The goal of the present experiment was to identify individual differences that predict exactly which subjects drink more alcohol when faced with an acute social stressor. Forty-two male and 42 female social drinker undergraduates were participants in a two-session study employing a within-subjects design. During each session the subjects were given an opportunity to consume their preferred alcoholic beverage during a 30-minute ad lib drinking period. The first (Baseline) session was used to establish an index of routine alcohol consumption, while in the second (Experimental) session subjects drank while anticipating the required delivery of a self-disclosing speech that was to be videotaped and intensively evaluated. In connection with these sessions subjects completed a number of individual difference measures thought to be theoretically relevant to the prediction of changes in drinking occasioned by exposure to social stressors. Standard and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate the utility of the various individual difference measures in predicting changes in absolute alcohol consumption from Baseline to Experimental drinking session. Results indicated that a small but significant overall increase in drinking from session one to two was evident, thereby replicating the findings of previous research on drinking and social stress. More important, however, was the demonstration that these results for aggregate groups of subjects could be further refined by using a small number of the individual difference predictors. Specifically, it was found that subjects high in trait social anxiety and males who held strong expectations that alcohol would enhance their social assertiveness exhibited the greatest increase in drinking when exposed to social stress. Of all the other individual differences analyzed, none produced more than a / trivial increment in the portion of variance in drinking behavior explained. These findings considerably extend earlier work on stress-induced drinking and underscore the individual specificity of this phenomenon. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-09, Section: B, page: 4599. / Major Professor: Alan R. Lang. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78318 |
| Contributors | Kidorf, Michael Seth., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 168 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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