Athletes and alcohol : social influences on hazardous alcohol use and the mediating role of alcohol expectancies

Research has shown that college student-athletes are at increased risk for hazardous alcohol use. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine social and cognitive influences on athletes\u27 alcohol consumption. This investigation utilized the Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1973,1980; Kuther, 2002) to explore the association between between injunctive norms and hazardous alcohol use among college athletes, and to test whether alcohol expectancy outcomes and valuations would mediate this association. College-aged student-athletes (N=313; mean age=19.4) from eight different colleges across the U.S. completed a 40-minute self-report questionnaire asking about demographic information, drinking behaviors, and perceptions of alcohol use in the social environment. Path analyses using multiple regression techniques revealed a direct association between each of the social influence variables and hazardous alcohol use. In addition, negative expectancy valuations emerged as a significant mediator of the association between injunctive norms (teammate approval) and hazardous alcohol use. Implications for alcohol intervention programming among college-student athletes are discussed