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Measuring Alcohol Expectancies in Youth

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Abstract

Beliefs about the consequences of using alcohol, alcohol expectancies, are powerful predictors of underage drinking. The Alcohol Expectancies Questionnaire-Adolescent form (AEQ-A) has been widely used to measure expectancies in youth. Despite its broad use, the factor structure of the AEQ-A has not been firmly established. It is also not known whether it assesses similar constructs (i.e., measurement invariance) between boys and girls. This article reports on a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of a shortened version of the AEQ-A with 310 youth, ages 10–16, to determine whether a two factor, positive and negative expectancy structure held for this sample and to test measurement invariance across gender. The results support evidence of a 2-factor, positive and negative structure for the abbreviated version of the AEQ-A and show that it assesses equivalent alcohol expectancy constructs among males and females. These findings have important implications for cognitive based approaches to alcohol prevention.

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Acknowledgements

Work on this project was supported by a grant from the Florida State University awarded to Karen A. Randolph. The original study was supported by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grant R01 AA007554-11S1 awarded to Brenda A. Miller. The authors gratefully acknowledge comments from Francis Berry, Frank Fincham, Alan Lang, and Eugene Maguin on earlier drafts. A copy of the Alcohol Expectancies Questionnaire-Adolescent form can be obtained by contacting the Alcohol & Substance Use Research Institute, Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, (813)-974-6963, klbailey@cas.usf.edu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Social Work Florida State University, University Center, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-2570, USA

    Karen A. Randolph (Assistant Professor)

  2. Medical Humanities & Social Sciences, College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-4300, USA

    Mary A. Gerend (Assistant Professor)

  3. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Prevention Research Center, 1995 University Avenue, Suite 450, Berkeley, CA, 94704, USA

    Brenda A. Miller (Senior Research Scientist)

Authors
  1. Karen A. Randolph
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  2. Mary A. Gerend
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  3. Brenda A. Miller
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Correspondence to Karen A. Randolph.

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Florida State University College of Social Work. She received her Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her major research interests are youth at risk, substance use prevention, and family engagement in prevention interventions

Florida State University College of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University. Her major research interests are women's health, disease prevention, and health communication.

Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University at Albany. Her major research interests are family-based prevention strategies for adolescent alcohol, drugs, and sexual risk taking; women's alcohol, and other drug problems; prevention of young adult alcohol and drug abuse, risky sexual behavior, and violence.

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Randolph, K.A., Gerend, M.A. & Miller, B.A. Measuring Alcohol Expectancies in Youth. J Youth Adolescence 35, 939–948 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9072-3

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