Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

DOI

10.3109/16066359.2016.1153077

Publication Title

Addiction Research & Theory

Volume

24

Issue

6

Pages

431-440

Abstract

Background- Emerging adults have the highest prevalence of heavy drinking as compared to all other age groups. Given the negative consequences associated with such drinking, additional research efforts focused on at-risk consumption are warranted. The current study sought to identify patterns of situational antecedents to drinking and to examine their associations with drinking motivations, alcohol involvement, and mental health functioning in a sample of heavy drinking college students.

Method- Participants were 549 (65.8% women) college student drinkers.

Results- Latent profile analysis identified three classes based on likelihood of heavy drinking across eight situational precipitants. The High Situational Endorsement' group reported the greatest likelihood of heavy drinking in most situations assessed. This class experienced the greatest level of alcohol-related harms as compared to the Low Situational Endorsement' and Moderate Situational Endorsement' groups. The Low Situational Endorsement class was characterized by the lowest likelihood of heavy drinking across all situational antecedents and they experienced the fewest alcohol-related harms, relative to the other classes. Class membership was related to drinking motivations with the High Situational Endorsement' class endorsing the highest coping- and conformity-motivated drinking. The High Situational Endorsement' class also reported experiencing more mental health symptoms than other groups.

Conclusions- The current study contributed to the larger drinking literature by identifying profiles that may signify a particularly risky drinking style. Findings may help guide intervention work with college heavy drinkers.

Comments

NOTE: This is the author's pre-print version of a work that was published in Addiction Research & Theory. The final version was published as:

Lau-Barraco, C., Linden-Carmichael, A. N., Braitman, A. L., & Stamates, A. L. (2016). Identifying patterns of situational antecedents to heavy drinking among college students. Addiction Research & Theory, 24(6), 431-440. doi:10.3109/16066359.2016.1153077

Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/16066359.2016.1153077

Original Publication Citation

Lau-Barraco, C., Linden-Carmichael, A. N., Braitman, A. L., & Stamates, A. L. (2016). Identifying patterns of situational antecedents to heavy drinking among college students. Addiction Research & Theory, 24(6), 431-440. doi:10.3109/16066359.2016.1153077

ORCID

Braitman (0000-0003-2259-1094)

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