Drinking Norms and Drinking Behavior: Alcohol Expectancy as a Mediator

Abstract

Although drinking norms (DN) and alcohol expectancy (AE) are major psycho-social factors explaining drinking behaviors (DH), not enough attention has been given to describing their relationship in Korea. This study aims to examine AE as a mediator of the relationship between DE and DH. Data were drawn from a national representative sample of 3,000 adults aged 19-79 collected in 2017, and partial least squares path analyses were employed to determine the relationship among variables under study. Alcohol consumption (AC) in the previous year, representing DH, was estimated using a graduated quantity-frequency method. DN measured the acceptability of the likelihood of drinking alcohol in specific situations. A brief version of alcohol effects was used to measure two dimensions of AE: positive alcohol expectancy (PAE) and negative alcohol expectancy (NAE). The results showed that DN was positively associated with AC, and AE partially mediated the effects of DN on AC. DN was positively associated with PAE, while it was negatively associated with NAE. This finding suggests that these psycho-social factors are interrelated, and the effectiveness of preventive interventions to prevent alcohol-related harms would be enhanced by considering the interaction between DN and AE rather than treating them separately in planning.