Why Adolescents Engage in Early Alcohol Use: A Study of Drinking Motives

Koen Smit, Carmen Voogt, Roy Otten, Marloes Kleinjan, Emmanuel Kuntsche

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Shortly after young adolescents initiate alcohol use, we investigated whether (1) drinking motives are associated with current alcohol use and binge drinking, (2) motives predict these alcohol outcomes 6 months later, and (3) alcohol outcomes predict motives 6 months later. Data on adolescents’ drinking motives and alcohol use were drawn from a Dutch longitudinal 7-wave family study at the timepoint of alcohol use initiation (t0, N = 210, 51.4% male, Mage = 14.01 SD = 1.02) and 6 months later (t1, n = 88). Logistic and linear regressions were conducted. Results indicated that young adolescents mainly drink for social and enhancement motives rather than coping and conformity motives. Shortly after alcohol initiation, social motives were associated with alcohol use at t0 ( OR= 1.52), enhancement motives with binge drinking at t0 ( OR= 2.35), and coping motives with binge drinking at t0 ( OR= 2.62) and at t1 ( OR= 3.00). Conformity motives were inversely associated with binge drinking at t0 ( OR= 0.42). Binge drinking predicted coping motives at t1 (B = 0.71, SE = -0.35), but no other associations among alcohol use, binge drinking, and drinking motives at t1 were found. Conclusively, this study shows that young adolescents drink to enjoy parties and to get drunk (social and enhancement motives) rather than to fit in (conformity motives).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)73–81
Number of pages9
JournalExperimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology
Volume30
Issue number1
Early online date2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • Alcohol use
  • Drinking motives
  • Young adolescents

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