Gt. Smith et al., EXPECTANCY FOR SOCIAL FACILITATION FROM DRINKING - THE DIVERGENT PATHS OF HIGH-EXPECTANCY AND LOW-EXPECTANCY ADOLESCENTS, Journal of abnormal psychology, 104(1), 1995, pp. 32-40
Using a 3-wave longitudinal design, adolescents were studied over a 2-
year period during which many first began to drink. Covariance structu
re modeling showed that teens' expectancy for social facilitation from
alcohol and their drinking experience influenced each other in a reci
procal, positive feedback fashion: the greater the expectancy endorsem
ent, the higher subsequent drinking levels, and the higher the drinkin
g levels, the greater the subsequent expectancy endorsement. This mode
l fit the data quite well; comparison models, in which expectancy (or
drinking) had no independent influence on future drinking (or expectan
cy), showed significantly poorer fit than the present model. Initial n
ondrinkers' social expectancy predicted individual differences in the
rate of drinking increase over the 2 years. Results bolster the hypoth
esis that expectancy actively influences drinking and point to the imp
ortance of expectancy-based intervention efforts.