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Alcohol Expectancies, Pregaming, Drinking Games, and Hazardous Alcohol Use in a Multiethnic Sample of College Students

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Abstract

Pregaming is a risky drinking behavior that occurs when students drink alcohol before a primary social gathering or event. The paucity of research on pregaming highlights the need for research on the correlates of drinking behaviors, such as alcohol expectancies, that might increase the likelihood of pregaming. Thus, we sought to examine how alcohol expectancies and the valuations (i.e., desirability) of these expectancies are associated with frequency of pregaming, drinking game (DG) participation, and hazardous alcohol use. Students (N = 1327) from nine U.S. colleges and universities completed self-report surveys. Results showed sufficient discriminant validity among pregaming behaviors, DG participation, and hazardous alcohol use. Findings also revealed that pregaming mediated the associations between positive alcohol expectancies and hazardous drinking behaviors. Finally, when we tested for invariance across gender, ethnicity, and legal versus underage alcohol users, we found full invariance across gender and ethnicity, but not for legal versus underage alcohol users. Future research directions and potential implications for prevention efforts are discussed.

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Notes

  1. There were campus differences on the outcome variables pregaming such that DG participation, and hazardous alcohol use levels were highest at traditional "college towns" where students live on campus or in off-campus apartments and lowest at schools where most students lived at home with their parents. We controlled for this through the use of dummy variables.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Smith College, 44 College Lane, Northampton, MA, 01063, USA

    Byron L. Zamboanga & Kathryne Van Tyne

  2. Center for Family Studies, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Seth J. Schwartz

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Lindsay S. Ham

  4. Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University, Box G-S121, Providence, RI, 02903, USA

    Brian Borsari

  5. Providence VA Medical Center, 830 Chalkstone Avenue, Providence, RI, 02908, USA

    Brian Borsari

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  1. Byron L. Zamboanga
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  2. Seth J. Schwartz
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  3. Lindsay S. Ham
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  4. Brian Borsari
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  5. Kathryne Van Tyne
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Correspondence to Byron L. Zamboanga.

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Zamboanga, B.L., Schwartz, S.J., Ham, L.S. et al. Alcohol Expectancies, Pregaming, Drinking Games, and Hazardous Alcohol Use in a Multiethnic Sample of College Students. Cogn Ther Res 34, 124–133 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-009-9234-1

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