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Athlete Alcohol Use And Alcohol-Related Consequences: The Role Of Drinking Motives, Michelle Pitts

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Intercollegiate athlete alcohol use, particularly in softball athletes, is higher compared to nonathletes and they experience greater alcohol-related consequences. Motivation to drink alcohol is a strong predictor of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in college students, including collegiate athletes. Drinking motives are reasons why people consume alcohol, including reasons that are specific to the context of athletics. Two dimensions underlie drinking motives: positively or negatively reinforcing motives and internal or external motives (Cox & Klinger, 1988). In this study the influence of sport-related and general drinking motives on alcohol use and negative alcohol-related consequences was examined in 721 collegiate softball …