Study: The Role of Drinking Motives in Social Anxiety and Alcohol Use

Although discomfort in social situations and drinking are both recognized features of college life, the complex relationship between social anxiety and drinking is not well understood. Research by University of Arkansas psychologist Lindsay Ham into motives for drinking shows that drinking to cope can be associated with drinking problems for socially anxious college students.

“It appears that drinking motives, particularly coping motives, have promise of providing a greater understanding of the social anxiety–drinking relationship,” Ham said.

The research, published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders, could aid in identifying and helping college students at risk for alcohol problems.

Ham and her colleagues from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln studied drinking motives of 239 undergraduate students to clarify the ways social anxiety affected drinking behaviors. They began by administering four established tests, one to identify a student’s level of social anxiety, another to assess drinking motives, and two tests to measure quantity and frequency of drinking and drinking-related problems.

For students with low social anxiety, enhancement, rather than coping, was related to alcohol use. Conformity motives did not seem to be a major factor. The researchers speculated that some socially anxious individuals might intentionally avoid situations that involved drinking out of concern about social disapproval of their uninhibited behavior while drinking.

For more information, read the press release and full article abstract, available on the Web.