Alcohol use and alcohol expectancies among upper-level secondary school students in Chonburi Province and Pattaya City, Thailand

This study explored alcohol drinking behavior and alcohol expectancies among students in grades 10 to 12 in Thailand. The alcohol expectancy instrument was similar to those used in the U.S. Survey results showed that 32.4% of the total students were non-drinking, had not consumed alcohol in the past 12 months, and 67.7% were drinkers. Ages of first drink for this group were 11 to 14 years old. Overall, male students drank alcohol more often and in greater quantity than females. Thai beer was the alcohol of choice for males and wine the alcohol of choice for females. Mother\u27s drinking patterns may have an effect on their son\u27s drinking status, but not on their daughter\u27s. Father\u27s drinking patterns did not appear to influence sons or daughters drinking patterns. Six expectancy factors were extracted and named as follows: (1) Social, physical and mental pleasure, (2) careless concern, (3) sexual attraction and enhancement, (4) aggression, (5) power and general positive transformation, and (6) a practice against Buddhism. There was a significant relationship between alcohol expectancy scores and drinking behavior. The results suggested that among these subjects the higher their age at first drink and the fewer the number of days drinking in the past 30 days and in the past 12 months, the higher were the scores on Expectancy 2—careless concern and on Expectancy 6—alcohol drinking as a practice against Buddhism and the lower were the scores on Expectancy 3—sexual attraction and enhancement. Discriminant analysis showed that 78.3% were correctly classified for their drinking status. When compared to the original drinking status, these 6 alcohol expectancies classified drinking status correctly 77.1% and non-drinking status correctly 72.2%