Alcohol consumption in university students: the role of reasons for drinking, coping strategies, expectancies, and personality traits.

Despite the popularity of the social learning perspective of alcohol abuse, there have been limited efforts devoted to developing comprehensive models that delineate the roles of the constituent components of this approach. In the present study, we determined whether reasons for drinking, coping strategies, alcohol expectancies, and personality traits predict binge drinking and alcohol consumption levels in university students. Escape drinking was the sole positive direct predictor of binge drinking. Social drinking predicted alcohol consumption and thereby exerted an indirect influence on binge drinking. Alcohol expectancies played a significant role in the model but only by influencing reasons for drinking. Although the use of alcohol and/or drugs to cope predicted alcohol consumption, none of a variety of other coping strategies exerted a significant influence in the model. Stress responsivity-related personality traits played a significant role, primarily via an influence on alcohol expectancies. These findings provide support for the social learning perspective of alcohol abuse and offer further insight into the factors that contribute to the development of risky alcohol consumption patterns.