Drinking Like Everyone Else: Trait Self-Control Moderates the Association Between Peer and Personal Heavy Episodic Drinking

Abstract

Background: Alcohol consumption often appears to be under social influence. However, we know relatively little about whether some people are particularly likely to exhibit similar drinking patterns to their peers. Objectives: Here we tested the extent to which trait social approval concerns and trait self-control are associated with the likelihood that individuals display similar heavy episodic drinking patterns to their peers. Method: One thousand and fifty-six young adults participated in an online study. We measured trait social approval concerns (the Need to Belong scale) and trait self-control (the Self-Control scale) alongside personal heavy episodic drinking and perceptions of peer heavy episodic drinking. Results: Beliefs that one's peers (other students) drank heavily were associated with heavier personal episodic drinking. This relationship was moderated by trait self-control: The correlation between personal heavy episodic drinking and perceived peer drinking was much stronger in those with low self-control compared with those with high self-control. Contrary to hypotheses, trait social approval concerns did not moderate the relationship between perceived peer drinking and personal heavy episodic drinking. Conclusions: Social norms about drinking could act as a form of informational cue for one's own alcohol consumption, but the extent to which individuals follow or override this cue may depend on individual differences in self-control.

Keywords:

• alcohol consumption
• social influence
• self-control
• social norms

THE AUTHORS

Eric Robinson, PhD, is a research fellow at the University of Liverpool. His current research interests relate to social context and alcohol usewhy is it often the case that people around us will influence how much we drink and why does this happen?

THE AUTHORS

Andrew Jones is an experimental psychologist. He is interested in the psychological construct of disinhibition and how this relates to substance misuse. His broader research interests include the cognitive and motivational processes that underlie appetitive behaviours.

THE AUTHORS

Paul Christiansen is an experimental psychologist. He is interested in the state influences on self-control, particularly the alcohol priming effect. His broader research interests include the interplay between automatic and controlled cognitive processes.

THE AUTHORS

Matt Field is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Liverpool. He studies cognitive processes in psychopharmacology, addiction and motivated behaviour. He has published extensively on a range of topics including executive function and implicit cognition in addiction, with a focus on alcohol use disorders.

GLOSSARY

Informational social influence: The behavior of those around us can act as an information source for how we should behave and so we copy that behavior, as opposed to copying the behavior of others to simply gain their approval

Self-control: The ability to regulate and control one's behavior.