Daily evaluation of anticipated outcomes from alcohol use among college students

We examined the within-person, daily associations between the desirability of anticipated outcomes from drinking and positive and negative social, academic, and health-related events, affective states and actual drinking. Each afternoon for 21 days, 124 undergraduates reported their alcohol use from the previous evening, their events and affect that day, and the desirability of anticipated outcomes from drinking for the upcoming evening. Results indicated greater variation in desirability ratings within-persons compared to between-persons, and that desirability was higher on days characterized by higher positive affect, negative affect, and negative social events and lower on days characterized by reports of negative health concerns. Nighttime alcohol use was greater on days when anticipated outcomes from drinking were rated as more desirable. Several within-person associations varied as a function of between-person factors such as sex and positive alcohol-outcome expectancies.