Alcohol use in the year before marriage: Alcohol expectancies and peer drinking as proximal influences on husband and wife alcohol involvement

Background: Models of adolescent alcohol involvement that include individua l difference, family, and peer risk factors indicate a significant associat ion between the drinking of adolescents and that of their peers. Peer drink ing influences, however, have not been investigated extensively in integrat ive models of adult drinking. The purpose of this study was to test a model of adult drinking that incorporated the potentially important risk factor of partner drinking and in which proximal risk factors (peer drinking, alco hol expectancies) were hypothesized to be strongly associated with adult al cohol use and to mediate relationships between more distal risk factors and drinking. Methods: Couples (n = 389) were assessed at the time of their first marriag e. Separate, self-administered questionnaires were completed at home by bot h husbands and wives. Distal risk factors included family history of alcoho lism, antisocial behavior, and depressive symptomatology. Substantive relat ionships were tested in a model that included spousal associations with res pect to distal risk factors, proximal risk factors, and drinking. Results: Findings demonstrate the unique association of alcohol expectancie s and peer drinking with adult alcohol use. Of particular relevance is the significance of the social network as a correlate of adult drinking. A peer network characterized by a higher level of alcohol involvement was strongl y associated with heavier drinking among both men and women. This relations hip was independent of sociodemographic and individual difference factors, alcohol expectancies, and partner's drinking. Results also demonstrate the similarity between husband and wife drinking, an association that cannot be attributed to asserting with respect to the other risk factors. Conclusions: The social network continues to significantly impact drinking behavior in adulthood. The relevancy of peer and partner drinking influence s to adult alcohol involvement suggests that the immediate social environme nt may have a prominent role in the continuity/discontinuity of heavy or pr oblem drinking during the transition to marriage.