Lay theories of the causes of alcoholism

This paper investigates the range, structure and determinants of lay people's implicit theories of alcoholism. The different explicit medical and psychological theories are reviewed as are studies on lay beliefs about alcoholism and heavy drinking. After a number of interviews in which people were asked to list what they believed to be the major causes of alcoholism, 265 people completed a questionnaire in which they rated 30 explanations for their importance in explaining the causes of alcoholism. Females more than males believed alcoholics to be socially inadequate and anxious and that there was too much social pressure and not enough prohibitions against drinking. Middle‐aged rather than younger or older people tended to explain alcoholism in terms of poor education, social and cultural pressures and biological or genetic mechanisms. However, there were few differences in the ratings of heavy, moderate, light and non‐drinkers. Factor analysis revealed six factors labelled psychological stress, personal and social problems, psychoanalytic theories, sociocultural explanations, biological or genetic explanations and social desirability or pressure. The results are discussed in terms of the research on lay understandings of psychological and medical phenomena, and the relationship between explicit and implicit theories.