Drinking Contexts,Alcohol Beliefs,and Patterns of Alcohol Consumption: Evidence for a Comprehensive Model of Problem Drinking

Abstract

The social contexts in which individuals drink and the expected outcomes of that drinking (i.e., individual beliefs about the effects of drinking beverage alcohol) have recently been found to represent conceptually distinct models of alcohol consumption patterns. This paper examines the relationships between contexts, beliefs, and a variety of problem drinking patterns, and reestimates these relationships in a large national probability sample of 2,100 adults (U.S. National Alcohol Survey [National 7], Alcohol Research Group 1984: Berkeley, Calif). Regression analyses indicate that the interrelationship of drinking contexts and drinking beliefs, and their impact on drinking behavior, is more complex than previously described. Consistent with earlier research, when simple frequency of drinking is the focus, social contexts for drinking emerge as the more important independent influences. When several indicators of maladaptive drinking are considered, however, beliefs regarding the effects of drinking, particularly beliefs regarding drinking as a means to modify affect, are found to be more influential. Logic is developed for a comprehensive model of the sources of problem drinking that incorporates both classes of explanatory variables.