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Growth Mindsets of Alcoholism Buffer Against Deleterious Effects of Drinking Identity on Problem Drinking Over Time
Author(s) -
Lindgren Kristen P.,
Burnette Jeni L.,
Hoyt Crystal L.,
Peterson Kirsten P.,
Neighbors Clayton
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.14237
Subject(s) - psychology , moderation , mindset , psychological intervention , identity (music) , heavy drinking , mental health , clinical psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , poison control , injury prevention , environmental health , psychiatry , medicine , physics , acoustics , philosophy , epistemology
Background Explicit (self‐report) and implicit (indirect) measures of identification with drinking alcohol—drinking identity—are associated with drinking outcomes cross‐sectionally and longitudinally. A key next step is to identify moderators. The current study evaluated a promising moderator: mindsets of alcoholism. Believing people can change (growth mindset) is associated with adaptive outcomes in domains such as mental health, but research is scant regarding mindsets related to problematic drinking. We evaluated whether individuals’ alcoholism mindsets moderated the drinking identity to drinking relation as part of a larger, longitudinal web‐based study of heavy drinkers. Methods A total of 422 US college graduates (59% women) who were heavy drinkers completed measures assessing drinking identity, mindsets, and drinking outcomes (consumption, problems, and risk of alcohol use disorder). Drinking outcomes were assessed at 2 subsequent assessments occurring 4 and 8 months after the initial assessment. Results Drinking identity was positively associated with drinking outcomes, and drinking outcomes reduced following college graduation. Alcoholism mindsets were significantly and negatively correlated with all drinking outcomes. Mindsets were only conditionally associated with drinking behaviors over time in models that evaluated mindsets, drinking identity measures, and their interaction. Mindsets moderated the relationship between drinking identity and changes in drinking behaviors, but the relation was specific to explicit drinking identity and consumption. Among participants with stronger drinking identity, those who had stronger (vs. weaker) growth mindsets reported reduction in consumption over time. Conclusions Growth mindsets of alcoholism appear adaptive for college graduate heavy drinkers with a stronger drinking identity. Mindsets are amenable to interventions; targeting them may be useful in heavy‐drinking college graduates.