The Consequences Expected from Alcohol and Drinking Behavior: A Factor Analysis of Data from a Panel Study of Adolescents

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Abstract
The consequences people expect from behavior are central to many theories. In this longitudinal study, 1,423 adolescents assessed the likelihood and desirability associated with 57 consequences of drinking beer and hard liquor. Factor analyses yielded seven factors for beer and six for hard liquor. In multivariate analyses the pleasure, psychological, and deviance factors were related to the initiation of beer drinking; the pleasure and psychological factors were associated with beginning to drink hard liquor. Among those who were drinkers when first studied, the trouble with authority factor was related to an increase in beer drinking and the psychological factor was related to an increase in drinking hard liquor. The findings are discussed in the context of earlier research on the determinants of behavior with alcohol and the value of the factors for future research.