The relationship between drinking motives and alcohol-related
interpretation biases
article info
abstract
Introduction
Research into the contribution of (cognitive) factors related to
alcohol misuse and abuse has been characterized by work from
various theoretical perspectives. In the area of drinking motives
Cooper and colleagues provided a number of significant contributions,
among them the development of the motivational model of
alcohol use (Cooper, 1994; Cooper, Frone, Russell, & Mudar, 1995).
According to this model, drinking is conceptualized as behavior
which is motivated by the need for affect regulation. That is, people
drink to reduce negative affective states or enhance positive affective
states. As such, drinking motives reflect underlying motivational
reasons for alcohol use. Cooper characterizes drinking
motives in terms of their reinforcing nature (positive or negative
reinforcement) and their source (internal or external), resulting in
four drinking motives. The two internal affective motives for
alcohol use are coping motives (i.e., drinking to decrease negative
affect) and enhancement motives (i.e., drinking to increase positive