Social approval and facilitation in predicting modeling effects in alcohol consumption

Purpose: An important question for alcohol abuse prevention and treatment is whether individuals with high needs for social approval, or those who drink heavily in social contexts, are particularly vulnerable to modeling effects in alcohol consumption. Methods: Male and female heavy social drinkers (N=202), as distinguished by these cognitive and situational variables, participated in a multisession dyadic modeling effects study along with a same-sex confederate model who exhibited alternating patterns of heavy and light consumption in an experimental barroom. Results: Subjects with high needs for social approval, and those who tend to drink heavily in social contexts, were particularly vulnerable to imitating directional changes in modeled drinking levels across heavy and light consumption experimental sessions. Additionally, modeling effects were revealed, including reductions in drinking levels, regardless of individual characteristics such as demographics or levels of intoxication achieved on “usual drinking occasions.” Implications: Findings suggest that individuals exhibiting high needs for social approval, and those who tend to drink heavily in social contexts, may benefit from (1) befriending lower risk models and (2) prevention and/or intervention efforts to reduce risk for substance use by reducing excessive needs for social approval and/or reducing exposure to social contexts where heavy drinking and related risk behavior is normative.