Expectancies for Alcohol Analgesia Among Emerging Adults: Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Reliability, and Validity

Alcohol and pain frequently co-occur and interact in a positive feedback loop that maintains and exacerbates both conditions. The Expectancies for Alcohol Analgesia (EAA) is a recently developed, single-factor measure that assesses the extent to which individuals expect alcohol will reduce their pain. Alcohol-related outcome expectancies motivate drinking and predict drinking trajectories among emerging adults (18-24). The EAA was initially validated among adults with chronic pain who drink alcohol and has been associated with several indices of pain and alcohol. We are unaware of prior work that examined the psychometric properties of the EAA among emerging adults, who are at high-risk for developing positive expectancies regarding the utility of alcohol for pain management.

The goal of this study was to examine the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the EAA among emerging adult college students.

Emerging adult college students who endorsed lifetime alcohol use and varying pain levels (N = 555, 74.4% Female, 75.2% White) completed an online survey of pain and alcohol use.

Confirmatory factor analysis indicated the single-factor structure was a good fit (CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.99, SRMR = 0.01, RMSEA = 0.04). Internal consistency was excellent (α = .95), and EAA scores were positively associated with alcohol consumption, alcohol-related consequences, drinking motives, and pain intensity and disability (ps < .01).

These findings suggest the EAA is a valid and reliable measure for assessing expectancies for alcohol analgesia among emerging adult college students, which may also be a promising intervention target to include in expectancy challenge interventions.