Alcohol expectancy responses from first year medical students: Are they prone to alcoholism?

Context : Modern life style and affluence lead to changes in people′s outlook on various habits, including alcohol intake. Some of them will fall prey to the addictive nature of the drink. Aims: Present study was done to evaluate the responses to comprehensive alcohol expectancy questionnaire (comprehensive effects of alcohol - CEOA) in order to test the tendency towards alcohol intake among the First Year Medical (MBBS) students of our college - that is, to assess the positive or negative reinforcement they would expect if they consumed alcohol. Settings and Design : The study was done by giving a set of questionnaires to be answered by the students. Materials and Methods : Questionnaires of CEOA had 38 responses, in which both negative and positive feelings were represented. All questions were again grouped into four groups of positive and three groups of negative responses. Each question was rated to what degree they agreed, by 4-point Likert-type scale (1 = disagree, 2 = slightly disagree, 3 = slightly agree, 4 = agree). The positive and negative responses were analyzed to group them into agreeing or disagreeing type. Statistical Analysis Used : Analysis of responses by Student ′t′ test and 2-way ANOVA was done to analyze the results. ′P′< 0.05 was accepted as significant. Results : Results showed that negative expectancies outweighed positives significantly (2.8017 ± 0.58554 vs. 2.3055 ± 0.67604, t = 7.526; P< 0.001.). Females rated the negatives more firmly (P< 0.001). However, there was no statistically significant difference with respect to different religious beliefs, places of origin or incomes of the respondents. An experience of alcohol had a significant effect on the responses where they had stronger positive expectancy, which is an important point revealed in this study. Conclusions : In this study, we have observed a general acceptance that alcohol could provide positive reinforcement, especially among those who have had a prior experience of intake of alcohol. Thus, this study throws light on whether there is likelihood of youngsters falling into addiction in the later part of their life; hence it can act as a useful predictor for parents, health professionals, social counselors and the society as a whole so that they can take preventive measures against alcohol addiction.