Expectancy Outcomes and Self-Reported Alcohol Involvement in Educated Albanian Young Adults

Abstract

The World Health Organization (2004) has estimated that two billion people worldwide are alcohol consumers. Data
from Albania indicate that at least 20% of Albanian adults fall into this category and an additional 1.5% of young people are
alcohol dependent. Research has shown that people’s beliefs and expectations about the effects of alcohol play a role in
drinking behavior. We assessed the role of expectancies on the effects of alcohol as predictors of self-reported involvement in
drinking behavior. It was expected that both positive and negative expectancies would predict alcohol involvement, over and
above demographic variables. For the purpose of the study we recruited a non-probabilistic stratified sample of 450 Albanian
students from three Albanian universities. The measures used were Leigh and Stacy’s Alcohol Outcome Expectancies Scale and
Mac Neill’s Index of Alcohol Involvement. Regression analyses separately conducted for those classifying themselves as
drinkers vs. nondrinkers. Thus, demographic variables were introduced in the first step, positive expectancies in the second step
and negative expectancies in the third. Results suggested that positive expectancies related to entertainment or sexual behavior
were significantly explaining alcohol involvement among the drinkers group. On the other hand, only gender was significantly
explaining drinking behavior among the non-drinkers group. Implications for practice were discussed.