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Background: Alcohol expectancies, or the perceived likelihood of experiencing certain effects after consuming alcohol, are associated with college student drinking such that heavier drinkers expect a greater likelihood of positive effects. However, less is known as to whether day-to-day within-person deviations in expectancies are associated with drinking that same day and for whom and when these associations may be strongest. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine daily-level associations of positive and negative alcohol expectancies with alcohol use, and whether associations differed according to demographic characteristics and additional alcohol-related constructs. Methods: College student drinkers (N = 327, 53.8% female) participated in an intensive longitudinal study that captured daily-level data. Alcohol use and expectancy measures were utilized from a baseline session and at the daily-level using Interactive Voice Response (IVR). Results: Results found that on days when participants reported stronger positive and negative expectancies than their average, they were more likely to drink as well as consume more alcohol when drinking. Moderation analyses revealed that positive expectancies were more positively associated with the likelihood of any drinking for women relative to men, and more positively associated with the quantity of alcohol consumption for younger students, students with lower baseline rates of drinking, and students with greater overall positive alcohol expectancies. Conclusions/Importance: The findings demonstrate that alcohol expectancies fluctuate within-person across days and these fluctuations are meaningful in predicting same-day drinking. Interventions that seek to modify expectancies proximal to drinking events may be considered to reduce college student drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prior research on romantic relationships and alcohol use among young adults has not distinguished between differences in patterns of relationship status over extended periods of time and within-person changes in status that only occur for some individuals. Objectives: This study captured between-person differences in relationship patterns, assessed associations between relationship patterns and alcohol use, and examined within-person associations between alcohol use and relationship status changes. In addition, age and sex differences in between- and within-person associations were tested. Methods: We used multilevel modeling of monthly data collected over one year on alcohol use and romantic relationship status from a Seattle area community sample of 620 young adults (ages 18-24). Results: Participants were coded into six relationship pattern groups: (1) single-not-dating (16%), (2) stable-in-a-relationship (30%), (3) single-dating (10%), (4) ended-a-relationship (14%), (5) started-a-relationship (13%), and (6) ended-and-started-a-relationship (18%). Single-not-dating and stable-in-a-relationship groups reported the least drinking across the entire year; the single-dating, ended-a-relationship, and ended-and-started-a-relationship groups reported higher levels of drinking. Examining within-person changes in groups 3-6 revealed increases in drinking associated with months of dating among the single-dating group, months postbreakup among the ended-a-relationship group, and months of breaking up and starting a new relationship among the ended-and-started-a-relationship group. Few differences by age or sex were found for between- or within-person associations. Conclusions: The findings point to heterogeneity in patterns of relationship status over time, differences in relationship patterns associated with variations in drinking, and particular time points of elevated risk for young adults who experience changes in status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]