The relationship between affective associations with alcohol and binge drinking

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between affective associations with alcohol and binge drinking. Prior research on the proximal determinants of alcohol consumption has typically focused on cognitive factors such as outcome expectancies, leaving aside affect (i.e. emotional factors). Participants in this study were a random, nationally representative sample of Swedes aged between 18 and 70 (n = 1623, response rate 54%). The results showed that affective associations with alcohol are related to binge drinking, even after controlling for gender, age, education, family situation and perceived risk. This article concludes that affective associations probably should be considered in explanatory frameworks of alcohol consumption, although more research is needed on the causal relationship of affective associations to drinking habits.

• Alcohol
• binge drinking
• affective associations

Notes

1. I have also conducted these analyses treating binge drinking as a continuous variable (i.e. in an OLS regression). These analyses produced almost identical patterns as those reported in the Results section.

2. It should be noted, however, that additional analyses using other drinking outcomes (i.e. drinking frequency in general) revealed a similar pattern regarding the effect of affective associations.

3. It is worth noting, though, that increasing levels of binge drinking among younger females, particularly college students, have been observed during recent years (see, e.g. Grucza et al., 2009; Wechsler & Wuentrich, 2002).

4. Percentage change in odds ratios across models was calculated by the formula [(odds ratio model 2 – odds ratio model 3)/(odds ratio model 2 – 1)] × 100.