Social anxiety and problematic drinking in college students: The influence of alcohol expectancies and gender

Abstract

Problematic drinking among college-aged students represents a serious problem. Research has focused on predictors of problematic drinking, including cognitive distortions and alcohol expectancies. In addition, symptoms of social anxiety have been · related to college student drinking. This paper reviews the literature on the link between social anxiety and problematic drinking and describes a study examining this link. Specifically, this study expanded on the existing literature by testing the mediating ability of positive alcohol expectancies as well as assessing depressive symptoms and their relationship to drinking behaviors. The main model in this study incorporated social anxiety and problematic drinking with alcohol expectancies as a mediator; a similar model using depression in the place of social anxiety was also tested in order to explore differences between related yet distinct symptoms (i.e., social anxiety and depression). Sex differences regarding alcohol expectancies were also tested. Both social anxiety and depression were found to correlate positively with negative alcohol expectancies. In particular, social anxiety was associated with cognitive and behavioral impairment, risk and aggression, and self perception, and depression was associated with self-perception. There was also a relationship between alcohol expectancies and problematic drinking. However, there was no significant relationship between social anxiety and problematic drinking or between depression and problematic drinking. Possible explanations for these findings as well as suggestions for future research are discussed in light of these outcomes.

Date of Award	2010
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	Eastern Illinois University
Supervisor	Wesley Allan (Supervisor)