Event-level drinking motives and mood as predictors of alcohol-related consequences among young adults.

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · 2026-04-27

OBJECTIVE: People who drink heavily experience positive (e.g., made a new friend) and negative (e.g., embarrassed self) alcohol-related consequences. Important antecedents of alcohol-related consequences are drinking motives, particularly those related to affect regulation (coping, enhancement). Although prior research documents associations at the between-person level, little is known about how mood and motives at the start of a drinking event each relate within-person to positive and negative alcohol-related consequences. METHOD: = 2.78) who engaged in high-intensity drinking (8+/10+ drinks for females/males) and completed 28 days of ecological momentary assessments of alcohol use, mood, motives, and alcohol-related consequences. RESULTS: Multilevel models indicated when participants began a drinking event with more positive mood than usual, they reported more positive alcohol-related consequences. When participants reported any coping, enhancement, and social motives at the start of a drinking event, they reported more positive alcohol-related consequences. On days when participants began a drinking event with more negative mood than usual, odds of a negative consequence were higher. When participants reported more positive mood than usual, odds of a negative consequence were lower. Only event-level enhancement motives increased the likelihood of negative consequences. CONCLUSIONS: Entering a drinking event with more positive mood may be protective against negative alcohol-related consequences while increasing the experience of positive consequences (e.g., laughed with others), with potential to reinforce subsequent drinking. Drinking motives that predict more positive but not negative consequences (coping, social) may also be reinforcing. Findings can help tailor interventions to prevent harms related to heavy drinking. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Measuring what happens when bystanders help in drinking situations: The bystanders to alcohol risk scales–positive and negative consequences.

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · 2025-07-14

OBJECTIVE: Understanding the consequences that occur when bystanders intervene to address problematic alcohol use in others is of utmost importance because the consequences that bystanders experience can influence their behavior in future situations. Consequences are defined as the effects of attempting to help another person and may be positive and/or negative. Given the dearth of measurement scales for alcohol-related bystander intervention, the present study aimed to develop two valid and reliable measures of consequences following alcohol-related bystander intervention: one assessing positive consequences and one assessing negative consequences. METHOD: = 345) completed a 2-week follow-up to evaluate test-retest reliability. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory were used to examine model fit and reduce the number of items. Correlations with established measures were used to evaluate validity. RESULTS: One-factor solutions demonstrated the best fit for both measures. Both measures demonstrated strong internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and evidence of convergent validity. CONCLUSIONS: The newly developed Bystanders to Alcohol Risk Scale-Positive Consequence and Bystanders to Alcohol Risk Scale-Negative Consequence are valid and reliable measures of the consequence bystanders experience when they intervene during alcohol-related situations. These measures might be used for surveillance of consequences among bystanders or as a measure of outcomes following bystander intervention training. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Sexual Self-Objectification Scale

PsycTESTS Dataset · 2025-01-01

Living circumstances and interactions with same-aged peers: Associations with alcohol use among college students during COVID-19

Journal of American College Health · 2025-12-30

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to better understand the relationship between alcohol use, living arrangement, and interactions with same-aged peers among college students after campus closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. PARTICIPANTS: The analytic sample consisted of 861 students. METHODS: College students in a longitudinal study were invited to complete an additional survey in July 2020. RESULTS: Living with family after campus closure was associated with decreased odds of drinking. In-person interactions with peers who did not attend the same college was associated with greater odds of any alcohol use; texting with these peers was associated with greater average and maximum drinks. CONCLUSIONS: After campus closure, living with family was protective against any alcohol use, whereas interacting with peers who did not attend the same college appeared more influential on drinking. Time away from college campus, including during socially restrictive periods, has implications for alcohol use and peer influence.

Bystander assessments for hazardous alcohol use: Qualitative methods for item development informed by bystander theory.

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · 2025-02-01

: Generated item sets will facilitate research applying bystander intervention to alcohol-related harm. Qualitative methods described herein should be useful for researchers applying existing frameworks to new areas and themes identified from this work will facilitate research focused on bystander intervention to prevent alcohol-related harms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Development and validation of the Sexual Self-Objectification Scale.

Journal of Counseling Psychology · 2025-07-14 · 2 citations

= 355). Findings suggest that the Sexual Self-Objectification Scale is a psychometrically sound and distinct measure that can be used, among other things, to examine whether the tenets of objectification theory hold for sexually focused self-objectification. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

How Do Bystanders Help in Drinking Situations: The Bystanders to Alcohol Risk Scale–Strategies

Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs · 2024-01-25 · 2 citations

OBJECTIVE: Bystander intervention (BI) is a promising approach for promoting collective behavior change that has been applied to several domains, including sexual assault, bullying, and more recently, problematic alcohol use. Accurately measuring the strategies that bystanders use to reduce others' alcohol-related risk is an essential step toward improving bystanders' ability to reduce alcohol-related harm in their communities, but current measures of BI are not easily modifiable and applicable for alcohol-related BI. The current study aimed to develop a valid and reliable measure of the bystander construct most proximal to the reduction of risk: bystander strategies. METHOD: = 345) completed a 2-week follow-up. Psychometric evaluation included exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, item response theory analyses, convergent validity, and test-retest reliability. RESULTS: An initial set of 52 items was reduced to 17 items, representing two different factors. The first factor, Level 1, reflected strategies used during circumstances of acute risk. The second factor, Level 2, reflected strategies used to reduce risk for more longstanding problems with alcohol. Both factors demonstrated good model fit, strong internal consistency, evidence of convergent validity, and moderate test-retest reliability. CONCLUSIONS: This novel measure can contribute to the production of knowledge about the use and efficacy of peer-focused strategies and the value of BI training for alcohol use.

Associations between frequency of exposure to peer-generated alcohol-related posts and alcohol use within a social network of college students

Addictive Behaviors · 2024-01-17 · 6 citations

Examining the Role of Alcohol and Cannabis Use Patterns in Bystander Opportunity and Behavior for Sexual and Relationship Aggression

Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs · 2024-03-06 · 2 citations

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the association between alcohol and cannabis use patterns and bystander intervention for sexual and relationship violence risk among college students who have used cannabis in the past year. The study tested two hypotheses: (1) Reports of bystander opportunities will differ based on participants' alcohol and cannabis use patterns, and (2) among those who report bystander opportunities, reports of bystander behaviors will differ based on their alcohol and cannabis use patterns. METHOD: Participants were 870 students recruited from two large, minority-serving universities in the United States who reported past-year cannabis use. Participants reported their typical alcohol and cannabis use patterns and bystander opportunities and behaviors. Students were grouped for analysis based on their reported average substance use into four groups: alcohol and cannabis use on the same day, alcohol use only, cannabis use only, or no use. RESULTS: Students who reported alcohol and cannabis use on the same day, compared with those who reported alcohol use only, reported more bystander opportunities and behaviors in situations at risk for sexual and relationship violence. Compared with alcohol use only, students who reported only using cannabis or no use reported fewer bystander opportunities and behavior related to keeping others safe in party settings. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol and cannabis use patterns are associated with bystander intervention, emphasizing the need to include knowledge about cannabis and co-use in bystander programming that aims to reduce sexual and relationship violence.

Event-level effects of alcohol, cannabis, and simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use on bystander intentions in response to hypothetical situations among college women

Addictive Behaviors · 2024-12-06 · 1 citations