The relationships between alcohol use, trait aggression, and the alcohol‐aggression outcome expectancy in male students

Abstract

Variations in aggression after drinking are attributable to a range of factors, one of which is the alcohol‐aggression outcome expectancy. The contribution of the alcohol‐aggression outcome expectancy in explaining actual alcohol‐related aggression is a topic of some debate. Investigation of the effects of the alcohol‐aggression outcome expectancy on actual aggression depends upon adequate measurement of the construct. This study aims to examine the relative contribution of alcohol use and dispositional aggressiveness to the alcohol‐aggression outcome expectancy as measured by the Alcohol‐Related Aggression Questionnaire‐Alcohol Aggression scale (ARAQ‐AA) to advance our knowledge about the construct validity of the ARAQ. The hypotheses were that drinking and dispositional aggressiveness would both predict ARAQ‐AA, but that AQ would be the stronger predictor, and that an interaction between drinking and aggressiveness would be the strongest predictor of ARAQ‐AA. Participants were 122 male students who completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), and the ARAQ‐AA. The AUDIT and the AQ both significantly predicted ARAQ‐AA and the AQ was the stronger predictor. The interaction between AUDIT and AQ scores was as good a predictor as AQ alone, but no better. These results support the hypotheses and also accord with others' findings; therefore, it is likely that the ARAQ‐AA is a valid measure of the alcohol‐aggression outcome expectancy. The ARAQ‐AA may be of value in studying the impact of the alcohol‐aggression outcome expectancy on actual aggression and violence.

• Alcohol‐aggression outcome expectancy
• ARAQ
• dispositional aggression

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the European Research Advisory Board Grant EA0402. Thanks are due to Anna McCulloch for collecting the data.

Declaration of interest

The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.