Sensation seeking, drinking motives, and going out mediate the link between eveningness and alcohol use and problems in adolescence

ABSTRACT

The present study was aimed at obtaining a more comprehensive understanding of the possible mediating factors in the morningness-eveningness → alcohol consumption relation. We explored the role of mediators such as sensation seeking, the frequency of going out in the evenings, and drinking motives. We tested the proposed mediation model via structural equation modeling based on cross-sectional research conducted among Hungarian adolescents and young adults (N = 1695, 42.5% male, M_age = 18.98, SD_age = 1.89). The outcomes included the frequency of alcohol consumption and problematic drinking. Both alcohol consumption and problematic drinking were predicted in similar directions and magnitudes by sensation seeking, “going out,” and coping drinking motives. However, eveningness still had a significant direct effect on alcohol consumption and problematic drinking after we controlled for sensation seeking, going out, and drinking motives. For problematic drinking, the possible role of drinking motives seems to be higher and more complex than it is for alcohol consumption. The mediators, such as sensation seeking, the amount of time spent out in the evenings, and drinking motives, can explain the eveningness → alcohol consumption relationship and should be targeted for alcohol prevention programs among evening-type adolescents.

KEYWORDS:

• Morningness-eveningness
• alcohol consumption
• problematic alcohol use
• problematic drinking
• drinking motives
• adolescence
• young adulthood

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office [Grant numbers: KKP126835, K131635]. The second author was supported by a Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowship from Concordia University and by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [435-2018-0368].