Journalof Abnormal Psychology Copyright1988 bythe American Psychological Association, Inc. 1988,Vol. 97, No. 2,218-230 0021-843X/88/$00.75 Coping, Expectancies, and Alcohol Abuse: A Test of Social Learning Formulations M. Lynne Cooper and Marcia Russell Research Institute on Alcoholism, Buffalo, New York William H. George State University of New York at Buffalo The social learning perspective on alcohol abuse has spawned theoretical analyses to explain etiology as well as intervention methods to guide treatment. Despite scattered empirical support for constitu- ent components of this approach, tests of a comprehensive social learning model of abuse have been lacking. The model proposed here postulates that alcohol abuse can be predicted from a causal chain that includes alcohol consumption and "drinking to cope" as proximal determinants and general coping skills and positive alcohol expectancies as more distal determinants. To evaluate this model in a way that permits simultaneous consideration of its multiple determinants and control for demo- graphic influences, path analytic techniques were applied to data from problem and nonproblem drinkers drawn from a general population sample. The hypothesized model accounted for significant variance in abuse status. Drinking to cope emerged as the most powerful predictor, exerting influence via direct and indirect pathways. Coping styles indicative of avoidance of emotion emerged as more important predictors of abuse than problem-focused coping. The predictive value of coping was moderated by alcohol expectancies such that avoidant styles of coping with emotion were predictive of abuse status only among drinkers expressing greater beliefin alcohol's positive reinforcing proper- ties. These findings both support and refine the social learning perspective on alcohol abuse. Theoret- ical and treatment implications are considered. Social learning theory posits that people who exhibit abusive patterns of drinking differ from "healthy" drinkers in their abil- ity to cope with the demands of everyday life and in their beliefs about alcohol (Abrams & Niaura, 1987).~ According to this per- spective, deficiencies in more adaptive coping skills and positive expectancies about alcohol's effects operate independently and jointly to promote the use of drinking as a coping mechanism. Reliance on alcohol to cope should lead to heavier drinking and, over time, increase the risk of alcohol abuse. This perspective on the development and maintenance of alcohol abuse has heavily influenced the content, techniques, and goals of a range of alco- hol treatment programs. In particular, the teaching of general and alcohol-specific coping skills, and to a lesser extent the mod- ification of beliefs about the effects of alcohol, are integral com- ponents of various treatment approaches (e.g., social skills training). Despite its widespread influence in the treatment field, no comprehensive test of the social learning perspective has been conducted. The present study tests a causal model de- This research was supported by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grant AA05702 to Marcia Russell. The authors wish to thank Jeremy Skinner, Brenda Major, Michael Frone, and John Welte for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. We also gratefully acknowledge data analytic guidance provided by David Harrington, Michael Frone, and Michael Windle and analytic support provided by Donna Coviello. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to M. Lynne Cooper, Research Institute on Alcoholism, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14203. rived from social learning theory that relates general coping skills, alcohol expectancies, and drinking to cope to alcohol use and abuse in a general population sample. Though not a com- prehensive test of social learning formulations, confirmation of the proposed model would constitute strong support for several basic tenets of this perspective. Background Drinking to Cope Fundamental to the social learning perspective are the dual premises that alcohol may be used as a generalized coping mechanism and that the use of alcohol to cope will promote heavier drinking and alcohol abuse. Considerable empirical evi- dence exists to support both notions. Drinking to cope is defined as the tendency to use alcohol to escape, avoid, or otherwise regulate unpleasant emotions. Cor- relational research examining motives for drinking consistently reveals that a substantial percentage of drinkers, typically rang- ing from 10% to 25%, report drinking to regulate negative emo- t Although no cohesive, clearly defined, consensually validated body of theoretical premises comprising the social learning perspective on alcohol abuse exists, we use the terms social learning perspective/ap- proach interchangably to refer to a set of loosely related theories and theoretical perspectives first articulated by Bandura ( ! 969) and subse- quently elaborated by Marlatt (1979) and Abrams and Niaura (1987). We use this terminology for economy of expression; we do not intend to imply that a cohesive theoretical framework exists. 218