Alcohol misuse is prevalent in young adulthood leading to many negative consequences. Previous research has shown mixed evidence with associations between unplanned vs. planned drinking and negative consequences. The current study aims to test predictors of unplanned vs planned drinking days among college students.

Participants for the study included students 18-20 years old in a northwestern area of the United States. Exclusion criteria included at least weekly heavy episodic drinking or at least one negative consequence from alcohol use in the past two weeks. The final sample included 96 students with 80% freshman and 52% female. Measures included a daily diary report to evaluate unplanned vs. planned drinking. Each day participants would estimate the number of days until their next drink and then report any drinking each day. Drinking motives were evaluated during the daily diary report and also at the start of each drink report (“what are your reasons for drinking right now?”). Finally, Positive and negative affect was assessed at each start drink report.

Over the 28 day study period, participants reported an average of 5 drinking days with 1 being unplanned. Drinking “to get high, buzzed, or drunk” was found to be associated with planned drinking along with “to make the day/night more fun.” One other finding was that real-time positive affect was marginally associated with planned drinking while negative affect was not found to have any associations. These findings show enhancement motives and higher positive affect are more related to planned drinking. This may be a point of focus for those creating and implementing alcohol prevention and intervention programs.

Take Away: The current study aims to test predictors of unplanned vs planned drinking days among college students. Participants for the study included students 18-20 years old in a northwestern area of the United States. The final sample included 96 students with 80% freshman and 52% female. Measures included a daily diary report to evaluate unplanned vs. planned drinking, drinking motives, and positive and negative effect. Over the 28 day study period, participants reported an average of 5 drinking days with 1 being unplanned. Drinking “to get high, buzzed, or drunk” was found to be associated with planned drinking along with “to make the day/night more fun.” One other finding was that real-time positive affect was marginally associated with planned drinking while negative affect was not found to have any associations. These findings show enhancement motives and higher positive affect are more related to planned drinking.

Stevens, A. K., Haikalis, M., & Merrill, J. E. (2021). Unplanned vs. planned drinking: Event-level influences of drinking motives and affect. Addictive Behaviors, 112, 106592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106592