The Effects Of Stress, Alcohol Outcome Expectancies, Gender, Coping St :: essays research papers

The Effects of Stress, Alcohol Outcome Expectancies, Gender, Coping Styles, andFamily Alcoholism on Alcohol ConsumptionAbstract     One large component of American popular culture today is intoxicant. Acommon stereotype for the effects of alcohol is that as a drug it acts as astress antagonist. This theory was introduced by Conger (1956) as the TensionReduction Hypothesis (TRW). It states that alcohols sedative reach on thecentral nervous system serves to reduce tension, and because tension reductionis reinforcing, people drink to escape it (Marlatt & Rehsenow, 1980). Why do wedrink, when do we drink, and how more do we drink? This research provide determinethe correlation between total weekly consumption of alcohol and perceived stress,alcohol outcome expectancies, gender, coping styles, and family history ofalcoholism among undergraduate students. Do people drink more or less whenstressed? Do alcohol outcome expectancies lead to higher(prenominal) or lo wer consumption?Is a history of family alcoholism positively or negatively correlated topersonal consumption? Do the tested variables take mediating or moderatingroles in stress-related drunkenness? This research will determine the answers tothese questions, and determine the strength of the correlations, if any.Introduction     The main question that this statistical model will answer is as followsIs there any correlation between drinking and gender, alcohol expectancies,family alcoholism, stress, and coping styles?Gender     It has been demonstrated that significant differences exist between thedrinking patterns of men and women (Hilton, 1988). In a survey of US drinkinghabits conducted in 1988 by the US National Center for Health Statistics, Dawsonand Archer (1992) showed that there are three areas illustrating genderdifferences. The first is the actual number of male and female drinkers. Thestudy showed that 64% of men versus 41% of wom en were current drinkers. Second,men were more promising to consume alcohol on a daily basis (17.5 grams of ethanolper day versus 8.9 grams for women). Third, men were more likely to beclassified as levelheaded drinkers. In fact, when the classification measure of a"heavy drinker" was changed from five drinks or more per day to nine drinks ormore per day the limit of male to female heavy drinkers increased by a factorof 3.Stress     Are the theories mentioned above about stress-induced drinking accurate?There meet been studies which disprove the Tension Reduction Hypothesis. Forinstance, in a study by Conway, Vickers, Ward, and Rahe in 1981 it was foundthat "the consumption of alcohol among Navy officers during periods of high jobdemands was really lower than the consumption during low-demand periods."Additionally, some drinkers have been known to consider alcohol as a tension