Roughly one-third of college students reported engaging in heavy episodic (‘binge’) drinking in the past two weeks, according to prior studies. One’s likelihood of engaging in high-risk alcohol use has been linked to one’s alcohol expectancies (beliefs about how alcohol will affect behavior and/or experiences). A recent study examined drinking patterns among college students, including the associations between consequences experienced on a given day and next-day alcohol expectancies and alcohol use, and whether individual characteristics moderate these associations. This study utilized a measurement-burst daily diary design. Participants (N = 8,923) were undergraduates aged 18 to 24 years old at one U.S. university who were randomly selected to receive an online screening survey for study eligibility. Eligible individuals were then invited to complete a baseline survey and in-person training, at which they were instructed how to participate in thrice-daily phone interviews for two weeks in each quarter across one year. The final sample included 327 participants and 4,442 observations. Baseline survey measures included demographic characteristics and typical drinking in the past three months. Other measures included number of drinks consumed the previous day, daily endorsement of positive and negative alcohol expectancies, and past-day positive and negative alcohol consequences. Data were analyzed using three multilevel (mixed effects) models where daily observations were nested within individuals. Results indicated participants’ average number of positive consequences per drinking day was greater than the mean number of negative consequences. Participants reported next-day drinking on nearly half (47.9%) of the occasions on which they reported experiencing consequences. There were no significant differences in positive or negative alcohol expectancies by sex, fraternity/sorority membership, or baseline drinking. Overall, participants who reported more positive consequences had higher positive expectancies and participants who experienced more negative consequences had more negative expectancies. The within-person association between daily consequences and next-day positive expectancies was significantly stronger among participants in a fraternity/sorority (b = 0.15, p < 0.001) compared with those who were not (b = 0.28, p < 0.001). Students in Greek life had lower odds of any drinking on a given day, but drank a greater number of drinks on days when they did drink than their peers not in Greek life (p < 0.001). On days following occasions on which participants experienced more positive consequences than usual, they had lower odds of next-day drinking, but consumed a greater number of drinks when they did drink. A limitation of this study is that it did not include participants’ subjective evaluations of alcohol consequences, which they could have perceived differently than the authors.

Take away: In this study, college students who reported experiencing positive consequences from drinking had higher positive alcohol expectancies and were more likely to consume a greater number of drinks the following day. Experiencing negative consequences was associated with higher negative expectancies, but not with next-day drinking.

 Lee, C.M., Rhew, I.C., Patrick, M.E., Fairlie, A.M., Cronce, J.M., Larimer, M.E., Cadigan, J.M. & Leigh, B.C. (2018). Learning from experience? The influence of positive and negative alcohol-related consequences on next-day alcohol expectancies and use among college drinkers. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs [published online ahead of print June 13, 2018] doi: 10.15288/jsad.2018.79.465