Abstract

To investigate the tension reduction hypothesis of alcohol use in the natural environment and with several forms of tension, 36 heavy social drinking young men kept daily records of their drinking, anxiety, unhappiness, and anger for 3 months and for 1 month from 6 to 7 months from the start of the study. No significant correlations were found between the frequency and intensity of any of the daily moods and drinking rates or intoxication frequency, either concurrently or within a few days or weeks. Drinking was also unrelated to general trait anxiety, depression, stressful life experiences, and locus of control. However, trait social anxiety had a consistent but unexpected relationship to drinking--the less socially anxious the men were, the more they drank over time. Drinking and/or intoxication rates were also related to having more social supports and to traditionally masculine interests. The results cast doubt on the tension reduction hypothesis and suggest that having a strong social group and indifference to the social consequences of intoxication are more important predictors of heavy drinking rates in young social drinking men.