Personality and alcohol metacognitions as predictors of weekly levels of alcohol use in binge drinking university students

This study investigated the relative contribution of the Big 5 personality factors and alcohol metacognitions in predicting weekly levels of alcohol use in binge drinking university students. No research to date has investigated whether either of these constructs predicts levels of weekly alcohol use in binge drinkers. A sample of university students (n = 142) who were classified as binge drinkers were administered the following self-report instruments: NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992), Positive Alcohol Metacognitions Scale (PAMS; Spada & Wells, 2008), Negative Alcohol Metacognitions Scale (NAMS; Spada & Wells, 2008), and Khavari Alcohol Test (KAT; Khavari & Farber, 1978). Pearson product–moment correlations showed that weekly levels of alcohol use were negatively correlated with agreeableness and conscientiousness and positively correlated with positive alcohol metacognitions about cognitive self-regulation, negative alcohol metacognitions about uncontrollability and negative alcohol metacognitions about cognitive harm. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that conscientiousness and positive alcohol metacognitions about cognitive self-regulation were the only two significant predictors of weekly levels of alcohol use when controlling for gender. These findings show that being male, low on conscientiousness and high on positive alcohol metacognitions about cognitive self-regulation raises the risk for increased weekly levels of alcohol use in binge drinking university students. The implications of these findings are discussed.

► First study to look at personality and alcohol metacognitions in binge drinkers.
► A reliable measure to select binge drinkers was utilised.
► A good sized sample of binge drinkers was investigated.
► The impact of findings on practise is discussed.