Temptation and restraint have long been associated with problematic drinking. Among college students, social norms are one of the strongest predictors of problematic drinking. To date, no studies have examined the association between temptation and restraint and perceived descriptive norms on drinking and alcohol-related problems among college students. The purpose of this study was to examine whether perceived descriptive norms moderated the relationship between temptation and restraint and drinking outcomes among college students. Participants were 1095 college students from a large, public, culturally-diverse, southern university who completed an online survey about drinking behaviors and related attitudes. Drinks per week and alcohol-related problems were examined as a function of perceived descriptive norms, Cognitive Emotional Preoccupation (CEP) (temptation), and Cognitive Behavioral Control (CBC) (restraint). Additionally, drinking outcomes were examined as a function of the two-way interactions between CEP and perceived descriptive norms and CBC and perceived descriptive norms. Results indicated that CEP and perceived descriptive norms were associated with drinking outcomes. CBC was not associated with drinking outcomes. Additionally, perceived descriptive norms moderated the association between CEP and drinks per week and CEP and alcohol-related problems. There was a positive association between CEP and drinks per week and CEP and alcohol-related problems, especially for those higher on perceived descriptive norms. College students who are very tempted to drink may drink more heavily and experience alcohol-related problems more frequently if they have greater perceptions that the typical student at their university/college drinks a lot.
College drinking continues to be prevalent and problematic. The 2010 Monitoring the Future report ( Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2011) indicates that 65% of full-time college students reported drinking in the previous 30 days. Additionally, the report indicates that approximately one in eight full-time college students (13%) reported having 10 or more drinks in a row at least once in the prior two weeks, and one in twenty (5%) reported 15 or more drinks in a row in the previous two weeks. Heavy drinking among college students has been associated with a number of problems, including morbidity and mortality ( Hingson, Zha, & Weitzman, 2009), the development of an alcohol use disorders ( Knight et al., 2002), academic problems ( Wechsler, Lee, Kuo, & Lee, 2000), legal problems ( Hingson et al., 2002 and Wechsler et al., 2002), risky sexual behavior and sexual assault ( Goldstein et al., 2007 and Hingson et al., 2009), drinking and driving ( Hingson et al., 2009), and unintentional, non-traffic injuries and physical assaults ( Hingson et al., 2009). Although personalized normative feedback interventions have been found to be effective in reducing heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems among college students ( Cronce & Larimer, 2011), problematic drinking continues to be prevalent. As such, it is imperative that we continue to examine the various factors related to intra- and inter-personal determinants of drinking ( Marlatt & Donovan, 2005). Two such intrapersonal determinants of drinking behavior that have received relatively little attention with regard to college drinking are temptation and restraint.
