Expectancies versus demographics in discriminating between college drinkers: Implications for alcohol abuse prevention

This study compared a set of alcohol expectancies against a set of demographic variables to distinguish between problem and non-problem drinkers. College students were assigned to these groups based on their score on the Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test. Results indicated that the expectancy set and the demographic set of variables correctly classified nearly the same percentage of drinkers. However, when these sets of variables were utilized jointly, it became clear that the best, singular discriminating variables were alcohol expectancies. Gender had moderate discriminant value. Other demographic variables were relatively weak discriminators. The findings suggest that problem drinkers rely on alcohol to cope with developmental challenges of young adulthood.