Motives for drinking, alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related problems among British secondary-school and university students

Relationships among reasons for drinking, alcohol consumption, and drinking-related problems were assessed among secondary-school students (N = 328) and university students (N = 74) in North Wales, United Kingdom, and results were compared with results from North America. The ability of drinking reasons to predict drinking problems was tested in both age groups. Khavari Alcohol Test, Quantity-Frequency-Variability Index, Reasons for Drinking Questionnaire, and Rutgers Alcohol Problems Index were used to measure the variables of interest. Regression and mediational analyses indicated that negative reasons were stronger predictors of drinking problems than were positive reasons among both secondary-school and university students. Results also showed that the effect of both positive and negative drinking reasons on alcohol-related problems was partially mediated by alcohol consumption among both secondary-school students and university students. There were different correlates of problematic drinking among younger and older students, which suggest that different types of intervention should be used with the two age groups.