Drinking not thinking: A prospective study of personality traits and drinking motives on alcohol consumption across the first year of university Natalie J. Loxton a,b,c,⇑ , Richard J. Bunker c , Genevieve A. Dingle b,c , Valerie Wong c a School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Brisbane, Qld 4122, Australia b Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia c School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia article info Article history: Received 20 October 2014 Received in revised form 3 February 2015 Accepted 4 February 2015 Keywords: Alcohol Motives Gender Impulsivity Personality Longitudinal abstract The aim of this 3-wave prospective study was to test impulsivity-related and anxiety-related traits and drinking motives as predictors of alcohol consumption during Orientation Week (O-Week), and the first six months of university life in on-campus college residents. Students from two residential colleges (N = 255, 34.5% female) completed surveys of drinking frequency and quantity for the week prior to uni- versity entry, during O-Week, 3 and 6 months later. A brief personality screen for impulsivity, sensation- seeking, anxiety sensitivity and hopelessness was administered along with measures of drinking motives and alcohol consumption. Using moderated mediation analyses and multilevel modeling, impulsivity was found to be the best predictor of drinking variability at O-Week with enhancement motives mediating the effect. This mediated effect was moderated by gender with the indirect effect only occurring for wom- en. Impulsivity was also predictive of drinking change over 6 months, with high impulsive students main- taining heavier levels of drinking (even when controlling for gender). The findings of this study further supports impulsivity as a consistent predictor of student alcohol misuse, even in environments with strong pro-drinking cultures. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Heavy drinking in university and college students is a well- documented concern with alcohol found to be the largest single contributor to death and illness in this demographic (e.g., Hingson, Heeren, Zakocs, Kopstein, & Wechsler, 2002). New residential college students are at a particular risk of drinking at high levels. Away from their families for the first time and sur- rounded by like-minded peers, drinking as a way of fitting in at a residential college is a highly influential factor in the amount and frequency of their future drinking behavior (Hughes, 2012). The first university social experience these students encounter is Orien- tation Week (‘‘O-Week’’) – a period that typically involves alcohol- fueled social events most nights of the week on most University campuses. Although college administrators have acknowledged the issue and some have moved towards alcohol-free O-Week activities, these are in a minority. For most residential colleges, O-Week can set up a culture of drinking to excess that continues into the students’ university years and beyond. Although heavy drinking in university is common (Hughes, 2012), there are considerable individual differences in alcohol con- sumption across individuals. Personality traits play a particularly important role. Early-onset experimentation with alcohol is pre- dicted in individuals who have impulsive or sensation-seeking temperaments (Tarter, Kirisci, Habeych, Reynolds, & Vanyukov, 2004). Impulsivity has been proposed as consisting of multiple facets, with differing facets associated with alcohol experimenta- tion and progression (e.g., Dawe & Loxton, 2004). One facet, termed more generally as ‘‘impulsivity’’ (sometimes viewed as ‘‘rash impulsivity’’, Dawe & Loxton) is defined as the tendency to act without forethought and an inability to inhibit behavior. A related facet, sensation seeking, is defined as the tendency to seek out exciting and novel experiences (Woicik, Stewart, Pihl, & Conrod, 2009). Two internalizing personality traits are also proposed as increasing alcohol consumption: anxiety sensitivity (the tendency to notice and be distressed by anxiety symptoms) and hopeless- ness (to expect negative events, and inability to control future negative events and pervasive feelings of despondency, Woicik et al.). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.02.010 0191-8869/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author at: School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Brisbane, Qld 4122, Australia. Tel.: +61 3735 3446. E-mail address: n.loxton@griffith.edu.au (N.J. Loxton). Personality and Individual Differences 79 (2015) 134–139 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid