Internalizing Risk Factors for College Students' Alcohol use: A Combined Person- and Variable-Centered Approach

Background: Most studies that investigate internalizing problems (i.e., depression and anxiety symptoms) and alcohol use disorders use variable-centered approaches, losing important information about differences among individuals. Objectives: To group college students by different profiles of alcohol-use risk factors using a person-centered cluster analysis in two separate samples. Methods: Questionnaires were used in both studies to assess positive expectancies regarding alcohol use, coping motives for alcohol use, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. In the first study (2012), we collected information about past month alcohol use, including frequency and binge drinking episode (n = 171). In the second study (2013), we also included measures of externalizing behaviors and negative alcohol-related consequences (n = 526). Results: In Study 1, the cluster analysis identified four groups of students who displayed different patterns of risk: a low-risk group, moderate cognitions/low internalizing cluster, a high internalizing/low coping motives group of drinkers, and a high internalizing/high coping motives cluster of drinkers. This fourth group showed high levels of depression, moderate anxiety, high positive expectancies and coping motives for alcohol use, and reported the highest frequency of alcohol use. Study 2 replicated the findings from the previous study. Three groups of individuals were identified, replicating the low-risk cluster, the moderate cognitions/low internalizing cluster, and the internalizing cluster of drinkers from Study 1. Participants in the latter cluster endorsed the highest number of negative consequences of alcohol use. Conclusions: Results from both studies highlight the importance of tailoring alcohol abuse prevention efforts to a subgroup young adult who endorse internalizing symptoms.