Pathways from Positive, Negative, and Specific Alcohol Expectancies to Weekday and Weekend Drinking to Alcohol Problems.

The current study tested and identified risk and protective pathways from alcohol expectancies to weekday and weekend consumption to problematic consequences. Adult alcohol users (N = 395) completed measures of alcohol expectancies, daily consumption habits during a typical week, and alcohol-related problems. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the five-factor structure of positive expectancy, negative expectancy, weekday drinking, weekend drinking, and alcohol problems. The structural equation model specifying general positive and negative expectancy to weekday and weekend use to alcohol problems exhibited satisfactory fit indices. Specifically, positive expectancy contributed to greater weekend drinking, but negative expectancy prompted greater weekday drinking. Furthermore, lower positive expectancy, higher negative expectancy, higher weekday drinking, and higher weekend drinking each uniquely explained greater alcohol problems. The structural equation model involving the seven specific expectancies to weekday and weekend use to alcohol problems produced high fit indices. Specifically, higher risk and aggression, higher self-perception, and lower cognitive and behavioral impairment expectancies uniquely predicted weekday drinking. In contrast, higher sociability, higher liquid courage, higher risk and aggression, and lower cognitive impairment expectancies explained weekend drinking. The predictive model premised on specific alcohol expectancies as distinct constructs exhibited higher fit indices and more nuanced insights regarding risk and protective pathways for prevention than the model involving general positive versus negative expectancy constructs. Findings underscore that different types of self-fulfilling alcohol expectancy beliefs distinctively explain weekday versus weekend intake and problems.