Abstract
Introduction: According to theory, depressed individuals self-medicate their negative affect with alcohol. Due to isolation and interpersonal difficulties, undergraduates with elevated depressive symptoms may do much of their drinking alone and/or in intimate contexts (e.g., with family or romantic partners) rather than at normative social events (e.g., parties). Evidence suggests drinking in these contexts leads to heavy use and alcohol-related problems. Accordingly, context may be an explanatory mechanism linking depressive symptoms to problematic drinking. This pathway remains understudied in the literature. Our study aimed to examine solitary and intimate drinking as distinct mediators of the depression-problematic drinking association. We hypothesized that depressive symptoms would be positively associated with solitary and intimate drinking which in turn would be associated with elevated alcohol use and related problems. Methods: Undergraduates (. N=. 295; 72% women) completed online self-reports. Results: Consistent with hypotheses, path analyses supported depressive symptoms as a positive predictor of solitary drinking, which in turn was a positive predictor of alcohol-related problems, but not of alcohol use. Counter to hypotheses, depressive symptoms were unrelated to intimate drinking. Interestingly, depressive symptoms were negatively associated with drinking at parties, which in turn led to reduced risk for elevated alcohol use and related problems. Conclusions: Our results shed new light on the depression pathway to problematic drinking in undergraduates by considering the role of drinking context. Our findings suggest undergraduates with elevated depressive symptoms are at risk for potentially problematic drinking because they are drinking alone. Solitary drinking represents a malleable target for clinical interventions aimed at reducing risky depression-related alcohol use.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 216-221 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Addictive Behaviors |
| Volume | 42 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 1 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was supported by an operating grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) awarded to Sherry H. Stewart and Simon B. Sherry. During completion of this work, Matthew T. Keough was funded by a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) , and Roisin M. O'Connor was funded in-part by a CIHR New Investigator Award. The financial support had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Clinical Psychology
- Toxicology
- Psychiatry and Mental health
