Transcript Slide 1

Expectancies, peer-influences
and social determinants
regarding alcohol use in young
people
Stephan Van den Broucke
UC Louvain
Symposium on « Binge Drinking in Belgian Minors: an innocent problem?
Palace of the Academies
Brussels, 8 November 2011
Background
College or university is the
place where adolescents learn
to drink alcohol
Studies among university
students reveal
Percentage heavy episodic drinking in the past month,
ages 18-20 and 21-24, in college versus noncollege
persons, 1998, 2002, and 2005 (Hingson, 2009)
– a high level of alcohol
consumption
– a high level of problematic
use, particularly binge
drinking
Source: National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Alcohol education as a solution?
N= 26
N= 18
N= 14
Source: Bangert-Drowns, R.L. (1988). Journal of Drug Education, 18, 243-264.
To address the problem
of student binge drinking
it is necessary to
investigate the factors
that influence it
Factors influencing student alcohol abuse
• Individual
-
expectancies
attitudes
control perceptions
Sensation seeking and risk
taking tendency
- personal stress
• Social
- family
- peers
- perceived norms
• Institutional
– availability and price
– rules and regulations
Dahlgren & Whitehead (1991)
• Societal
– cultural habits
– economic conditions
Objectives of the presentation
• Document the individua and
social factors that influence
problematic alcohol use
(including binge drinking)
• Highlight the contribution of own
research
Most published research on determinants
of alcohol use has been carried out in the
US
Determinants of alcohol use considered
• Cognitive determinants
– Alcohol expectancies
– Attitudes
– Refusal self-efficacy
• Peer influences
– Peer pressure
– Perceived norms
Alcohol expectancies
• The cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes an
individual expects to occur due to drinking
– Expectancies vary between persons
– Expectancies can be positive or negative
Positive : improved social contact, sexual enhancement, relaxation,
assertion
Negative: loss of responsibility, decreased performance
– Positive expectancies are believed to motivate to drink alcohol
Drinking motives are the most proximate factor that precedes alcohol use, and are
the gateway through which expectancies impact on use
• Findings from literature reviews
– Fewer positive alcohol expectancies are associated with fewer
binge drinking episodes among young adults
– Negative alcohol expectancies are not related to binge drinking
Courtney E, Polich J (2009), Psychological bulletin 135 (1), 142-156.
Alcohol expectancies in Belgian students
• Study among 492 students of the UCL
– 277 psychology students and 215 engeneering
– 213 male, 279 female
• Online questionnaire
– French adaptation of the AEQ-A
– 4 expectancies :
•
•
•
•
Relaxation and facilitating social contact
Improved physical and mental abilities
Enhanced sensations
Loss of control
• Findings
– males student have higher scores on positive expectancies than
female students
– psychology and engineering students have different expectancies
Darcheville (2012)
Attitudes
• A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a
particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor
(Eagly & Chaiken, 1995)
Based on outcome beliefs, the subjective value of the outcomes,
and the perceived probability that the outcome will occur
• Reviews of community prevention strategies indicate that
having favorable attitudes toward substance use is
associated with binge drinking among adolescents
Collins et al. (2007). Substance Use Misuse, 42(6), 985-1007
Self-efficacy and perceived control
• The measure of the belief in one's own ability of performing
a given behavior
– Applied to alcohol use and binge drinking: the ability to refuse drinks
easily or to stop drinking
– Is believed to influence an individuals’ drinking intentions and
ultimately the behaviour
• Numerous studies have demonstrated an inverse
association between drinking refusal self-efficacy and
drinking behavior
Attitudes and perceived control combined
• Theory of Planned Behaviour
TPB tested among Belgian students
Study among 192
students of the KU
Leuven
-
-
recruited via the student
medical service
53% human sciences,
24% exact sciences and
22% biomedical sciences
43% male, 57% female
Pen-and-paper
questionnaire (validated)
Van Campenhout (2013)
Attitudes and perceived control combined
• Behaviour Reasoning Theory
BRT tested among Belgian students
Study among 547 students
of the UCL
-
418 online, 129 in auditorium
218 for 2nd completion
Different faculties (economics
and political sciences,
psychology, other)
-
242 male, 304 female
Online/pen-and-paper
questionnaire
De Waele & Godfrin (2013)
Reasons for and against drinking
Peer influences
• The influence of other students on alcohol use and binge
drinking can be
– Direct: offering alcohol and/or insist on drinking
– Indirect: setting social norms
• Descriptive norms: What other people do
• Injunctive norms: What other people approve of
• Reviews indicate that binge or risky drinking among
adolescents is associated with
– having close friends who consumed alcohol in the past month
– excessive drinking among peers
Gilligan et al. Alcohol, 47(3), 349-354.
Peer influences tested in Belgian students
Study among 282
students of the UCL
-
Different faculties
(psychology, bio-enginieering)
-
-
246 women (87.23%); 36
men (12.77%)
Online questionnaire
measuring direct offer,
perceived injunctive norms,
perceived descriptive norms
and alcohol consumption
Distinction between nonbinge drinkers (19.1%),
binge drinkers (72.3%)
and frequent binge drinkers
(8.5%)
Kumst (2013)
Conclusion
• Alcohol expectancies, attitudes, self-efficacy, direct
peer pressure and perceived norms all contribute to
alcohol consumption and to binge drinking
• The relative importance of the determinants varies
– For alcohol use and binge drinking
– Between subgroups (gender)
• Prevention campaigns and strategies need to take the
multiple determinants of alcohol use and binge
drinking into account
• Research on the determinants of binge drinking can
help to inform prevention efforts
“The chief reason for drinking is the desire to behave in a
certain way, and to be able to blame it on alcohol”
~ Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960