The Influence of Drinking Buddies: A Longitudinal Investigation of Drinking Motivations and Drinking Behaviors in Emerging Adults.

Background: Heavy alcohol consumption and frequent alcohol use are associated with many adverse social and physical consequences. The different motivations underlying why people drink predict different patterns of alcohol consumption. A drinking buddy (i.e. a friend with whom a person drinks alcohol) influences a person's drinking via social learning, leading to escalations in drinking over time. Purpose: Few studies have investigated drinking motives among peers and none have studied whether the drinking motives of a drinking buddy can influence another person's drinking behavior; we sought to fill that gap. Method: Same-sex drinking buddies (N = 174; 66.1% female) were assessed once monthly for four months using self-report questionnaires. Participants were on average 18.66 years-old (SD = 1.17). Results: Indistinguishable actor-partner interdependence models using multilevel path analysis were conducted, with each drinking motive predicting drinking frequency and quantity, respectively. There were significant actor effects for social, enhancement, conformity, and coping motives; moreover, the enhancement, social, and coping-anxiety motives of the drinking buddy influenced the individual's drinking frequency across the four months of the study. Conversely, only the enhancement motives of the buddy predicted drinking quantity in the individual when averaged across time. Sex was not a significant moderator of these effects. Importance: When targeting risky drinking behavior in a therapeutic context, assessing and addressing a person's reasons for drinking, as well as their drinking buddy's reasons for drinking, may reduce the risk of escalations in either friend's drinking frequency over time.

Perfectionistic Concerns, Social Negativity, and Subjective Well-Being: A Test of the Social Disconnection Model.

Partner-specific perfectionistic concerns (PC) include concern over mistakes, self-criticism, and socially prescribed perfectionism as it pertains to one's partner. The social disconnection model proposes that PC influences well-being indirectly through interpersonal problems. Thus, we hypothesized that social negativity (expressed anger, hostility, and rejection) would mediate the relationship between dyadic PC and subjective well-being. Data from 203 romantic dyads (92.1% heterosexual) were collected using self-report surveys and a four-wave, 4-week longitudinal design. Participants were predominantly female (53.1%), young (M = 22.69 years), and Caucasian (82.3%). Data were analyzed using an actor-partner interdependence model with multilevel structural equation modeling. There were significant actor effects at the between-subjects and within-subjects levels, and significant partner effects for the relationship between PC and social negativity at the within-subject level. Social negativity mediated the relationships between PC and both negative affect and life satisfaction. However, positive affect was more weakly related to PC and social negativity. The social disconnection model was supported. PC was positively associated with one's own social negativity and evoked hostile behaviors from one's partner. Hostile, rejecting behaviors reduced the well-being of the actor, but not the partner. Results suggest perfectionism may be best understood within an interpersonal context.

Similarity in romantic couples' drinking motivations and drinking behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Research suggests that enhancement, conformity, social, coping-with-anxiety, and coping-with-depression drinking motives are linked to specific drinking outcomes in a theoretically expected manner. Social learning theory suggests that people who spend more time together emulate each other's behavior to acquire reinforcing outcomes. The present study sought to integrate drinking motives theory and social learning theory to investigate similarity in drinking behaviors and drinking motives in romantic couples. We hypothesized that couples would be more similar than chance in their drinking behaviors and motives. We also hypothesized that demographics reflecting time around and interactions with romantic partners (e.g., days spent drinking together) would positively correlate with similarity in drinking behaviors and motivations. METHODS: The present study tested hypotheses in 203 romantic couples. Participants completed a Timeline Follow-Back measure and the Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised to track their alcohol use and drinking motives. Similarity profiles were calculated using McCrae's (J Pers Assess. 2008;90:105-109) coefficient of profile agreement, rpa. RESULTS: Couples were more similar in their drinking behavioral and motivational profiles than could be explained by chance. Days spent drinking together and days with face-to-face contact predicted increased similarity in drinking behavior profiles, but not similarity in drinking motives profiles. CONCLUSIONS: Results are partially consistent with social learning theory and suggest that social influences within couples could be important intervention targets to prevent escalations in drinking.

Friendship Conflict, Drinking to Cope, and Alcohol-Related Problems: A Longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Model.

Drinking to cope with negative affect is a strong predictor of alcohol-related problems. We hypothesized that the association between friendship conflict and alcohol-related problems would be mediated by coping-with-depression motives in emerging adults' close friendships. We used a 4-wave, 4-month longitudinal self-report survey design measuring friendship conflict, coping motives, and alcohol-related problems from 174 same-sex friendship dyads. Participants were recruited from Nova Scotia, Canada between September 2016 and February 2019. Participants had a mean age of 18.66 (SD = 1.17) and were 66.1% female. Data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling. Coping-with-depression motives mediated the link between conflict and alcohol-related problems at the between- and within-subject levels. Unexpectedly, coping-with-anxiety motives was an additional mediator at the within-subjects level. Interventions for emerging adults' problem drinking should consider the influence of friendship conflict and its impact on emerging adults' tendencies to drink to cope with both depression and anxiety. Materials/Syntax: https://osf.io/krs3v/.

Drinking motives and drinking behaviors in romantic couples: A longitudinal actor-partner interdependence model.

Excessive alcohol consumption is related to adverse physical and social consequences. Research shows an individual's own drinking motives (reasons for drinking alcohol) are linked to his or her specific drinking outcomes in a theoretically expected manner. Romantic couples often engage in a "drinking partnership," where partners reciprocally influence each other's drinking. Though alcohol consumption partner effects have been studied, partner effects of drinking motives on an individual's alcohol consumption have not been investigated in romantic couples. We investigated this topic. Romantic couples (N = 203) were assessed once weekly for four weeks using self-report questionnaires. Participants were on average 22.7 years old (SD = 5.5) and were in their relationship an average of 2.3 years (SD = 2.4). Actor-partner interdependence models using multilevel path-analysis with indistinguishable dyads were conducted, with each motive predicting drinking quantity and frequency. There were significant actor effects for social and enhancement motives; moreover, changes in a partner's enhancement and social motives predicted change in the individual's drinking quantity during any given week, but only averaged partners' enhancement motives predicted the individual's drinking frequency. Coping-with-anxiety motives had significant actor effects when predicting averaged quantity and frequency; moreover, changes in partners' coping-with-anxiety motives predicted changes in drinking quantity. Enhancement and social motives of the partner influenced the drinking quantity and frequency of the actor by way of influencing the actor's enhancement and social motives. Intervention efforts targeting both members of a romantic dyad on their reasons for drinking should be tested for preventing escalations in either member's drinking behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Testing the four-factor model of personality vulnerability to alcohol misuse: a three-wave, one-year longitudinal study.

The 4-factor model of personality vulnerability identifies 4 personality risk factors for alcohol misuse: hopelessness, anxiety sensitivity, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. These personality traits are associated with distinct mechanisms and motivations for alcohol misuse. Individuals high in hopelessness drink to regulate dysphoric affect, while those high in anxiety sensitivity drink to reduce anxiety and to conform to peer expectations. Individuals high in sensation seeking are highly sensitive to the rewarding properties of alcohol, and misuse alcohol to maximize enjoyment. Impulsivity is a broad risk factor contributing to all drinking motives. We hypothesized that personality vulnerabilities would indirectly predict alcohol quantity and problems through specific drinking motives theorized by the 4-factor model. The present study tested hypotheses using a 3-wave, 1-year longitudinal study of undergraduate drinkers (N = 302). Data were analyzed using multilevel path analysis. Hopelessness and impulsivity were positively related to drinking motives in the expected fashion. Anxiety sensitivity was related to coping-anxiety and conformity motives only in the between-subjects model (partially supporting hypotheses), while sensation seeking was generally unrelated to all drinking motives and alcohol outcomes (failing to support hypotheses). Enhancement motives predicted alcohol quantity and problems at both levels, coping-depression motives predicted alcohol problems at the between-subjects level only, and coping-anxiety, conformity, and social motives failed to predict alcohol outcomes beyond other motives. Overall, this study partially supports the 4-factor model, with the strongest support emerging for impulsivity and hopelessness. This study suggests that personality traits such as impulsivity and hopelessness may be important targets in prevention and treatment with undergraduate drinkers.