Abuso Del Alcohol En Jovenes

EXPECTATIVAS RELACIONADAS CON EL ALCOHOL EN LA
PREDICCIÓN DEL ABUSO EN EL CONSUMO EN JÓVENES1


SUMMARY
In Mexico, addictions among the middle- and high-school student
population have been widely studied, which has shed light on
certain risks associated with alcohol abuse, including a higher
probability of expriencing with other drugs -particularly in the
case of males-, engaging inrisky sexual practices and attempting
suicide, a situation that is twice as common among those who
drink and drive. Nevertheless, research on alcohol abuse among
the university population has been less explored, particularly as
regards the identification of the variables that predict excessive
alcohol consumption. A review of the international literature on
factors associated with alcohol abusein this type of population
indicates that it is among university students that high or explosive
consumption tends to be largest, even among young people who
do not attend school, and that the period of higher consumption
is between 17 and 21 years of age. Other factors that have been
identified include exposure to negative life events, inappropriate
coping styles, personality variables,resorting to alcohol to reduce
tension, and environmental and socio—cognitive variables,
foremost among which are expectations of the positive effects
of alcohol. These expectations not only predict alcohol
consumption but also differentiate between problem and nonproblem drinking. For example, while social drinkers tend to
harbor more social expectations when drinking alcohol, excessivedrinkers expect alcohol to increase their aggressive and social
behavior, while reducing stress or tension. This paper seeks to
evaluate the impact of expectations regarding alcohol, in predicting
alcohol abuse among students at public and private universities in
Mexico City. Indicators of alcohol abuse include consumption of
five or more drinks on each occasion, drunkenness during the past
monthand year as well as associated problems. The study also
seeks to determine the way in which sub-scales of expectations
interact with each other. An ex post facto transversal study was
carried out on a sample of 678 university male and female students
aged 17 to 25, with an average age of 20 (s.d. = 1.80). Participants
were asked to complete a self-report which included the following
areas:a) Sociodemographic data, b) Questionnaire on

Expectations regarding Alcohol (AEQ), in a version adapted to
this population and c) Alcohol consumption habits over the past
month and year. As regards drinking habits, a comparative analysis
was carried out by sex and age. Consumption of 5 or more drinks
per occasions tends to be more common among men, while the
consumption of 5 drinks or lessis more frequent in women. At
the same time, a higher proportion of heavy drinkers was
concentrated in the 20 to 22 age range. Consumers of over 5
glasses of alcohol began drinking at an average age of 14 (s.d. =
2.55) whereas consumers of fewer than 5 drinks began drinking
at the age of 15 (t= 4.79 , p < .001). In both cases, the means
obtained from the indicators of abuse were highestamong
consumers of five or more drinks. Males take more drinks than
women when they get drunk, consuming an average of 9 glasses
(s.d. = 4.7) whereas women get drunk after an average of 5
glasses (s.d. = 3.2) (t= -10.80, p < .001). Out of a total of 26%
of young people who mentioned having problems associated with
their drinking, most were men (17.9%) as opposed to women
(8.2%). The multipleregression analysis carried out to determine
the impact of the sub-scales of AEQ expectations on alcohol
abuse found that expectations regarding alcohol as a “facilitator of
group interaction” and the sub-scale of “reduction of psychological
tension” were the main predictors of abuse. This model explained
20% of the variance (F=19.35, p < .001). A logistic regression
analysis found that the...