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ESSAY SAMPLE ON "THE EFFECTS OF STRESS, ALCOHOL OUTCOME EXPECTANCIES, GENDER, COPING STYLES AND FAMILY ALCOHOLISM ON ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION" |
Abstract
One large component of American popular culture today is alcohol. A common stereotype
for the effects of alcohol is that as a drug it acts as a stress antagonist. This theory
was introduced by Conger (1956) as the Tension Reduction Hypothesis (TRW). It states
that alcohol's sedative action on the central nervous system serves to reduce tension,
and because tension reduction is reinforcing, people drink to escape it (Marlatt &
Rehsenow, 1980). Why do we drink, when do we drink, and how much do we drink? This
research will determine the correlation between total weekly consumption of alcohol and
perceived stress, alcohol outcome expectancies, gender, coping styles, and family history
of alcoholism among undergraduate students. Do people drink more or less when stressed?
Do alcohol outcome expectancies lead to higher or lower consumption? Is a history of
family alcoholism positively or negatively correlated to personal consumption? Do the
tested variables play mediating or moderating roles in stress-related drinking? This
research will determine the answers to these questions, and determine the strength of the
correlations, if any.
Introduction
The main question that this statistical model will answer is as follows: Is there any
correlation between drinking and gender, alcohol expectancies, family alcoholism, stress,
and coping styles?
Gender
It has been demonstrated that significant differences exist between the drinking
patterns of men and women (Hilton, 1988). In a survey of US drinking habits conducted in
1988 by the US National Center for Health Statistics, Dawson and Archer (1992) showed
that there are three areas illustrating gender differences. The first is the actual
number of male and female drinkers. The study showed that 64% of men versus 41% of women
were current drinkers. Second, men were more likely to consume alcohol on a daily basis
(17.5 grams of ethanol per day versus 8.9 grams for women). Third, men were more likely
to be classified as heavy drinkers. In fact, when the classification measure of a "heavy
drinker" was changed from five drinks or more per day to nine drinks or more per day the
ration of male to female heavy drinkers increased by a factor of 3.
Stress
Are the theories mentioned above about stress-induced drinking accurate? There have
been studies which disprove the Tension Reduction Hypothesis. For instance, in a study
by Conway, Vickers, Ward, and Rahe in 1981 it was found that "the consumption of alcohol
among Navy officers during periods of high job demands was actually lower than the
consumption during low-demand periods." Additionally, some drinkers have been known to
consider alcohol as a tension generator rather than a tension reducer.
Alcohol Expectancies
The expectations of what effects alcohol consumption may have play an important role in
drinking habits. These expectancies first develop in childhood as indirect learning
experiences (media, family modeling, peer influence) and, as a result of increased direct
experiences with the pharmacological effects of alcohol, become more refined
(Christiansen, Goldman, & Inn, 1982). Do the expectancies that people hold about alcohol
decently predict consumption? Some people believe that alcohol consumption will increase
sexual and aggressive behavior, or otherwise enhance social experiences. Many people
subscribe to the view that alcohol acts as "liquid courage".
Data
The dependent variable for this research will be Weekly Alcohol Consumption (WEEK),
measured by the total number of drinks consumed in 1 week. A standard drink is defined
as a 12-ounce bottle/can of beer, 1.5 ounce shot of liquor, or a 5 ounce glass of wine.
The predictor variables would include the dummy variable GENDER, where D1=1 for a male,
STRESS, alcoholic expectancies (EXPECT), family alcoholism (FAMILY), and difference
coping styles (COPE).
The complete list of possible measurable variables are: Perceived Stress, Family
History of Alcoholism, Problem-Focused Coping, Emotion-Focused Coping, Less Useful
Coping, and Drinking to Cope. For alcohol expectancy outcomes, the following variables
would be useful: Sociability, Tension Reduction, Liquid Courage, Sexuality, Cognitive &
Behavioral Impairment, Risk & Aggression, and Self Perception.
The data for this research project will be collected through surveys and questionnaires
given to undergraduate students at one university, but not limited to one department. An
attempt should be made to split the test group approximately equal in terms of sex.
Since race/ethnicity and age are not being tested, they are irrelevant for this study.
Compensation may be necessary (possibly a beer), as college students' time is quite
valuable, and the questionnaire may take approximately 30 minutes. There are a number of
tests which currently exist which may be used to evaluate the subjects.
1. Adapted Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (Adapted SMAST)
This is a 13 item self-report questionnaire developed by Sher and Descutner in 1986
which is designed to measure family history of alcoholism. This is a yes/no type of
test, and is specifically determines the extent of an individual's parents' alcohol
abuse.
2. Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol (CEOA)
The CEOA (Fromme, Stroot & Kaplan, 1993) has 38 questions, and is designed to measure
alcohol outcome expectancies. There are seven expectancy scales, four positive
(sociability, tension-reduction, liquid-courage, and sexuality) and three negative
(cognitive-behavioral impairment, risk and aggression, and self perception). The answers
are based on a five point scale with 1 = disagree and 5 = agree.
3. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)
The PSS (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) is a 14 item self-report designed to
assess the degress to which situations in one's life are appraised as stressful. There
are 7 positive and 7 negative questions.
4. COPE
The COPE (Carver et al., 1989) has 53 questions and is designed to assess individual
coping dispositions. This test is quite complicated, as it is made up of 14 scales which
are categorized into 3 coping styles: Problem-Focused Coping, Emotion-Focused Coping, and
Less than Useful Coping (Denial, Behavioral Disengagement, and Mental Disengagement).
The main result we will be looking at is a section called "Drinking to Cope". This will
help us find out whether people drink to cope and if so, in what situations.
Specification
The regression equation for this research will be as follows:
WEEKi = b0 + b1(GENDER)i + b2(STRESS)i + b3(EXPECT)i + b4(FAMILY)i + b5(COPE)i
The expected signs of the coefficients are as follows:
b1: This is a dummy variable, with only 2 possible values, 0=female and 1=male;
b2: Positive. Increased stress leads to increased drinking;
b3: Both. It will probably be positive with expectancy variables like Tension
Reduction, liquid-Courage and Sexuality, while negative with Behavioral Impairment, Risk
& Aggression, and Self Perception;
b4: Positive. One would expect an alcoholic family would increase the likelihood of an
alcoholic child;
b5: Positive. If we restrict this variable to Drinking To Cope, it should be positive.
I would plan to run a regression using one predictor variable at a time, and then adding
an additional variable until many possibilities have been regressed, determining the
correlation between the different predictors. This will determine as well which
predictors account for what percentage of the variability.
Anticipated Benefits
After determination of the correlation between weekly drinking and the 5 predictor
variable discussed herein, we will be able to focus on which variables have more effect,
or higher correlation. If the highest correlation is found in the FAMILY variable, we
will know to spend more time and money on programs which promote "Family Values". If
high correlation is found with the STRESS variable, we can direct our energies to making
college less stressful. This research should be used as a signal for what needs to be
done in the future.
References
Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies:
A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56,
267-283.
Christiansen, B. A., Goldman, M. S., & Inn, A. (1982). Development of alcohol-related
expectancies in adolescents: Separating pharmacological from social-learning influences.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 50, 336-344.
Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress.
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385-396.
Conger, J. J. (1956). Alcoholism: Theory, problem and challenge. II. Reinforcement
theory and the dynamics of alcoholism. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 13,
296-305.
Conway, T. L., Vickers, R. R., Ward, H. W., & Rahe, R. H. (1981). Occupational stress
and variation in cigarette, coffee, and alcohol consumption. Journal of Health and
Social Behavior, 22, 155-165.
Dawson, D. A., & Archer, L. (1992). Gender differences in alcohol consumption: Effects
of measurement. British Journal of Addiction, 87, 119-123.
Hilton, M. E. (1988). Trends in US drinking patterns: Further evidence from the past 20
years. British Journal of Addiction, 83, 269-278.
Marlatt, G. A, & Rohsenow, D. J. (1980). Cognitive processes in alcohol use: Expectancy
and the balanced placebo design. In N. K. Mello (Ed.). Advances in Substance Abuse:
Behavioral and biological research, Vol. 1. Greenwich: JAI Press.
Sher, K. J., & Descutner, C. (1986). Reports of paternal alcoholism: Reliability across
siblings. Journal of Addictive Behaviors, 11, 25-30.
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