Attitudes towards Drinking Alcohol and Attribution Style: Do Alcoholics and Non-alcoholics Differ?

Pages: 182-187
Shephali Sharma1, Uma Mittal2, and Tarika Sharma3 (Department of Psychology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, Rajasthan1,2 and Department of Psychology, St. Wilfred’s College for Girls, Jaipur, Rajasthan3)

Alcohol consumption is a phenomenon that is not new to many societies, drinking alcohol is as old as human history itself and its socio-cultural impact on many societies did not begin recently. For some people drinking alcohol is part of fun, curiosity or culture but for some drinking alcohol stems from their belief, failure and their way of explaining events in life. The present study aims to analyze the difference between alcoholics and non-alcoholic adults on attribution style and attitude towards drinking-alcohol. The sample of the study consists of 180 adults (60 alcoholics & 120 non-alcoholics) from Jaipur city selected through purposive sampling method. Out of 60 alcoholics 20 frequent alcoholics and 40 infrequent alcoholics were selected from addiction centre. Participants completed the Attribution Style Questionnaire (Peterson & Seligman, 1982) and Attitude towards Drinking and Alcoholism (Basu, 1998). Data was subjected to F test and t test to study the significant differences in three groups (frequent alcoholics, infrequent alcoholics, & non-alcoholics) on dimensions of attribution style and attitude towards drinking alcohol. Findings revealed that significant difference exists between frequent alcoholics, infrequent alcoholics and non-alcoholics on the dimensions internality and globality of attributional style. Frequent alcoholics tend to attribute their negative life events to internal factors and believe that their problems will persist other spheres of life as well. No significant difference was observed between them on dimension of stability. Frequent alcoholics, infrequent alcoholics and non-alcoholics show significant difference on attitude towards drinking alcohol on acceptance, avoidance and social dimension. No significant difference was obtained on the dimension of rejection towards alcohol. The results of this research will have the potential to yield psychologists and counselors important insights into how cognitive factors contribute to the alcohol consumption in adults.