Social Anxiety and College Drinking Risk: Exploring the Moderating Effect of Experiential Avoidance
| dc.contributor.advisor | Cronce, Jessica | |
| dc.contributor.author | Marchetti, Mary | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-12-19T20:14:37Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-12-19T20:14:37Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-12-19 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Higher levels of social anxiety predict greater incidence of alcohol-related consequences among college students, yet little is known about for whom social anxiety may pose the greatest risk of experiencing alcohol-related consequences and the significance and direction of association between social anxiety and alcohol use remain unclear. This investigation aims to help elucidate the relationships between social anxiety and both alcohol consequences and use by examining experiential avoidance, or a tendency to suppress unwanted internal experiences, as a potential moderator of different aspects of the social anxiety–alcohol link. The current study utilizes data from the Healthy Minds Study, a national survey of college student mental health, which was collected across 79 U.S. colleges during the 2018-2019 academic year. Respondents who were (a) aged 18–30 years old and (b) given the opportunity to complete all key measures included for present analysis comprised the final sample (N = 1,584). A series of regression models using Hayes conditional process analysis were conducted to test experiential avoidance as a moderator of the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol-related consequences and a moderator of the relationship between social anxiety and heavy episodic drinking. Findings revealed a significant, positive association between social anxiety and alcohol-related consequences, while social anxiety was not significantly related to alcohol use. Experiential avoidance was positively linked to both alcohol-related consequences and alcohol use but did not moderate the associations between social anxiety and either outcome. Overall, findings suggest that higher levels of social anxiety may potentially increase risk for alcohol-related consequences but not for alcohol use among a sample of young adult college students, and that experiential avoidance may not modify the strength of either prospective relationship. This investigation paves the way for future explorations into the role of experiential avoidance in the social anxiety–alcohol link and offers insight relevant to the enhancement of preventive intervention efforts to reduce the burden of alcohol-related risk among socially anxious college students. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1794/30311 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | University of Oregon | |
| dc.rights | All Rights Reserved. | |
| dc.subject | alcohol | en_US |
| dc.subject | college drinking | en_US |
| dc.subject | college health | en_US |
| dc.subject | experiential avoidance | en_US |
| dc.subject | social anxiety | en_US |
| dc.title | Social Anxiety and College Drinking Risk: Exploring the Moderating Effect of Experiential Avoidance | |
| dc.type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Oregon | |
| thesis.degree.level | doctoral | |
| thesis.degree.name | Ph.D. |
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