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

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.

Participants were U.S. young adults (N = 199; M_age = 22.10, SD = 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.

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.

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).