Despite documented gender differences in alcohol use and consequences among college students, the impact of gender on some of the most salient correlates of college drinking has been understudied. Specifically, both theory and empirical data offer support for an etiological conceptualization of college drinking that includes both affective and cognitive factors, and the literature suggests that these factors may affect drinking differentially by gender. Yet, the nature of relations among these critical variables and the ways that they may influence alcohol consumption remain unclear. Extant studies have yielded dissonant findings, perhaps in part due to the heavy reliance on self-report data and correlational designs to assess these associations. Controlled laboratory studies in this area clearly are needed. The objective of this new investigator R21 is to develop and conduct necessary laboratory studies to explicate these associations and to delineate affective and cognitive processes underlying college drinking. The proposed research program consists of a series of three studies. In the first study, multidimensional scaling (MDS) will be used to model alcohol expectancies across genders and at differing imagined doses of alcohol. In the second study, the effects of experimentally induced mood on the accessibility of alcohol expectancies will be examined in a 2(gender) X 3 (mood) factorial design. In the third study, undergraduates will be randomly assigned to a mood condition. Mood related changes in drinking will be examined in a 2 (gender) X 3 (mood) factorial design. Moderational effects of expectancies and mediational effects of expectancy accessibility on the affect-drinking association will be examined. In accordance with the goals of the Healthy People 2000 Initiative, this research program represents a critical first step toward decreasing heavy drinking among youths. Together, the proposed studies will yield fundamental knowledge about the unique and aggregate associations among gender, affect, expectancies, and alcohol consumption. The program is innovative in its systematic experimental examination of these associations. Findings from these studies have direct and important implications for preventive interventions, as they may facilitate the development of targeted, gender-appropriate interventions to reduce heavy alcohol use and its consequences among college students.
