College alcohol use raises concerns due to negative outcomes, with social enhancement as a primary motive, yet despite established links between social drinking motives and consumption, these factors remain inadequately defined. Social achievement goal theory offers a promising framework for understanding the relationship between social drivers and risky alcohol use by examining three distinct constructs: social development goals (focused on building meaningful relationships), social demonstration-approach goals (aimed at demonstrating social competence to be liked), and social demonstration-avoidance goals (centered on avoiding negative judgements). Although extensive research has connected these goal orientations to various psychological outcomes such as relationship satisfaction, loneliness, and social anxiety—factors also linked to alcohol use—the direct relationship between social achievement goals and alcohol-related behavior remains unexplored. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate whether these dimensions of social achievement goal orientations predict alcohol-related outcomes over time.
The study employed a longitudinal design, recruiting 1,155 third-year students from a private university in the northeastern United States, with a high retention rate of 93.8% (n=1,083) across two assessment points conducted in October 2019 and March 2020. Collected data included past 30-day alcohol use (frequency, heavy drinking episodes, and maximum drinks consumed), alcohol-related problems using the 24-item Brief-Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (B-YAACQ), and social achievement goals assessed with Ryan and Shim’s (2006) 12-item scale measuring three dimensions: social development, social demonstration-approach, and social demonstration-avoidance. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics, correlations, t-tests, and eight network autocorrelation models to examine associations between social goals and alcohol outcomes while accounting for social network non-independence, controlling for gender and baseline alcohol use.
According to the study findings, the cross-sectional analysis revealed that social development goals were positively correlated with drinking frequency, while social demonstration-approach goals showed significant positive correlations with all alcohol-related outcomes, including drinking frequency, heavy drinking frequency, maximum drinking quantity, and alcohol-related (negative) consequences. In contrast, social demonstration-avoidance goals were positively associated only with alcohol-related (negative) consequences and negatively associated with drinking frequency. In the longitudinal analysis, social development goals significantly predicted a reduction in alcohol-related consequences over time but did not significantly influence actual drinking behaviors. On the other hand, social demonstration-approach goals significantly predicted increased heavy drinking frequency, maximum drinking quantity, and alcohol-related consequences at a later time point. Conversely, social demonstration-avoidance goals did not significantly predict any alcohol-related outcomes over time. These findings suggest that different types of social achievement goals have distinct effects on drinking behaviors and their consequences, highlighting that demonstration-approach goals, in particular, may contribute to elevated risk behaviors and negative alcohol-related outcomes.
Takeaway: College students with high social demonstration-approach goals show increased susceptibility to peer influence and alcohol-related consequences, making them key targets for social influence-focused interventions.