(PS6-C73) Predictors of Drinking Intensity Among College Students: The Role of Drinking Norms and Implicit Drinking Identity

Saturday, November 19, 2022

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM EST

Location: Westside Ballroom, 5th Floor

Author(s)

AF

Autumn Rae Florimbio, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Co-Author(s)

Alyssa M. Medenblik, B.A.

Graduate Student
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
GS

Gregory Stuart, Ph.D.

Professor
University of Tennessee - Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee

Drinking in a risky manner is prevalent among college students and associated with numerous negative consequences (e.g., poor psychological health, decreased academic performance, unintentional injuries). Understanding factors that influence drinking intensity (i.e., moderate [1-3 drinks for women, 1-4 drinks for men], binge [4-7 drinks for women, 5-9 drinks for men], and high-intensity [8+ drinks for women, 10+ drinks for men]) is critical to reducing negative alcohol-related consequences. Implicit drinking identity—the degree to which one automatically associates the self with drinking—is related to alcohol use and problems. Additionally, drinking norms are a robust predictor of heavy drinking. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to investigate how implicit drinking identity and drinking norms relate to drinking intensity, with the goal of identifying potential targets for interventions aimed at reducing risky drinking. Data were collected from 368 college students who reported past-year drinking (M_Age= 18.9 years; 69.3% identified as women; 32.6% reported fraternity/sorority affiliation). We conducted a multinomial logistic regression to examine sociodemographic characteristics (age of first drink, gender (men=0, women=1), fraternity/sorority affiliation) and individual-level factors (injunctive drinking norms [e.g., How would your friends feel if you had >5 drinks?], descriptive drinking norms [e.g., How would you feel if your friends had >5 drinks?], and implicit drinking identity) as predictors of past-year drinking intensity. Implicit drinking identity was assessed using a reaction time measure instructing participants to sort words into categories. A quicker response when pairing words such as “me” and “drinker” indicated a stronger implicit drinking identity. Drinking intensity was determined by participants’ response to an item assessing the largest number of drinks they consumed on a drinking occasion in the past year. High-intensity drinking was the reference group. The model showed a good fit to the data, , χ²= 625.61, p = .984, Nagelkerke R²= .51. Results indicated that age of first drink (b = 0.39, Wald χ²(1) =13.29, p < .001, OR = 1.48), gender (b = -1.01, Wald χ²(1) = 10.49, p = .001, OR = 0.37), and injunctive drinking norms (b = -0.32, Wald χ²(1) = 5.21, p = .022, OR = 0.73) significantly predicted whether one engaged in past-year binge or high-intensity drinking. In evaluating whether one was more likely to engage in past-year moderate or high-intensity drinking, age of first drink (b = 1.23, Wald χ²(1) = 36.92, p < .001, OR = 3.42), implicit drinking identity (b = -1.13, Wald χ²(1) = 4.10, p = .043, OR = 0.32), injunctive drinking norms, (b = -0.99, Wald χ²(1) = 17.04, p < .001, OR = 0.37), and descriptive drinking norms (b = -0.49, Wald χ²(1) = 4.04, p = .045, OR = 0.61) were all significant predictors. Our findings identify several factors related to drinking intensity. Specifically, as perceived approval of drinking and having a strong identity as a drinker increased, the odds of past-year high-intensity drinking also increased. Social norms interventions focused on high-intensity drinking and individual interventions targeting drinking identity may reduce risky drinking and associated consequences.