C. Holle et al., ALCOHOL AND CAFFEINE USE BY SOCIAL PHOBICS - AN INITIAL INQUIRY INTO DRINKING PATTERNS AND BEHAVIOR, Behaviour research and therapy, 33(5), 1995, pp. 561-566
Social phobics are often fearful that their anxiety symptoms will caus
e them embarrassment and lead to negative evaluation from others. Thus
, it was hypothesized that they might attempt to control the intake of
substances such as alcohol and caffeine that may affect their anxiety
in social situations. The current investigation sought to determine,
via a self-report questionnaire, whether the alcohol and caffeine cons
umption patterns of social phobics differ from those of community cont
rols in terms of typical and greatest weekly quantities and how social
phobics differ from controls in alcohol and caffeine use in a variety
of socially threatening and nonthreatening situations. Social phobics
reported less typical weekly beverage consumption than community subj
ects. Specifically, social phobics reported less consumption of wine a
nd liqueur than community subjects but did not differ from community s
ubjects in typical weekly consumption of caffeinated beverages. Furthe
r, social phobics reported a significantly greater intent to drink alc
ohol while in social situations involving strangers and significantly
less intent to drink caffeinated coffee in meetings than did community
subjects. Finally, a number of gender differences were found for both
alcohol and caffeine consumption in specific situations, and the impl
ications of these findings are discussed.