The Influence of Personality, Motives, and Confidence during High-risk Situations on Changes in Alcohol Use

• Main Author: Campbell, Mallory
• Other Authors: Goldstein, Abby
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Relapse; Alcohol; Motives; Personality; Self-efficacy; 0622; 0621; 0623
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/42613

Personality, motives, and self-efficacy have all been recognized as factors contributing to relapse, and the interaction among these factors has been outlined in Witkiewitz and Marlatt’s contemporary relapse model. However, there is limited empirical research examining the mechanisms involved in this theory. This study aimed to better understand the relationship between personality risk, drinking motives, and confidence to resist drinking during high-risk situations among adults who have changed their drinking. Results indicate that prior to participants’ change in drinking, introversion/hopelessness was associated with coping motives and confidence in situations involving unpleasant emotions, anxiety sensitivity was associated with coping motives, and impulsivity was associated with conformity motives. Following participants’ change, two specific motives (i.e., coping and conformity) were found to moderate the association between two of the personality profiles (i.e., introversion/hopelessness and anxiety sensitivity) and confidence to resist drinking during specific high-risk situations (i.e., negative emotional and social pressure to use).