Temptation, restriction, and alcohol consumption among American and Germancollege students

To assess relationships between alcohol consumption and two dimensions of d rinking restraint (temptation and restriction), American and German college students were given the Khavari Alcohol Test (KAT) and the Temptation and Restraint Inventory (TRI). As hypothesized, drinking temptation was a posit ive predictor of students' alcohol consumption in both countries, but there was no main effect for drinking restriction. Also as hypothesized, America n students who were high on drinking temptation drank greater (not smaller) quantities of alcohol if they were also high on drinking restriction. Conv ersely, German students who were high on drinking temptation drank more alc ohol if they were also low on drinking restriction. The results point to cr oss-cultural similarities and differences in relationships between drinking temptation and restriction and actual alcohol consumption. (C) 2001 Elsevi er Science Ltd. All rights reserved.