ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION, LOCUS OF CONTROL, AND SELF-ESTEEM OF HIGH-SCHOOLAND COLLEGE-STUDENTS

An Alcohol Consumption Questionnaire was designed to investigate 104 h igh school and 104 college students' drinking patterns in actual and h ypothetical pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral situations. Students wer e also given Rotter's I-E Locus of Control Scale and Rosenberg's Self- esteem Inventory. College students drank significantly more than high school students after experiencing hypothetical pleasant events. Both groups drank more after hypothetical pleasant events than hypothetical unpleasant events and hypothetical neutral events. There were no sign ificant group differences after experiencing hypothetical unpleasant e vents or neutral events. Students with high scores on locus of control tended to have higher self-esteem, greater drinking after hypothetica l unpleasant events, hypothetical and actual pleasant events, and hypo thetical and actual neutral events. Frequencies of actual drinking and hypothetical drinking were highly correlated.