Alcohol Expectancies and Self-Efficacy as Moderators of Social Anxiety and Alcohol Use Among College Students

Social anxiety is widely thought to be positively associated with alcohol use. However, these studies rely primarily on self-report of drinking behavior. This research aimed to further explore this research by assessing blood alcohol concentration (BAC), a physiological measure of alcohol intoxication, as the dependent measure in naturalistic settings (i.e., fraternity parties). Results from Study 1 suggest a weak relationship between self-reported anxiety levels and BAC. Study 2 was based on Burke and Stephen's (1999) proposed social cognitive model in which alcohol expectancies and drink-refusal self-efficacy act as moderators of the relationship between dispositional social anxiety and alcohol consumption. Analyses (n=86) did not support a relationship between social anxiety and alcohol use, nor the moderating effects of alcohol expectancies and drink-refusal self-efficacy. Implications for this type of research and possible future directions are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Department dc:contributor.department

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Ehrhart, Ian James

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Geller, E. Scott

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Glindemann, Kent E.
• Clum, George A. Jr.
• Stephens, Robert S.

• alcohol consumption
• alcohol expectancies
• Self-efficacy
• social anxiety

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-04282006-144606

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/32005