model of college problematic drinking: Replication and extension. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 20, 348–355. doi:10.1037/0893-164X.20.3.348.
Ham, L. S., Hope, D. A., White, C. S., & Rivers, P. C. (2002). Alcohol expectancies and drinking behavior in adults with social anxiety disorder and dysthymia. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 275–288. doi:10.1023/A:1014582005745.
Heimberg, R., Mueller, G., Holt, C., Hope, D., & Liebowitz, M. (1992). Assessment of anxiety in social interaction and being observed by others: The social interaction anxiety scale and the social phobia scale. Behavior Therapy, 23, 53–73. doi:10.1016/S0005-7894(05)80308-9.
Hingson, R., Heeren, T., Winter, M., & Wechsler, H. (2005). Magnitude of alcohol-related mortality, morbidity among US college students ages 18–24: Changes from 1998 to 2001. Annual Review of Public Health, 26, 259–279. doi:10.1146/annurev.publhealth.26.021304.144652.
Khantzian, E. J. (1985). The self-medication hypothesis of addictive disorders: Focus on heroin and cocaine dependence. In D. Allen (Ed.), The cocaine crisis. New York: Plenum Press.
Kokotailo, P. K., Egan, J., Gangnon, R., Brown, D., Mundt, M., & Fleming, M. (2004). Validity of the alcohol use disorders identification test in college students. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, 28, 914–920.
Lee, N., Oei, T., Greeley, J., & Baglioni, A. (2003). Psychometric properties of the drinking expectancy questionnaire: A review of the factor structure and a proposed new scoring method. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 64, 432–436.
Leigh, B. C. (1990). Alcohol expectancies and reasons for drinking: Comments from a study on sexuality. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 4, 91–96.
Lewis, B., & O’Neill, K. (2000). Alcohol expectancies and social deficits relating to problem drinking among college students. Addictive Behaviors, 25, 295–299. doi:10.1016/S0306-4603(99)00063-5.
MacKinnon, D. P. (2008). Introduction to statistical mediation analysis. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
MacKinnon, D. P., Fairchild, A. J., & Fritz, M. S. (2007). Mediational analysis. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 593–614. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085542.
Magee, W. J., Eaton, W. W., Wittchen, H.-U., McGonagle, K. A., & Kessler, R. C. (1996). Agoraphobia, simple phobia, and social phobia in the National Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, 53, 159–168.
Mattick, R. P., & Clarke, J. C. (1989). Development and validation of measures of social phobia scrutiny fear and social interaction anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 455–470. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(97)10031-6.
Morris, E. P., Stewart, S. H., & Ham, L. (2005). The relationship between social anxiety disorder and alcohol use disorders: A critical review. Clinical Psychology Review, 25, 734–760. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2005.05.004.
O’Malley, P., & Johnston, L. (2002). Epidemiology of alcohol and other drug use among American college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 14, 23–49.
Read, J., Wood, M., Davidoff, O., McLacken, J., & Campbell, J. (2002). Making the transition from high school to college: The role of alcohol-related social influence factors in students’ drinking. Substance Abuse, 23, 53–65. doi:10.1023/A:1013682727356.
Reinert, D. F., & Allen, J. P. (2002). The alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT): A review of recent research. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, 26, 272–279.
Reinert, D. F., & Allen, J. P. (2007). The alcohol use disorders identification test: An update of research findings. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, 31, 185–199. doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.2006.00295.x.
Reis, J., & Riley, W. L. (2000). Predictors of college students’ alcohol consumption: Implications for student education. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 16, 282–291.
Sher, K., & Levenson, R. (1982). Risk for alcoholism and individual differences in the stress-response-dampening effect of alcohol. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 91, 350–367. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.91.5.350.
Stewart, S. H., & Conrod, P. J. (2008). Anxiety disorder and substance use disorder comorbidity: Common themes and future directions. In S. H. Stewart & P. J. Conrod (Eds.), Anxiety and substance use disorders (pp. 239–257). New York: Springer.
Stewart, S., Morris, E., Mellings, T., & Komar, J. (2006). Relations of social anxiety variables to drinking motives, drinking quantity and frequency, and alcohol-related problems in undergraduates. Journal of Mental Health, 15, 671–682. doi:10.1080/09638230600998904.
Tran, G. Q., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2002). Coping responses and alcohol outcome expectancies in alcohol abusing and nonabusing social phobics. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26(1), 1–17. doi:10.1023/A:1013803803192.
Tran, G. Q., Haaga, D. A. F., & Chambless, D. L. (1997). Expecting that alcohol use will reduce social anxiety moderates the relation between social anxiety and alcohol consumption. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 21, 535–553. doi:10.1023/A:1021857402164.
Tran, G. Q., & Smith, J. P. (2008). Co-morbidity of social phobia and alcohol use disorders: A review of psychopathology research findings. In S. H. Stewart & P. J. Conrod (Eds.), Anxiety and substance use disorders (pp. 59–79). New York: Springer.
Wechsler, H., Lee, J. E., Kuo, M., & Lee, H. (2000). College binge drinking in the 1990s: A continuing problem. Journal of American College Health, 48, 199–210.
Wiers, R. W., & Kummeling, R. H. C. (2004). An experimental test of an alcohol expectancy challenge in mixed gender groups of young heavy drinkers. Addictive Behaviors, 29, 215–220. doi:10.1016/S0306-4603(03)00081-9.
Young, R. M., & Knight, R. G. (1989). The drinking expectancy questionnaire: A revised measure of alcohol-related beliefs. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 11, 99–112. doi:10.1007/BF00962702.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank the undergraduate research assistants at Florida International University who assisted with data collection and data entry. In addition, thanks are due to Dr. Melissa Norberg for her helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ham, L.S. Positive Social Alcohol Outcome Expectancies, Social Anxiety, and Hazardous Drinking in College Students. Cogn Ther Res 33, 615–623 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-009-9248-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-009-9248-8