Alcohol expectancies among male alcoholics, problem drinkers, and nonproblem drinkers

Drinkers' expectancies regarding alcohol effects are cognitive factors hypothesized to affect decisions to drink and responses to alcohol. Recent research in this area has yielded descriptive data mostly on nonalcoholic drinkers' motives for drinking and alcohol expectancies. Much less attention has been focused on assessing the extent to which these findings generalize to a broader array of drinkers. Alcohol expectancies were assessed in this report among 260 alcoholics, 79 problem drinkers, and 81 nonproblem drinkers (all subjects were male) using a comprehensive alcohol expectancy measure. Alcoholics almost uniformly scored higher than the problem and nonproblem drinkers in their endorsements of alcohol's effects in different domains (e.g., alcohol acts as a global positive transforming agent, enhances physical and social pleasure, engenders assertiveness, reduces tension). Problem drinkers also tended to score higher than the nonproblem drinkers in these domains. A multiple discriminant analysis yielded two functions which together were moderately successful in classifying these subjects according to drinker group. Taken together, these data suggest that important individual differences exist in drinkers' expectations regarding alcohol's utility, and that alcohol expectancies vary considerably as a function of problem drinking severity. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.