Kumar Lakshmi, Zhou Agnes, Sanov Bethany, Beitler Sara, Skrzynski Carillon J, Creswell Kasey G
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder, USA.
Addict Behav Rep. 2022 Nov 1;16:100468. doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2022.100468. eCollection 2022 Dec.
Prior studies demonstrate a link between socio-cognitive deficits and alcohol problems in adolescents and young adults. Researchers have proposed that young people with such deficits may misperceive and over-value peers' attitudes about drinking and consider drinking a way to be accepted by their peer group. We test this hypothesis by investigating whether theory of mind (ToM) deficits in underage (18-20-year-old) drinkers are associated with binge drinking and alcohol problems, and whether these ToM deficits have an indirect effect on alcohol outcomes through perceived peer pressure to drink (i.e., high conformity motives and low perceived ability to refuse alcohol during social pressure).
Participants ( = 472; 91 % female; 71 % White; M = 19.28 ± 0.77) were recruited from TurkPrime and completed measures assessing ToM, conformity motives, self-efficacy to resist peer pressure to drink, alcohol problems, and binge drinking. Bivariate correlations were run to examine associations between study variables. Indirect effect models were run in SPSS, using the PROCESS add-on, to assess the indirect effects of ToM on alcohol outcomes through conformity motives and self-efficacy to refuse peer pressure to drink.
ToM had indirect effects on binge drinking and alcohol problems through conformity motives (but not self-efficacy to resist peer pressure to drink). Lower ToM was associated with higher conformity motives, which were then associated with more frequent binge drinking and greater alcohol problems.
These findings highlight the role of social cognition in young adult alcohol misuse and suggest more work is needed to understand the potential influence of peer pressure in this association.
先前的研究表明，青少年和青年的社会认知缺陷与酒精问题之间存在联系。研究人员提出，有此类缺陷的年轻人可能会错误地感知并高估同龄人对饮酒的态度，并将饮酒视为被同龄人群体接受的一种方式。我们通过调查未成年（18 - 20岁）饮酒者的心理理论（ToM）缺陷是否与暴饮和酒精问题相关，以及这些ToM缺陷是否通过感知到的同伴饮酒压力（即高从众动机和在社会压力下低拒绝饮酒能力）对酒精相关结果产生间接影响，来检验这一假设。
从TurkPrime招募参与者（n = 472；91%为女性；71%为白人；M = 19.28 ± 0.77），并完成评估ToM、从众动机、抵抗同伴饮酒压力的自我效能、酒精问题和暴饮的测量。进行双变量相关性分析以检验研究变量之间的关联。在SPSS中使用PROCESS插件运行间接效应模型，以评估ToM通过从众动机和拒绝同伴饮酒压力的自我效能对酒精相关结果的间接影响。
ToM通过从众动机（而非抵抗同伴饮酒压力的自我效能）对暴饮和酒精问题产生间接影响。较低的ToM与较高的从众动机相关，而较高的从众动机又与更频繁的暴饮和更严重的酒精问题相关。
这些发现凸显了社会认知在青年酒精滥用中的作用，并表明需要开展更多工作来理解同伴压力在这种关联中的潜在影响。
