Alcohol expectancies and personality characteristics in young men

Behaviors, Vol. 13, pp. 3.53-357, 1988 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.

Addictive

ALCOHOL

EXPECTANCIES

KENNETH

0306-4603/88

AND PERSONALITY IN YOUNG MEN

E. LEONARD

$3.00 + .OO

Copyright B 1988 Pergamon Press plc

CHARACTERISTICS

and HOWARD T. BLANE

University of Pittsburgh Abstract - This study examines the relationship between alcohol expectancies and a variety of relevant personality factors among two different samples of young men. The results indicated that for both samples, measures of social anxiety and concern over the evaluation of other people were related to the beliefs that alcohol was a globally positive transforming agent and that alcohol increased social assertiveness. Also, hostility was related to the belief that alcohol increases power and aggression. Several potential explanations and directions for future research are discussed.

During the past decade, investigators have shown an increased interest in the attitudes, beliefs, and expectancies that individuals hold with respect to the effects of alcohol and alcohol consumption. Initially, this interest centered around determining whether the behavioral effects of alcohol were the result of pharmacological or cognitive factors. In these studies (for a review see Goldman, Brown, & Christiansen, 1986), alcohol expectancies were not actually measured, but rather presumed to have been activated by an instructional set indicating that the subject had received alcohol. Subsequent research concerning alcohol expectancies turned to the measurement of such expectancies and to the relationship between expectancies and drinking behavior. Brown, Goldman, Inn, and Anderson (1980) derived six clusters of expectancies on the basis of factor analysis: “alcohol as a global positive transforming “sexual enhancement,” “inagent, ” “social and physical pleasure enhancer,” creased power and aggression, ” “increased social assertiveness,” and “tension reduction.” These authors reported that lighter drinking patterns were associated with an expectancy of a global positive effect while heavier patterns were associated with expectancies of sexual enhancement and aggression. Southwick, Steele, Marlatt, and Lindell (1981) expanded on this study by including expectancies with an aversive quality and by examining expectancies associated with both a moderate amount of alcohol as well as too much alcohol. In general, the results indicated that heavier drinkers held greater expectations for stimulation, perceived dominance, and for pleasurable disinhibition than did lighter drinkers. Other studies also suggest that drinking status is related to alcohol expectancies, and that this relationship extends to alcoholics and to adolescent and young adult drinkers (Christiansen & Goldman, 1983; Connors, O’Farrell, & Cutter, 1984). This body of research forms a promising start in understanding the relationship between alcohol expectancies and alcohol consumption. However, it is desirable to consider the ways in which these alcohol expectancies are related to other aspects of This research was supported by a grant from the Research Development Fund, University of Pittsburgh, and by a grant (AA 06114) from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. A version of this article was presented at the meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism, Wild Dunes, SC. Mav. 1985. kequ&ts for reprints should be sent to Kenneth E. Leonard at The Research Institute on Alcoholism, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14302. 3.53

I

KENNETH

354

E. LEONARD

and HOWARD

T. BLANE

the individual. Of particular relevance to the present paper is the relationship between general and specific alcohol expectancies and personality factors, especially those personality factors which appear directly relevant to the expected effects of alcohol. An individual with particular characteristics may find information that alcohol influences those characteristics in a positive fashion to be rather salient, and therefore may be more likely to acquire and maintain such an expectancy. For example, an individual who is tense and anxious might be highly attuned to information concerning anxiety-alleviating experiences, and therefore, more likely to acquire the expectancy that alcohol has that effect. The research reported here investigated the relationship between alcohol expectancies and several expectancy-relevant personality factors. METHOD

Sample

I

Subjects were 67 male drinkers recruited from a variety of sources, including university maintenance personnel, community college students, enlisted Navy personnel, and unemployed men visiting an employment office. Subjects were told that the study concerned drinking behavior in young men and involved completing a number of questionaires for which they would receive $20. In order to be eligible, the men had to be between 20 and 30 years of age, and to have had a drink within the preceding week. The final sample had an average age of 24 years and reported approximately 13 years of schooling with 90% graduating from high school. Most of the men were single (65%), with 25% married or living together, and 10% separated or divorced. Approximately half were employed (53%). The majority of the sample was white (6%). In general, they tended to be heavy drinkers: average daily ethanol consumption was 1.64 ounces (about three drinks a day), with a range from 0.03 to 9.00. They reported getting drunk 3.8 times during the last month, and 31% admitted to getting drunk at least once a week. 2 The second sample was considerably different from Sample 1. It consisted of 86 male college students enrolled in an introductory psychology course who reported having at least one drink during the past week. The subjects received course credit for participation in the study. They were younger than Sample 1, with a mean age of 19 years. A majority were freshman (61%) and most lived away from home (68%). Almost all of these subjects were single (98%). The sample was predominantly white (92%). Although these men have a lower mean daily ethanol consumption than did Sample 1 (.75 ounces or 1.5 drinks per day, with a range of 0.00 to 5.80) they were comparable with respect to indices of heavy drinking with an average of getting drunk three times in the preceding month, and 35% getting drunk at least once a week.

Sample

Instruments

The present study was conducted as part of an initial phase of a large national study of drinking patterns in young men. One purpose of this initial phase was to develop short forms (six-eight items) of a variety of different scales for use in the larger study. The results for both samples will be reported with respect to the short forms. It should be noted that Sample 1 completed both the short and long forms and that the pattern of results was similar for both forms.

Alcohol expectancies

and personality

355

A variety of different measures were used in order to assess a wide scope of interpersonal and affective factors. The Social Avoidance and Distress (alpha = .92,.82)’ and the Fear of Negative Evaluation scales (alpha = .87,.87) (Watson & Friend, 1969) measured factors related to interpersonal deficits, as did the Rathus Assertiveness Scale (alpha = .75,.69) (1973). Self-awareness, a key concept in current theories of alcoholism and alcohol problems (Hull, 1986), was assessed with the Public Self-Consciousness (alpha = .76,.57), Private Self-Consciousness (alpha = .76,.67), and Social Anxiety (alpha = .60,.76) scales developed by Fenigstein, Scheier, and Buss (1975). Affective experience was measured with the Self-Criticism (alpha = .76,.66)) and Dependency (alpha = .69,.60) subscales of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (Blatt, D’AMitti, & Quinlan, 1979) and by the Hopelessness Scale (alpha = .91,.82) (Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974). Hostility was assessed with the Assault (alpha = .73,.77), Suspicion (alpha = .68,.56), and Guilt (alpha = .58,.60) subscales of the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (1957). The alcohol expectancies were measured by the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (AEQ) developed by Brown et al. (1980). As mentioned, the AEQ consists of six clusters of expectancies: alcohol as a global positive transforming agent (alpha = .87,.90), social and physical pleasure enhancer (alpha = .65,.69), sexual enhancement (alpha = .86,.55), increased power and aggression (alpha = - .38,.08), increased social assertiveness (alpha = .73,.85), and tension reduction (alpha = .61,.82). Unlike the personality measures, the entire AEQ was administered with no attempts to shorten the scales. One cluster, increased power and aggression, was augmented with several additional items tapping this expectancy (alpha = .75,.66). RESULTS

Table 1 presents the intercorrelations between the 6 clusters of expectancies and the 14 personality measures separately for Samples 1 and 2. Given the large number of correlations, we will focus on correlations significant at the .Ol level. Several features are noteworthy. First, alcohol expectancies reflecting sexual enhancement and physical and social pleasure were largely unrelated to the various personality measures. However, this is not surprising since personality measures which might be particularly relevant to these dimensions such as sex guilt or anhedonia were not administered. The expectation of globally positive effects from alcohol and the expectation that alcohol enhances social assertiveness were significantly correlated with personality measures reflecting concerns in the social-interpersonal arena. Specifically, high scores on the Social Avoidance and Distress scale and the Social Anxiety scale were related to the belief that alcohol has the effect of increasing social assertiveness. Measures indicating a concern over the implications of one’s social performance, specifically the Fear of Negative Evaluation and Self-criticism scales were also significantly correlated with the belief that positive and socially assertive changes accompany alcohol use. Further, these relationships held for both Sample 1 and Sample 2. Somewhat surprisingly, the belief that alcohol served to reduce tension tended to be unrelated to these personality measures tapping anxiety in social settings. Finally, the belief that alcohol increases feelings of power and aggression was ‘Reliability coeffkients are presented for Sample 1 and Sample 2 respectively. Two scales, the Efficacy subscale of the DEQ and the Resentment subscale, manifested very low reliabilities and are not considered in this report.

KENNETH

356

and HOWARD T. BLANE

E. LEONARD

Table 1. Correlations between personality measures and alcohol expectancies Alcohol Expectancies Global Positive Personality Measures Social Avoidance and Distress Fear of Negative Evaluation Public SelfConsciousness Private SelfConsciousness Social Anxiety Dependency Self-Criticism Assault Suspicion Guilt Assertiveness Hopelessness

Sexual Enhancement

.27*

.25*

-

-

-

-

.30*

.34**

-

-

-

-

-

.33**

-

-

.27*

-

.27*

.3g**

-

-

-

-

-

.31*

-

-

-

-

-

.37**

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

.45**

.26* .46**

_

_

.2;

1

1

.33* _

.36** -

z .34*

1 -

1 .64**

-

.31*

.38** -

-

-

-

1

.37**

-

2

1

Power and Aggression

2”

.35*

2

Tension Reduction

1

.35* .27* __----.3_5* .25* .40** _____------------------_ -

1

Physical and Social Social Assertiveness Pleasure 2

1

-

2

-

1

-

2

1 .42** -

a = Samples 1 and 2; *p s .Ol, **p 6 401.

significantly correlated primarily with the Assault subscale of the Buss-Durkee tility Inventory for both samples.

Hos-

DISCUSSION

The results of this study indicate that socially anxious men, more so than other men, believe that alcohol has the effect of inducing a generally positive change, as well as a more specific effect of increasing social assertiveness. It is also interesting to note that these individuals apparently do not see alcohol as having this effect through a simple tension reduction property, since expectancies of this effect were not related to these social anxiety measures. Further, these relationships were consistent for both Sample 1 and Sample 2 despite the notable differences between the two samples (age, education, race, method of recruitment). Similarly, the relationship between hostility and alcohol expectations concerning power and aggression was quite strong in both samples. Obviously, the cross-sectional and correlational nature of the data precludes inferences that these personality factors are causally related to alcohol expectancies. However, there are several plausible connections between social anxiety and the alcohol expectancy of increased social assertiveness which deserve empirical attention. First, socially anxious individuals may be particularly attuned to information which presents possible methods of controlling anxiety, and thus might vicariously learn and maintain more anxiety reducing beliefs than less anxious men. Second, since such men would be more likely to be anxious whenever they drink than other men, there would be a higher probability for drinking to coincidently accompany decreased anxiety, without actually having any direct or indirect pharmacological impact on anxiety. Finally, anxious men might be more likely to experience any pharmacological effect of alcohol on anxiety than men who maintain very low levels

Alcohol expectancies

and personality

357

of anxiety. Any of these reasons could potentially explain the relationship between social avoidance and social anxiety and the belief that alcohol functions to increase and enhance social functioning. Similarly, the significant relationship between hostility and the belief that alcohol increases power and aggression might arise from any or all of the processes hypothesized above. Though the findings of the present study are suggestive, and proved replicable, future research is required to understand more fully the integration of alcohol expectancies and personality variables. It is of particular interest to determine whether these relationships reflect differential experiences with alcohol, or whether they emerge prior to extensive familiarity with alcohol as a result of differential absorption of cultural beliefs as a function of individual needs. In this regard, assessment of these relationships among adolescents with minimal drinking experience would be quite valuable. Additionally, future research needs to examine the conjoint influence of personality factors and expectancies on drinking and drinking-related behavior. For example, it would be important to determine whether high levels of social anxiety coupled with the expectancy that alcohol enhances social performance results in excessive alcohol consumption.

REFERENCES Beck, A.T., Weissman, A., Lester, D., & Trexler, L.A. (1974). A measurement of pessimism: The hopelessness scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 861-865. Blatt, S.J., D’Afflitti, J.P., & Quinlan, D.M. (1979). Depressive Experiences Questionnaire. New Haven, CT: Yale University (mimeographed). Brown, S.A., Goldman, M.S., Inn, A., & Anderson, L.R. (1980). Expectations of reinforcement from alcohol: Their domain and relation to drinking patterns. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 419-426.

Buss, A.H., & Durkee, A. (1957). An inventory for assessing different kinds of hostility. Journal of Consulting

and Clinical Psychology,

21, 343-349.

Christiansen, B.A., & Goldman, M.S. (1983). Alcohol related expectancies versus demographic/background variables in the prediction of adolescent drinking. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,

51, 249-257.

Connors, G.J., O’Farrell, T.J., & Cutter, H.S.G. (1984, August). Alcohol expectancies among alcoholics, problem drinkers, and nonproblem drinkers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. Fenigstein, A., Scheier, M.F., & Buss, A.H. (1975). Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43, 522-547. Goldman, M.B., Brown, S.A., & Christiansen, B.A. (1986). Expectancy theory: Thinking about drinking. In H.T. Blane, & K.E. Leonard (Eds.), Psychological theories of drinking and alcoholism. New York: Guilford Press. Hull, J.G. (1986). Self-awareness model. In H.T. Blane & K.E. Leonard (Eds.), Psychological theories of drinking and alcoholism. New York: Guilford Press. Rathus, A.A. (1973). A 30-item schedule for assessing assertive behavior. Behavior Therapy, 4, 391406. Southwick, L., Steele, C., Marlatt, A., & Lindell, M. (1981). Alcohol related expectancies: Defined by phase of intoxication and drinking experience. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49, 713-721. Watson, D., & Friend, R. (1969). Measurement of social-evaluative anxiety. Journal ofConsulting and Clinical Psychology,

33, 448-457.