Psyschology Study On Drinking
Abstract
In response to the need for research that incorporates multiple aspects of theory into a testable
framework, this study attempted to replicate and extend the results of Cooper, Russell, Skinner, Frone,
and Mudar (1992). A modified stressor vulnerability model of stress-related drinking was tested in a
homogeneous sample of 65 male and female undergraduate student drinkers. Total weekly consumption of
alcohol was used as the criterion measure, whereas family history of alcoholism (Adapted SMAST: Sher &
Descutner, 1986), alcohol outcome expectancies/valences (CEOA: Fromme, Stroot, & Kaplan, 1993),
perceived stress (PSS: Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983), and coping dispositions (COPE: Carver,
Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) were used as the predictor variables. The proposed modified model postulates
that expectancies play a proximal mediating role in stress-related drinking, whereas gender, family history
of alcoholism, and coping all play a distal moderating role. Hierarchical multiple regression procedures were
then performed to evaluate the model. The results failed to support the hypothesized model. Specifically,
expectancies emerged as a distal rather than proximal predictor of stress-related drinking, and family history
of alcoholism did not moderate stress-related drinking. In contrast, gender and coping styles emerged as the
most powerful predictors in the model. Despite the shortcomings of the proposed model, the present results
offer an alternative interpretation as to what constitutes the stressor vulnerability model of stress-related
drinking.
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