A Strong Correlation with Consumption of Alcohol - Essay Example

People Drink for Different Reasons: Some Good Some Bad PEOPLE DRINK FOR DIFFERENT REASONS: SOME GOOD SOME BAD Question A The social learning framework holds that learning is a cognitive process, which occurs via direct instruction or observation within a specific social context even when there is no direct reinforcement or motor reproduction (Cooper et al, 1988). Moreover, learning is also believed to occur via observations of punishments and rewards, which are also referred to as vicarious reinforcement. In this framework, individuals learn from each other through modeling, imitation, and observation, while the framework also encompasses memory, attention, and motivation. In relation to people who drink alcohol, the social learning framework would posit that individuals with abusive drinking patterns are different from ‘healthy’ drinkers, specifically with regard to their beliefs on alcohol and their ability to cope with everyday life demands. In this case, adaptive coping skills deficiencies and positive expectancies on the effects of alcohol operate jointly and independently in promoting the role of alcohol as a mechanism for coping (Cooper et al, 1988). For those individuals who are reliant on alcohol as a way of coping, there is an increased risk of heavier drinking and subsequent alcohol abuse. As a result, teaching such individuals about coping skills related to alcohol and belief modification about alcohol effects are essential factors in alcoholism treatments. This framework provides strong support that links motivations of alcohol use to alcohol expectancies, drinking to cope, and coping styles (Cooper et al, 1988). More specifically, the relevant domain of coping mainly has to do with avoidant styles of emotional coping. Expectancies also are also moderating factors between the emotion-focused avoidant styles of coping and drinking to cope, in which case the individual with strong positive expectancies who use emotion-focused coping avoidance are more likely to take alcohol as a way of coping. As such, individuals who drink to cope and have strong positive expectancies drink more and may experience issues related to their drinking. Since alcohol is known to alter moods, this property may provide an alternative to dysphoric feelings for persons with insufficient emotion-focused coping. More importantly, the social learning framework suggests that insufficient emotional coping contributes significantly to alcohol abuse, rather than overall inadequate coping (Cooper et al, 1988). Question B There are different types of motivation or reasons that underlie the decision to drink. The first motivation is that people drink in order to enhance positive effect, which is correlated to drinking in bars and other places where drinking is encouraged or tolerated (Cooper, 1994). However, this motivation for drinking is only indirectly related to alcoholic problems, especially in relation to consumption. Social motives for drinking are also identified as an important reason why individuals chose to use alcohol, although it is not directly associated with predictions of drinking problems. Social motives are especially positively associated with social setting drinking, such as during parties, and tends to have stronger endorsement out of all the motives for alcohol use. In this case, drinking for positive social affirmation is socially acceptable, normative, and socially cued. Another reason for drinking involves coping motives, which have a significant correlation to use of alcohol and are more likely to predict alcohol problems when normal use of alcohol is controlled for (Cooper, 1994). Coping motives in drinking are also positively correlated with solitary drinking, rather than drinking in social settings. Coping motives for alcohol use are reflective of deficiencies in more helpful and adaptive coping mechanisms, which make it more likely that it is related to alcohol abuse and can respond better to internal cues as compared to external cues. A third reason for drinking is the enhancement motive, which has a particularly positive and high correlation with heavy use of alcohol (Cooper, 1994). In this case, enhancement motives are associated with drinking styles, especially those styles that promote or condone heavy consumption like drinking with the boys. Finally, people also drink due to conforming motives, which is identified as being positively responsive to social pressures from external forces. As such, conformance motives have a positive correlation with social setting drinking, while possessing a negative correlation with drinking in solitary. However, conformance motives have a weak association with overall consumption habits and patterns. This result is relatable to the fact that conformance drinking is almost exclusively a result of external social pressures, while it is also related to the fact that internal drinking motivations are absent or generally weak (Cooper, 1994). Question C These motives for drinking are also related to different antecedents and outcomes. Indeed, each drinking motive, in spite of shared variance among them, is related to unique patterns of alcohol use outcomes. For instance, positive enhancement motives is related to drinking in bars and other settings where heavy alcohol use is encouraged or tolerated and, therefore, this motive is associated with heavy drinking, although its relationship with drinking problems as an outcome is of an indirect nature (Cooper, 1994). Social motives for drinking are also positively related to the frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption, as well as with celebratory drinking settings, particularly in situations where drinking occurs among same-sex friends or in parties. However, social motives do not have problem drinking or alcoholism as an outcome. With regards to coping motives, drinking in order to regulate negative effects has a positive relation with predicted alcoholism and drinking problems through indirect and direct consumption, as well as with solitary drinking (Cooper, 1994). As such, at specific consumption levels, individuals who drink in order to cope tend to have an increased risk of alcoholism and drinking problems, particularly when compared to those who drink primarily for enhancement and social motives. For those who drink as a result of conformity motives, there is a negative correlation with frequency and quantity of normal consumption, as well as with heavy alcohol use (Cooper, 1994). However, enhancement motives are positively correlated with party-related alcohol use, in which conformance pressure is expected to be highest. Conformity motives for drinking, despite the pattern of infrequent and light drinking, tend to directly predict alcoholism and drinking problems. This might suggest that drinking to conform for individuals who take equal alcohol amounts places them at an increased risk of going through social problems, especially in comparison to those who primarily drink for enhancement or social motives (Cooper, 1994). Overall, conformity and coping motives are caused by pathological and maladaptive drinking compared to enhancement and social motives, while the former are also correlated with problem drinking as an outcome compared to the latter. Question D Coping motives are the most problematic in relation to drinking related problems. In this case, coping motives tend to substantially predict occupational and social dysfunction, as well as withdrawal and tolerance symptoms compared to the other motives (Cooper et al, 1992). Moreover, coping motives are associated with solitary drinking as compared to social and enhancement motives that are more associated with social-context drinking. Furthermore, coping motives have a higher correlation with the use of tranquilizers and barbiturates, which are used as dampeners, compared to the other motives of drinking. Thus, individuals who drink for coping motives are more likely to become psychologically dependent on drinking and to require alcohol in order to cope with inescapable frustrations that may cause negative emotions. This dependence could, in turn, make such individuals more likely to use alcohol in inauspicious situations and to continue using alcohol despite increasing problems related to drinking. Finally, because these individuals are more likely to drink alone, they tend to be subject to fewer drinking constraints, which may lead to self-destructive alcohol use patterns than if they were in a position to get feedback on their actions (Cooper et al, 1992). This means that individuals who drink for coping motives could suffer disproportionately due to lack of external and internal drinking controls. Question E The drinking motive that appears least problematic in terms of drinking-related problems is the social motive. Social motives for alcohol use are associated more with social-context drinking, rather than solitary drinking as with coping motives, while this motive is not predictive of drug use compared to both coping and enhancement motives (Cooper et al, 1992). In addition, social motives for alcohol use tend to be more normative and, despite being related to enhanced consumption of alcohol, they are not related to problematic use of alcohol. In relation to social motives being associated with social context drinking, this makes it more likely that the individual is subject to more external social-normative drinking constraints compared to those who drink for coping reasons. By drinking in social contexts with their friends, these individuals are less likely to engage in self-destructive or deviant alcohol use patterns, especially since they can get feedback from their peers and drinking partners regarding their actions (Cooper et al, 1992). Thus, they have more external and internal controls over their alcohol use than those drinking for coping and enhancement motives. Question F One motive for alcohol use that is not identified in the articles provided is sensation seeking. Sensation seeking has been found to have a strong correlation with consumption of alcohol, especially among adolescents and young people. This motive can be measured using a proposed model that has sensation seeking, gender, and age as antecedent variables, negative and positive expectancies as mediator variables, and a composite alcohol use score as the outcome variable (Urbán et al, 2008). This model would be expected to support sensation seeking as a motive for alcohol use if the young persons were asked whether alcohol provided them with negative or positive expectancies, as well as whether this motivated them to use alcohol. It would be expected that positive expectancy will mediate between the decision to drink and sensation seeking, while the decision to drink and positive expectancy would mediate between alcohol use and sensation seeking (Urbán et al, 2008). This motive is maladaptive in nature because, despite reducing the anxiety of the individual, the results are non-productive or dysfunctional because the sensation does not last. References Cooper, M. L. (1994). Motivations for Alcohol Use among Adolescents: Development and Validation of a Four-Factor Model. Psychological Assessment, 6, 2, 117-28 Cooper, M. L., Russell, M., & George, W. H. (1988). Coping, expectancies, and alcohol abuse: a test of social learning formulations. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 2, 218-30 Cooper, M. L., Russell, M., Skinner, J. B., & Windle, M. (January 01, 1992). Development and validation of a three-dimensional measure of drinking motives. Psychological Assessment, 4, 2, 123-132 Urbán, R., Kökönyei, G., & Demetrovics, Z. (2008). Alcohol outcome expectancies and drinking motives mediate the association between sensation seeking and alcohol use among adolescents. Addictive Behaviors, 33, 10, 1344-52 Read More