Motives for not drinking alcohol among Australian adolescents: Developmentand initial validation of a five-factor scale

Why people drink has been the subject of much research, however, why people do not drink has been largely neglected. The aim of the present study was to develop a Motives for Abstaining from Alcohol Questionnaire (MAAQ) based on Cox and Klinger's [Journal of Abnormal Psychology 97 (1988) 168; Why pe ople drink (1990) 291] motivational model of alcohol use to investigate rea sons for not drinking alcohol either at all or on certain occasions. An ini tial 35-item version of the MAAQ was administered to 187 Australian high sc hool students (years 10 and 12). Analyses supported a five-factor model wit h the final 19-item version explaining 60% of the variance. The factors wer e easily interpretable and were labeled: fear of negative consequences, dis positional risk, family constraints, religious constraints, and indifferenc e toward alcohol. Regression analyses showed that different motives for not drinking predicted different aspects of alcohol use. Results are discussed in terms of theories of alcohol use that emphasize the interface of oppone nt motivational pathways toward decisions to drink. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scien ce Ltd. All rights reserved.