A motivacional model of alcohol misuse in adolescents

ANGELINA PILATTI; ACUÑA, IGNACIO; LAMAS, LUCIANA; JUAN CARLOS GODOY; SILVINA BRUSSINO

Sao Paulo

Congreso; V Latin American Society for Biomedical Research Alcoholism Meeting; 2011

Society for Biomedical Research Alcoholism

There is substantial support that excessive alcohol use is associated to an increment in the likelihood of experiencing alcohol related problems (Cranford et al., 2006; Hingson et al., 2009; Perkins, 2002; Wechsler & Nelson, 2008). Consequences of heavy drinking comprised academic problems, unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, health problems, non fatal and fatal injuries (Hingson et al., 2002). According to that, researchers have been studying which factors are associated with an increase in the likelihood that adolescents would engage in a heavy drinking episode, which lead to a recognition of a broad range of factors including biological, social, and psychological aspects (Baer, 2002; Dowdall & Wechsler, 2002; Ham & Hope, 2003). The motivational drinking model postulates a person makes a decision about whether or not to drink based on a combination of actual and historical factors, where, drinking motives are visualized as the final common pathway to alcohol use (Kuntsche et al., 2005). Historical aspects (such as personality), current aspects (such as being exposed to peer‟s drinking) are the basis for the development of alcohol expectancies, which are defined as the probability held by a person that a specific reinforcement (positive or negative) will follow alcohol use. However, alcohol expectancies are not sufficient to explain why a person decides to drink and it seems that to have a motive to drink is necessary in order to engage in this particular behavior. According to that, the proposed model of the present study includes antecedents factors (personality, peer‟s drinking), mediators (positive and negative expectancies and drinking motives), and an outcome variable (drinking behavior). Self report data obtained from an Argentinean sample of high school students (N= 343, mean age= 15.17, DS= 1.4) were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The general model fit was adequate, and it was supported the proposed personality and peer‟s drinking →positive and negative expectancies → drinking motives →alcohol use indirect effects. Results sustain the motivational model, where alcohol expectancies mediates between antecedents (personality and peer‟s use) and drinking motives, and finally, positive alcohol expectancies and drinking motives mediate the relation between antecedents and drinking use