Subtypes of Alcohol Expectancies Are Differentially Associated With Alcohol Use for Bisexual and Heterosexual Women

Abstract

Background: Bisexual women, compared to heterosexual women, report greater amounts of alcohol use and heavy drinking. Alcohol expectancies (i.e., beliefs about alcohol outcomes) are a strong predictor of alcohol use, but few studies have examined the importance of alcohol expectancies in relation to alcohol use among bisexual women specifically or in comparison to heterosexual women. Objectives: The current study examined 262 heterosexual and 225 bisexual women using an online survey about alcohol use, sexual risk-taking, and alcohol expectancy subtypes (sexuality, tension reduction, and aggression). Results: Compared to heterosexual women, bisexual women reported greater sexuality and tension reduction expectancies after accounting for their level of drinking, but groups did not differ on aggression expectancies. Moreover, sexual identity status moderated the associations between sexuality and tension reduction expectancies and alcohol use, respectively. Specifically, our study findings suggested that sexuality and tension reduction alcohol expectancies were more strongly tied to alcohol use among bisexual women than heterosexual women. Conclusions: Taken together, in our study, bisexual women held stronger sexuality and tension reduction expectancies, as compared to heterosexual women. Interventions targeting alcohol expectancies may be considered when tailoring intervention content for this population.

Keywords:

• Bisexuality
• alcohol
• alcohol expectancies
• sexual identity

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 Participants who identified as transgender were removed from analyses due to low n (n = 1) and potentially different experiences and expectancies of gender minority individuals.

2 We also conducted negative binomial models to account for the count nature of our outcome (i.e., number of drinks), but significance of the findings did not change. These data are available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

Amy L. Stamates was supported by the NIAAA of the NIH under award number K01AA029399.