%0 Journal Article
%T Drinking motives, alcohol misuse, and internalizing and externalizing psychopathology across college: a cross-lagged panel study
%J Substance use and misuse
%D 2023
%A Savage, Jeanne E.
%A Dick, Danielle M.
%V ePub
%N ePub
%P ePub-ePub
%X BACKGROUND: Drinking motives are strong proximal predictors of alcohol use behaviors and may represent a mediational mechanism by which different individual predispositions toward internalizing or externalizing psychopathology lead to the development of alcohol misuse. However, whether the association is due to a causal relationship or a shared etiology (i.e., confounding) is difficult to determine and may change across developmental periods. <br><br>METHODS: This study leveraged a cross-lagged panel design to disentangle the nature of the relationships between self-report measures of drinking motives, alcohol misuse, and internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in a 4-year longitudinal sample of college students (N = 9,889). <br><br>RESULTS: Results pointed to a putative causal effect of drinking motives on early binge drinking frequency, but the direction of effect later reversed, reflecting a possible developmental shift during college. On the other hand, the relationships between drinking motives and internalizing/externalizing psychopathology appeared to be driven by shared etiology rather than direct causal mechanisms. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the distinct and important role of drinking motives in the etiology of alcohol misuse and have implications for the application of tailored prevention and treatment strategies.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Informa - Taylor and Francis Group
%@ 1082-6084
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2023.2223269