What About This Time? Within- and Between-Person Associations Between Drinking Motives and Alcohol Outcomes

Alcohol use in college populations is highly prevalent. College students who consume alcohol can experience a variety of different alcohol-related consequences. Drinking motives, or reasons that individuals choose to consume alcohol, are proximal factors that affect alcohol use. Previous research has generally found that internal drinking motives (i.e., coping and enhancement motives) are particularly relevant in predicting alcohol-related consequences. However, most of this research has examined drinking motives as traits, rather than state (i.e., daily) motives. The present study sought to examine enhancement and coping motives as both distinct and combined predictors of alcohol-related consequences at the daily level, directly and via alcohol consumption. Multilevel analyses of a 30-day retrospective report of drinking behaviors showed that within-person enhancement motives increased alcohol-related consequences via increased alcohol use. In contrast, coping motives were directly associated with alcohol-related consequences at the between-person level. Implications of the findings are that clinicians should assess and discuss daily motives for alcohol use with patients presenting with problems related to alcohol use, as well as typical motives.