Readiness to Change Drinking and Psychosocial Functioning in Nonstudent Emerging Adult at-Risk Drinkers

Introduction: Readiness to change (RTC) alcohol use refers to one’s motivation to reduce or modify drinking behaviors and can be characterized along five stages: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. An individual’s stage of change is related to their alcohol use behavior. However, there has been a lack of research examining whether specific social and psychological factors contribute to an individual’s RTC drinking. Specifically, little is known regarding whether psychological functioning, such as symptoms, stressors, or affect, relates to an individual’s RTC. Similarly, there is a lack of research comparing RTC to social factors, such as injunctive drinking norms and alcohol offers from peers. Furthermore, there has been a paucity of research addressing drinking by noncollege emerging adults, a subpopulation at heightened risk for alcohol-related harms. Consequently, the present study aimed to determine differences in key psychosocial factors between individuals in different stages of change in a sample of nonstudent emerging adults. It was hypothesized that psychosocial factors would differ based on an individual’s stage of change designation, with individuals in the contemplation stage experiencing the greatest negative emotional functioning, social stressors, and peer influence. Knowledge of the factors differentiating individuals’ RTC could aid in developing alcohol interventions appropriate to their stage in the change process. Methods: Participants (34.1% women) were emerging adult drinkers (n = 164; M = 21.98; SD = 2.02) and were mostly African-American (48.2%) and Caucasian (40.9%). Participants completed the Readiness to Change Questionnaire (RTCQ), Injunctive Norms Rating Form (INRF), Alcohol Offers (AO), Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18), Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), and Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). Results: Results of one-way analysis of variance revealed that participants in contemplation had the lowest injunctive norms, F(2, 160) = 7.01, p = .001, partial η² = .081, such that they believed their close friends would be most likely to approve of high-risk drinking behaviors. Those in contemplation were also offered the most drinks, F(2, 158) = 8.96, p < .001, partial η² = .102. Stages of change did not differ significantly on the BSI-18, PANAS, and SRRS following Bonferroni correction. Conclusions: Overall, these findings suggest that nonstudents contemplating drinking changes may face greater social barriers, which may contribute to difficulty in making changes. Findings highlight the importance of identifying RTC for any proposed intervention for nonstudents and that efforts to intervene should consider social factors that could impact behavior change.