Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Vol 37(4), Jun 2023, 592-605; doi:10.1037/adb0000903
Objective: Alcohol use and related problems increase during adolescence and peak in early adulthood. Tension reduction theories suggest that those high in anxiety sensitivity (AS) may be at risk for misusing alcohol for its anxiolytic effects. Cognitive theories point to drinking motives and alcohol expectancies as explanatory mechanisms of this risk pathway. This study examined AS risk for prospective alcohol misuse, as explained by an unfolding cognitive process, among those transitioning out of Collège d’enseignement général et professionnel (CEGEP, i.e., junior college equivalent in Quebec, Canada). We hypothesized that there would be trait-like (average levels over time), positive associations between AS, coping motives, tension-reduction alcohol expectancies, and alcohol use and problems, and that AS would lead to state-like (occasion-specific, reciprocal associations) bidirectional and positive associations between alcohol cognitions and outcomes. Method: Final-year CEGEP students (N = 193) completed three online questionnaires at 6-month intervals assessing AS, drinking motives (coping, enhancement), alcohol expectancies (tension reduction, sociability/liquid courage), and alcohol use/problems. State–trait modeling was used for hypothesis testing. Results: Consistent with hypotheses, at the “trait” level, drinking motives and alcohol expectancies were positively associated, and drinking motives and sociability/liquid courage expectancies were positively associated with alcohol problems. At the “state” level, AS positively predicted coping motives and alcohol use, tension-reduction expectancies positively predicted coping motives, and coping motives and sociability/liquid courage expectancies positively predicted alcohol use. Conclusions: Results suggest that AS is a risk factor for coping-motivated drinking, and that there is interplay between cognitions that may help understand emerging adult alcohol risk pathways. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)