Alcohol expectancies of women and men in relation to alcohol use and perceptions of the effects of alcohol on the opposite sex

    Authors

    W. I. Borjesson;M. E. Dunn

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Addict. Behav.

    Keywords

    alcohol expectancies; gender differences; perceptions of others; DRINKING REDUCTION; MEMORY NETWORK; SELF; CONSUMPTION; CHALLENGE; CHILDREN; OTHERS; AGE; Psychology, Clinical; Substance Abuse

    Abstract

    The present study was intended to identify specific alcohol expectancies of women and men that could be targeted in expectancy-based interventions to maximize their impact on alcohol use. The Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (AEQ) was revised to specifically refer to women, men, or the respondent, and was administered to 433 undergraduates with a measure of alcohol use. When asked about expectancies for themselves, females' and males' drinking correlated most highly with expectations of social facilitation. When asked about expectancies for the opposite sex, however, several other types of expectancies were related to respondents' alcohol use in addition to expectations of enhanced social experiences. Males' drinking corresponded to beliefs that women will be happier, more confident, and will sleep better if they have consumed alcohol. Females' drinking corresponded to beliefs that men will be less sexually inhibited and more romantic after drinking. These findings link past expectancy work with more recent attempts to model the mechanism by which expectancies influence alcohol use and may guide development of maximally effective expectancy-based interventions to reduce drinking. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Addictive Behaviors

    Volume

    26

    Issue/Number

    5

    Publication Date

    1-1-2001

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    707

    Last Page

    719

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000171105700007

    ISSN

    0306-4603

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