THE DIFFERENTIAL ROLE OF ALCOHOL EXPECTANCIES AND DRINKING REFUSAL SELF-EFFICACY IN PROBLEM AND NONPROBLEM DRINKERS

Objective: The present study aimed to examine the discriminatory abili ty of alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal self-efficacy and to i dentify the differential role of these constructs in social and proble m drinkers. Method: Drinkers (N = 276) were self-selected from general (n = 185) and clinical (n = 91) populations to complete a 40-minute q uestionnaire that asked about alcohol expectancies, drinking refusal s elf-efficacy, consumption, degree of dependence and demographics. Resu lts: The results showed that in social drinkers both the expectancy an d self-efficacy constructs were reliably able to discriminate between types of drinker. Expectancy was related to consumption in social drin kers, but did not appear to account for a significant proportion of th e variance in problem drinkers. Conclusions: The findings are discusse d in terms of a two-process model of drinking behavior that suggests t hat expectancies operate differently in social and problem drinkers.