40 oz Views : Alcohol Expectancies for Malt Liquor

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is submitted in response to NIAAA RFA: AA-01-003, Research on High Alcohol Content Malt Beverages and Related Products. We seek 3 years of funding to conduct research to develop a measure of alcohol outcome expectancies for malt liquor and to assess the psychometric properties of the new measure as well as its utility for predicting alcohol use. "Malt liquor" is the most commonly available high alcohol content malt beverage. It is an inexpensive beer with double the alcohol content of regular beer, which is typically sold in 40 oz containers. The high alcohol content, high volume packaging, and low price of malt liquor combine to contribute to excessive drinking among young adults and minorities, the groups to which malt liquor is heavily marketed (NIAAA, 2000). The proposed research focuses on developing a measure of beliefs about the positive and negative effects (i.e., alcohol expectancies) of malt liquor. Alcohol expectancies can vary as a function of the type of alcoholic beverage. The unique characteristics of malt liquor and the advertising images (macho masculinity) and cultural referents (hip hop culture) with which it is associated, may contribute to expectancies that are either qualitatively different from those held for other beverages or that are idiosyncratic in their cultural links and phraseology. A measure of malt liquor expectancies will provide a way to examine motivation to consume malt liquor. The proposed research will focus on young adult men and women between age 18 and 35 years. It is organized around three aims- 1) Identify and discuss beliefs about the positive and the negative effects of malt liquor (i.e., positive and negative outcome expectancies) held by persons who regularly (40 oz at least once/week) consume it. These discussions will take place in focus groups and will serve as the basis for developing items for the malt liquor expectancy measure. 2) Assess the psychometric properties of the newly developed measure of malt liquor expectancies for a sample 800 young adults who regularly consume malt liquor. This randomly-selected sample will be recruited using random digit dialing and a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) screening interview. 3) In cross-sectional tests using multiple regression equations, examine the predictive utility of the measure of malt liquor expectancies for predicting the consumption of malt liquor as well as alcohol-related problems.