Alcohol-related expectations have been defined as the anticipated consequences from consuming alcohol (Brown, Goldman, Inn, & Anderson, 1980). Previous research has been conducted to examine the role of alcohol expectations in the co-occurrence of alcohol problems with anxiety and depressive symptoms. In the current study, the relationship between alcohol problems, anxiety and depressive traits, and alcohol expectancies were examined within a male juvenile correction sample. Specifically, statistical analyses were conducted to test the degree to which alcohol expectancies combined with anxiety/depression traits improve the prediction of alcohol-related problems beyond that of anxiety/depression traits alone. Archival data were collected from 205 incarcerated male adolescents who completed both the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire -- Adolescent Form (AEQ-A) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--Adolescent (MMPI-A). Two research hypotheses were tested using correlation and regression analyses. The results demonstrated that depressive traits significantly predicted an increase in alcohol-related problems, and the addition of expectancies related to global positive changes and increased social behavior produced a significant gain in the prediction of alcohol problems. Furthermore, anxiety traits significantly predicted an increase in alcohol-related problems, and the inclusion of tension reduction expectancies yielded a significant gain in prediction. The results suggest that alcohol-related problems may be exacerbated by the presence of reinforcement-based expectancies in male juvenile offenders who are concurrently experiencing elevated levels of anxiety and depressive traits. These findings have implications for prevention and treatment programs that utilize cognitive-behavioral and expectancy challenge techniques to affect change in problematic alcohol consumption behaviors. / "December 2006."
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:WICHITA/oai:soar.wichita.edu:10057/545 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Scofield, Brett E. |
| Contributors | Dorr, Darwin, 1940- |
| Source Sets | Wichita State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | viii, 81 leaves: digital, PDF file, 367935 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright Brett E.Scofield, 2006. All rights reserved. |
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