alcohol-aggression expectancies and dispositional rumination moderate the effect of alcohol...

AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR

Volume 33, pages 327–338 (2007)

Alcohol-Aggression Expectancies and DispositionalRumination Moderate the Effect of Alcohol Consumptionon Alcohol-Related Aggression and HostilityAshley Borders1�, Sara Smucker Barnwell1, and Mitch Earleywine2

1Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California2Department of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York

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Alcohol consumption increases aggression, but only in some drinkers. This study extends previous work to show how expectanciesfor alcohol-induced aggression and dispositional rumination moderate the link between alcohol consumption and alcohol-relatedaggression and hostility in a sample of 285 men and women. Alcohol-aggression expectancies and quantity of alcohol interacted topredict alcohol-related hostility and aggression. Trait rumination moderated the effect of alcohol consumption on aggressiveacts. Finally, women who ruminated were more likely to report alcohol-related aggression than were men who ruminated.These results suggest that alcohol expectancies for aggression and rumination constitute two important cognitive facilitatorsof alcohol-related aggression and hostility, and that gender plays an important role in these relations. Aggr. Behav. 33:327–338,2007. r 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Keywords: alcohol; expectancies; aggression; rumination; hostility; violence

INTRODUCTION

The link between alcohol consumption andaggressive behavior is well established. Alcoholconsumption precedes an array of verbal andphysical violence, including threats of violence,partner and child abuse, and even homicide [Leo-nard and Quigley, 1999; Miller et al., 2000; Parker,1995; Testa and Livingston, 2000; Wells et al., 2000].Laboratory studies of aggression also find thatindividuals who consume alcohol respond to pro-vocation with more aggression than do individualswho have not consumed alcohol [Aviles et al., 2005;Bushman and Cooper, 1990; Chermack andGiancola, 1997].However, these effects are inconsistent. Although

people who consume alcohol may respond moreaggressively than those who do not [e.g. Chermackand Giancola, 1997], the majority of drinkers do notaggress. Researchers have examined several indivi-dual differences that may facilitate the link betweenalcohol consumption and aggressive behaviors[Chermack and Taylor, 1995; Giancola, 2002a,b,2003; Giancola et al., 2003; Leonard et al., 2003b;Moeller et al., 1998]. In this study, we explore two

cognitive factors that may facilitate alcohol-relatedaggression: alcohol expectancies for aggression andrumination.Alcohol expectancies represent a drinker’s learned

beliefs regarding the effects of alcohol. Bolles [1972]identified expectancies as environmental stimulus-outcome contingencies that directly affect behavior.For instance, heavy drinkers often expect positiveand arousing effects of alcohol, whereas lightdrinkers expect sedative effects [Earleywine andMartin, 1993; Goldman et al., 1999]. These beliefsare learned through either social interaction ordirect experience [Chermack and Giancola, 1997;MacAndrew and Edgerton, 1969]. Acting as cogni-tive templates for drinking behaviors, alcoholexpectancies predict increased alcohol consumption[Critchlow, 1986; Jones et al., 2001].

Published online 3 April 2007 in Wiley InterScience (www.inter

science.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/ab.20187

Received 16 September 2005; Accepted 10 April 2006

�Correspondence to: A. Borders, USC Department of Psychology,

SGM 501, Los Angeles, CA 90098-1061. E-mail: [email protected]

r 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Aggression researchers often study the specificbelief that alcohol consumption will lead toincreased aggression [Abbey et al., 1999; Reiss andRoth, 1994; Testa, 2002]. The role of these specificalcohol expectancies in facilitating alcohol-relatedaggression is equivocal. Some researchers havefound that alcohol expectancies for aggressioninteract with alcohol consumption to predict alco-hol-related aggression [Dermen and George, 1989;Leonard and Senchak, 1993; Smucker Barnwellet al., 2006]. These self-report studies all showedthat heavy drinking predicted alcohol-relatedaggression for individuals with strong alcoholexpectancies for aggression, but not for individualswho did not believe that alcohol causes aggression.In a laboratory study, Chermack and Taylor [1995]also found that intoxicated males with high alcohol-aggression expectancies responded to increasingprovocation with more extreme aggression thandid individuals with low expectancies. However,they failed to find main effects or interactions withexpectancies across all of their dependent variables.Moreover, other laboratory and longitudinal studieshave failed to find interactions between alcoholconsumption and alcohol expectancies for aggres-sion [Giancola et al., 2005; Quigley and Leonard,1999; Rohsenow and Bachorowski, 1984].One possible confounding variable in the study of

alcohol-aggression expectancies is dispositional ag-gression. Even after controlling for gender differ-ences in aggression, individuals who expect thatalcohol will enhance aggression are more aggressivethan people without such expectancies [Tremblayand Ewart, 2005; see also Smucker Barnwell et al.,2006]. Moreover, we found that alcohol expectanciesfor aggression and trait aggression demonstratedsimilar predictive effects for alcohol-related aggres-sion, suggesting strong overlap between these con-structs [Smucker Barnwell et al., 2006]. We suggestthat individuals with strong alcohol-aggressionexpectancies may link alcohol and aggression intheir minds simply because they are often aggressive.Thus, it is difficult to know whether individuals’aggressive behavior after drinking reflects theiralcohol expectancies or their aggressive tendencies.Therefore, previous interactions between alcohol-aggression expectancies and alcohol consumptionmay illustrate instead the effect of dispositionalaggression in facilitating alcohol-related aggression.To our knowledge, only two previous studies have

examined the effects of alcohol-aggression expec-tancies after controlling for trait aggression. Ina longitudinal study of husbands’ extreme maritalviolence, Quigley and Leonard [1999] found a

significant main effect of expectancies and asignificant interaction of expectancies and maritalconflict even after controlling for reported premar-ital aggression. By contrast, Giancola et al. [2005]found that dispositional aggression accounted forthe effects of alcohol-aggression expectancies onaggressive responding in the laboratory. Interest-ingly, expectancies showed few effects at all in theirdata, and it is unclear whether the sample as a wholebelieved that alcohol caused aggression. Suchfindings suggest that more research could advanceresearchers’ understanding of expectancies’ role inthe link between alcohol and aggression. If alcoholexpectancies for aggression show no unique effectsafter controlling for dispositional aggression, theimportance of this cognitive variable will be ques-tionable. On the other hand, if alcohol-aggressionexpectancies still interact with alcohol consumptionto predict alcohol-related aggression, it will providestronger evidence for the moderating effect ofalcohol expectancies.Rumination may be another cognitive activity that

facilitates alcohol-related aggression. In lay terms,rumination involves harping on something negative,seemingly without end or control. Ruminativethoughts typically arise in response to blocked goals[Martin and Tesser, 1996], negative emotions[Lyubomirsky and Nolen-Hoeksema, 1995], orperceived threats [Borders and Earleywine, unpub-lished data]. For instance, individuals might becomefixated on thoughts about why they cannot copewith frustrations, why someone treated thembadly, or how they will perform in an upcomingspeech.Recent research suggests that rumination exacer-

bates angry mood, increases the accessibility ofhostile thoughts, and increases physiological arousal[Ayduk et al., 2002; Pedersen et al., unpublisheddata; Rusting and Nolen-Hoeksema, 1998]. More-over, angered participants made to ruminate exhibitmore aggression than those who distract themselves[Aviles et al., 2005; Bushman, 2002; Bushman et al.,2005; Pedersen et al., unpublished data]. Thus,rumination interacts with provocation to elicitaggressive behavior. Miller et al. [2003] suggest thatrepetitive cognitive elaboration about a provocationmay maintain the activation of angry and hostilethoughts over time, making subsequent aggressivebehavior more likely.We propose that rumination may also facilitate

aggression and hostility following drinking. Specifi-cally, heavy drinkers who have a tendency toruminate may become more angered than non-ruminators over perceived provocations. The

328 Borders et al.

Aggr. Behav. DOI 10.1002/ab

presence of alcohol may further decrease anyinhibitions against violence [e.g. Giancola, 2000].Thus, rumination and alcohol consumption mayinteract to facilitate both aggressive actions andhostile thoughts after drinking. We know of nostudy that has examined whether rumination mod-erates the link between alcohol consumption andalcohol-related aggression. Given the growing litera-ture linking rumination, hostility, and aggression, it isan important new cognitive factor that may accountfor individual differences in alcohol-related aggression.Unfortunately, previous research has focused

exclusively on aggressive actions [Leonard et al.,2003; Quigley et al., 2002, 2003; Smucker Barnwellet al., in press]. Hostile thoughts and feelings areimportant precursors of more overt forms ofaggression [Anderson and Bushman, 2002; Norlanderand Eckhardt, 2005]. In fact, anger and hostilitymay be particularly good predictors of later physicalaggression among women [Leschied et al., 2001].Moreover, increased hostility predicts poorer men-tal, physical, and social functioning [O’Neil andEmery, 2002; Shapiro et al., 1996]. Thus, hostilityconstitutes an important outcome variable that isrelated to aggression. Previous studies have includedtrait anger and hostility as predictors of alcohol-related aggression [Giancola, 2002b,c]. This studyinstead includes items assessing alcohol-relatedhostility as dependent variables.In summary, the current research seeks to examine

the role of alcohol expectancies for aggression andrumination in facilitating both alcohol-relatedaggressive acts and alcohol-related hostility. Highlevels of alcohol consumption should interact withalcohol-aggression expectancies and rumination topredict higher reported alcohol-related aggressionand hostility. In addition, we expand on previousresearch by controlling for dispositional rumination.If alcohol expectancies for aggression and rumina-tion predict alcohol-related aggression and hostilityeven after controlling for aggressive tendencies, itwill provide stronger evidence for the importance ofthese cognitive constructs.

METHOD

Participants

The sample consisted of 285 college undergradu-ates who reporting drinking alcohol at least once amonth. All participants were enrolled in introduc-tory-level psychology courses at a private southernCalifornia university. Approximately one-quarter ofparticipants were male (28%) and three-quarters

were female (72%). Respondents ranged in age from17 to 50 years. The mean age was 19.81 years old(SD5 2.69). More than half of respondents wereCaucasian (55%), one-quarter were Asian (25%),12% were Latino; 3% were African-American, and5% were other ethnicities.

Procedure

Participants completed measures of rumination,alcohol use, alcohol expectancies, dispositional ag-gression, and alcohol-related aggression, as part of alarger questionnaire packet for students in the under-graduate subject pool. Participation in the study wasvoluntary. Measures of the most socially undesirablebehaviors (e.g. aggressive behaviors) followed allother measures. All responses were anonymous.

Measures

Alcohol consumption. Participants reportedthe number of days per week and month that theyconsumed alcohol in the past 6 months. Afterreading an operational definition of one standarddrink (12 oz beer, 5 oz wine, 1.5 oz of liquor),participants also recorded the number of standarddrinks they typically consumed per occasion, thelargest number of drinks ingested on a givenoccasion, and the number of times that they dranktheir maximum amount in the past 6 months.Alcohol consumption measures employ a varietyof time frames [e.g. Lovesday et al., 1997; Quigleyet al., 2002]. We employed a 6-month timeframe toensure a relatively large sample of behavior withouttaxing memory. We focused analyses on alcoholtypically consumed per occasion to capture usualdrinking behaviors. Although other measures ofdrinking (e.g. maximum drinks per occasion, totaldrinks per month) could provide insight intoextreme alcohol consumption behaviors or a largercross-section of drinking behaviors, the measure ofusual drinks per occasion captured both typicalconsumption patterns as well as a measure of bingedrinking behaviors often associated with aggression[e.g. Wechsler et al., 1994].

Alcohol-related aggression and hostility.Participants completed the Explicit AggressionScale, an 18-item measure that assesses experienceswith aggressive behavior after drinking alcohol[Smucker Barnwell et al., 2006]. Drawing onprevious research about barroom violence [Leonardet al, 2003a,b; Quigley et al., 2002], the questionnaireasks respondents to indicate the number of timesthey have been involved in a physical fight after

329Alcohol-Related Aggression and Hostility


drinking and the number of times they have been ina physical fight at a bar. The Explicit AggressionScale also references items from the Conflict TacticsScale [CTS; Strauss, 1979] to assess other specificphysical and verbal aggressive acts after drinkingalcohol (e.g. push another person; yell at someoneafter drinking; say mean things). For this study, weadded five additional items that assess anger andhostility (e.g. eaten up with jealousy; felt reallyangry) after drinking. The measure employs a6-month timeframe and provides a scale of increas-ing increments (e.g. 0, 1, 2, 3–5, 6–10, 11–19, 201)adapted from the CTS to gauge the incidence of thebehaviors. A complete list of the alcohol-relateditems appears in Table I. For the purpose ofanalyses, we employed the lowest number from eachinterval to indicate the participants’ actual numberof experiences with alcohol-related aggression. Thisapproach has proven useful in previous work [e.g.Quigley et al., 2002].

Alcohol expectancies. Respondents com-pleted the seven-item aggression subscale of theAlcohol Expectancies Regarding Sex, Aggressionand Sexual Vulnerability [AESASVQ; Abbey et al.,1999]. This index addresses alcohol expectanciesregarding specific cognitions and actions, including

alcohol-induced aggression. The aggression subscalegauges participants’ beliefs about a moderateamount of alcohol’s effect on their own levels ofaggression (e.g. ‘‘When drinking, I become hostile’’).Participants respond to the items on a Likert-typescale from 1 (very much unlike me) through 5 (verymuch like me). Higher summed scores indicatehigher alcohol expectancies for aggression. Internalconsistency with this sample was high (a5 .89). Themeasure demonstrates high discriminant and con-vergent validity [Abbey et al., 1999].

Rumination. Participants also completed the12-item rumination subscale of the Rumination andReflection Questionnaire [Trapnell and Campbell,1999]. This measure assesses both rumination (e.g.‘‘I always seem to be rehashing in my mind recentthings I’ve said or done’’) and reflection (e.g. ‘‘I loveexploring my ‘inner self’’’). Trapnell and Campbell[1999] found that the rumination subscale correlatedhighly with neuroticism, whereas the reflectionsubscale correlated with measures of openness toexperience and need for cognition. Moreover, ourresearch showed that only the rumination subscalepredicted aggression [Borders and Earleywine,2004]. Participants indicated their level of agreementwith each item on a 5-point Likert scale from

TABLE I. Prevalence of Alcohol-Related Aggressive Acts among Participants

Behavior (%)a Mean/SD

Men

mean

Men

SD

%

menaWomen

mean

Women

SD

%

womenat, Gender

differenced

Trouble controlling temperb (45) 1.29/2.37 1.91 2.98 62 1.05 2.05 39 3.44��

Eaten up with jealousyb (53) 1.75/2.94 2.15 3.19 63 1.60 2.82 50 1.82

Felt bitterb (53) 1.83/3.26 2.41 4.17 59 1.61 2.80 52 1.72

Upset by criticismb (55) 2.43/3.94 2.38 4.38 51 2.45 3.77 56 �.73

Felt angry at someoneb (58) 2.35/3.82 2.86 4.69 61 2.15 3.41 57 1.12

Said hurtful things to someonec (47) 1.61/2.87 1.96 3.69 50 1.47 2.47 46 .98

Said mean things about someonec (60) 2.46/3.75 2.73 4.28 63 2.35 3.53 59 .66

Had an argumentc (58) 2.00/3.08 2.46 3.13 73 1.81 3.05 52 2.66��

Yelled or cursed at someonec (49) 2.04/3.93 2.78 4.75 56 1.75 3.53 46 1.98�

Threaten to hurt someonec (15) .43/1.87 .89 2.57 28 .25 1.49 10 3.16��

Pushed or shoved someonec (24) .67/1.88 1.24 2.00 44 .45 1.79 16 4.27��

Broken things in angerc (12) .31/1.43 .69 2.45 22 .16 .65 8 2.61��

Slapped or hit someonec (17) .42/1.57 .70 1.69 27 .30 1.59 13 2.56�

Thrown things in angerc (13) .34/1.46 .71 2.41 25 .19 .79 8 2.87��

Pulled someone’s hair 3 .05/.30 .09 .43 5 .03 .23 3 1.03

Twisted someone’s arm (3) .17/1.42 .33 1.45 10 .10 1.40 1 2.09�

Physical fightc (8) .16/.72 .49 1.26 23 .03 .18 3 3.75��

Fight in a bar (3) .08/.57 .26 1.04 9 .01 .14 1 2.41�

Alcohol-related aggression index (73) 10.48/17.34 14.72 23.32 81 8.78 13.98 70 2.66��

Alcohol-related hostility index (75) 9.73/13.45 11.83 16.97 84 8.88 11.69 72 1.65

aThe percentage of total participants, men, and women, respectively, who engaged in the aggressive behavior following alcohol consumption atleast once in the past six months.bItems included in the alcohol-related hostility composite index.cItems included in the alcohol-related aggression composite index.dT-tests used log transformed variables, to correct for skewness.�Po.05; ��Po.01; ��Po.001.

330 Borders et al.


‘‘strongly disagree’’ to ‘‘strongly agree.’’ Higheraveraged subscale scores indicated more rumination.Internal consistency in this sample was 0.91.

Dispositional aggression. Finally, partici-pants completed the Buss–Perry AggressionQuestionnaire [Buss and Perry, 1992]. This 29-itemmeasure assesses physical aggression, verbal aggres-sion, hostility, and anger. This measure reliablydifferentiates between violent and non-violent parti-cipants and correlates with responses to provokingscenarios and peer reports of aggression [O’Connoret al., 2001; Morren and Meesters, 2002]. Themeasure employs a Likert-type scale from 1 (ex-tremely uncharacteristic of me) to 5 (extremelycharacteristic of me). Higher summed scores indicatemore dispositional aggression. Internal consistencywith this sample was good (a5 .90).

RESULTS

Because the measures of alcohol consumption andalcohol-related aggression were positively skewed,all reported statistical tests were performed on log-transformed variables. However, for ease of inter-pretation, all means and standard deviationsreported below and in Table I are fromnon-transformed variables.

Alcohol Consumption

Respondents consumed alcohol an average of 1.62days per week (SD5 1.21) with four standard drinksper occasion (SD5 2.40). On average, respondentsreported eight drinks (SD5 4.82) as the largestnumber of drinks that they had consumed on a givenoccasion. Participants reported drinking their max-imum number of drinks approximately once permonth (SD5 1.56).Men drank on significantly more days per week

(M5 1.91, SD5 1.35) than did women (M5 1.53,SD5 1.16), t(282)5 2.20, Po.05. Men also reporteda higher average number of drinks per occasionof drinking (M5 5.31, SD5 3.05) than women(M5 3.38, SD5 1.06), t(283)5 4.91, Po.001.Finally, men reported higher maximum numbersof drinks consumed on one occasion (M5 11.53,SD5 5.71) than did women (M5 6.85, SD5 3.70),t(282)5 6.90, Po.001. The sex differences in drink-ing habits are comparable with those found innational surveys [NIAAA, 2004] and in our previousresearch [Smucker Barnwell et al., 2006]. Both menand women reported consuming their maximumnumber of drinks approximately once in the lastmonth.

Alcohol-Related Aggression and Hostility

Respondents reported an average of 10.48(SD5 17.34) aggressive acts after drinking alcoholwithin the past six months. The prevalence of fightsin a bar (3% of the sample), pulled someone’s hair(3%), and twisted someone’s arm (3%) were verylow. Other types of aggression were more prevalentthroughout the sample (see Table I). Women reportedcomparable levels of saying something hurtful, sayingsomething mean, and pulling someone’s hair afterdrinking as did men. However, men reportedsignificantly more incidents of all other aggressiveact after drinking than women (see Table I).Participants reported an average of 9.74

(SD5 13.45) hostile thoughts or feelings afterdrinking in the past six months. The prevalence ofhostile items ranged from 45% to 58% in the entiresample. Men reported significantly more troublecontrolling their tempers after drinking than women(see Table I). However, women reported comparableamounts of being upset by criticism, feeling jealous,feeling bitter, and feeling angry with someone afterdrinking as did men.Because of the large number of dependent vari-

ables, we created composite indices of aggressionand hostility. The aggression index included tenitems assessing verbal and physical aggression afterdrinking, all of which were from the original ExplicitAggression Scale [Smucker Barnwell et al., 2006].We excluded the three items that occurred in lessthan 5% of the sample (see Table I). Internalconsistency of this index was high (a5 .93). Thehostility index included five items assessing alcohol-related hostility (a5 .93). The aggression andhostility indices were significantly correlated,r5 .64, Po.001. Overall, men reported morealcohol-related aggression but not more alcohol-related hostility than women (see Table I).

Dispositional Measures

On average, respondents endorsed only moderateexpectancies that alcohol caused aggressive beha-viors (M5 1.59 on a 5-point scale, SD5 0.70),suggesting that they did not believe alcohol to makethem particularly more aggressive. Approximately30% of participants reported absolutely no expec-tancies that alcohol causes aggression. Only 15% ofthe sample exhibited mean-item response scores of2.5 or higher on the 5-point scale. Finally, menendorsed significantly more expectancies (M5 1.79,SD5 .76) than women (M51.52, SD5 .66), t(280)5

2.82, Po.01. Respondents’ reports of alcohol-aggres-sion expectancies, typical alcohol consumption, and



alcohol-related aggression and hostility correlatedsignificantly (see Table II).Men and women did not differ in the amount

of rumination they reported (sample M5 3.15,SD5 0.86). Rumination correlated significantlywith alcohol-aggression expectancies and reportedalcohol-related aggression and hostility but not withtypical alcohol consumption (see Table II).Finally, men reported significantly higher disposi-

tional aggression (M5 73.89, SD5 17.87) thandid women (M5 64.01, SD5 17.05), t(269)5 4.23,Po.001. These aggression levels are slightly lowerthan reported norms for their gender (men,M5 77.8; women, M5 68.2; Buss and Perry[1992]). Reported trait aggression correlated signifi-cantly with alcohol-aggression expectancies, rumi-nation, typical alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related aggression and hostility (see Table II).

Regression Analyses

To investigate the extent that gender, typicalalcohol consumption, rumination, and alcohol-aggression expectancies contributed to alcohol-related aggressive behavior after controlling for traitaggression, we employed hierarchical multiple re-gression analyses with the aggression and hostilityindices as dependent variables. A plot of thesevariables revealed deviant distributions, correctedby lognormal transformations [Tabachnick andFidell, 2000].1

We conducted two hierarchical multiple regressionequations in which the composite index served as thedependent variable (see Table III). In each equation,we controlled for trait aggression by entering it inthe first step. The main effects for gender, typicalquantity of alcohol consumed on one occasion,alcohol expectancies for aggression, dispositionalrumination, and all two-way interactions wereentered in the second step. All predictor variableswere standardized before entry. To correct for non-essential multicollinearity, we computed two-way

TABLE II. Correlations Between Alcohol Consumption,

Alcohol-Aggression Expectancies, Rumination, and Alcohol-

Related Aggression and Hostility

Measure 1 2 3 4 5 6

Typical alcohol

consumption

—

Alcohol-aggression

expectancies

.28�� —

Dispositional

aggression

.19� .51�� —

Dispositional

rumination

.03 .25�� .48�� —

Alcohol-related

aggression index

.38�� .60�� .39�� .22� —

Alcohol-related

hostility index

.19� .46�� .36�� .37�� .64�� —

�Po.01; ��Po.001.

TABLE III. Predicting Alcohol-related Aggression and

Hostility from Gender, Alcohol Consumption, Alcohol-

Aggression Expectancies, and Rumination

DR2 t b SE b

Alcohol related aggression

Step 1

Trait aggression .14 6.34�� .20 .03

Step 2

Trait aggression .00 .72 .03 .03

Gender .01 �1.19 �.05 .04

Quantity of alcohol .13 6.17�� .24 .04

Alcohol expectancies .17 7.09�� .27 .04

Dispositional rumination .00 �.22 �.01 .04

Quantity� gender .00 1.13 .04 .04

Quantity� expectancies .02 �2.04� �.06 .03

Quantity� rumination .03 2.67�� .10 .04

Expectancies� gender .00 �.80 �.03 .03

Expectancies� rumination .01 �1.66 �.04 .03

Rumination� gender .02 �1.95� �.07 .03

Overall model: adjusted R2 5 .45, F(11, 246)5 19.80��

Alcohol-related hostility

Step 1

Trait aggression .14 6.51�� .19 .03

Step 2

Trait aggression .00 1.16 .04 .04

Gender .00 .14 .01 .04

Quantity of alcohol .04 3.02�� .12 .04

Alcohol expectancies .12 5.90�� .24 .04

Dispositional rumination .03 2.51� .10 .04

Quantity� gender .01 �1.62 �.06 .04

Quantity� expectancies .03 �2.68�� .08 .03

Quantity� rumination .00 .80 .03 .04

Expectancies� gender .00 .63 .02 .03

Expectancies � rumination .00 .68 .02 .03

Rumination� gender .00 .25 .01 .04

Overall model: adjusted R2 5 .32, F(11, 245)5 12.01��

Note: Composite aggression variable combined the following items:hit others, yell at others, threaten others, push others, breaksomething, get into argument, throw something, say somethinghurtful, say something mean, and get into fight (a5 .93). Compositehostility variable combined the following items: lose temper, feeljealous, feel bitter, upset by criticism, feel angry (a5 .93). Quantity=amount of alcohol typically consumed at one time; expectancies =alcohol-aggression expectancies; � , interaction of two predictors.�Po.05; ��Po.01; ��Po.001.

1The skewness and kurtosis statistics of the composite aggression

index were 4.13 and 26.04, respectively, before lognormal transfor-

mations and 0.17 and �1.01 after. For the composite hostility index,

the skewness and kurtosis were 2.74 and 9.72 before transformations

and �0.02 and �1.13 afterwards.

332 Borders et al.


interactions by multiplying the standardized vari-ables [Aiken and West, 1991].In the first step, trait aggression emerged

as a significant predictor of both alcohol-relatedaggression (t5 6.39, Po.001) and hostility (t5 6.51,Po.001). The next two sections present the maineffects and interactions that emerged from thesecond step in each equation.

Main Effects

The quantity of alcohol typically consumed onone occasion predicted both alcohol-related aggres-sion and hostility. Alcohol expectancies for aggres-sion also demonstrated main effects for bothdependent variables. Finally, dispositional rumina-tion did not predict alcohol-related aggression butdid significantly predict alcohol-related hostility. Insum, after controlling for trait aggression, higheralcohol consumption and higher alcohol-aggressionexpectancies predicted both aggressive acts andhostile feelings after drinking, whereas a tendencyfor rumination only predicted hostile feelingsfollowing alcohol consumption.

Interactions

Alcohol expectancies for aggression interacted withquantity of alcohol consumed to predict bothalcohol-related aggression and alcohol-related hosti-lity. Figure 1 shows the simple regression equationsof alcohol-related hostility on alcohol consumption athigh, average, and low values of alcohol-aggression

expectancies [Aiken andWest, 1991].2 Figure 2 showsa similar interaction plot for alcohol-related aggres-sion. Post-hoc tests of the simple slopes revealed thatalcohol consumption predicted alcohol-related ag-gression and hostility only for individuals withaverage and low alcohol-related expectancies (all P-valueso.01), but not for individuals with highalcohol-related expectancies. Thus, after controllingfor trait aggression, individuals with low-to-moderatealcohol expectancies for aggression who drankheavily were significantly more likely to reportaggressive acts and hostile feelings after drinking.By contrast, individuals with high alcohol-aggressionexpectancies did not show a significant relationshipbetween amount of alcohol consumption and aggres-sion or hostility after drinking.Dispositional rumination interacted with quantity

of alcohol consumed to predict alcohol-relatedaggression (see Fig. 3). All simple slopes differedsignificantly from zero (Po.01). However, thesimple slope values increased for higher levels ofrumination. Thus, after controlling for trait aggres-sion, individuals who frequently ruminated and whodrank heavily were significantly more likely toreport behaving aggressively after drinking.Finally, an interaction between gender and disposi-

tional rumination emerged for alcohol-related aggres-sion (see Fig. 4). Although neither simple slopediffered significantly from zero, the two simpleregression lines are significantly different from each

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

-1 0 1

Typical Alcohol Consumption(SD from Mean)

Alc

oh

ol-

rela

ted

Ho

stili

ty

High Exp (y=.04x+.96)

Mean Exp (y=.12x+.72)

Low Exp (y=.20x+.48)

Fig. 1. Alcohol-aggression expectancies moderated link between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related hostility.

2Following Cohen and Cohen [1983], the high, average, and low

values of alcohol-aggression expectancies corresponded to standard

scores of 1, 0, and �1, respectively.



other. Thus, as rumination increased, alcohol-relatedaggression increased for women but not for men.

DISCUSSION

This study explored the moderating effects ofalcohol expectancies for aggression and ruminationon alcohol-related aggression. All regression equa-tions first controlled for dispositional aggressivenessto examine the unique effects of expectancies andrumination. Moreover, in addition to measuringacts of physical (e.g. hitting, pushing, throwingsomething) and verbal (e.g. yelling, saying some-

thing mean) aggression following drinking, we alsoassessed alcohol-related hostility. This study there-fore yields important new information about cogni-tive factors that facilitate alcohol-related aggressionand hostility.First, alcohol-related hostility occurred more

frequently in the sample than did alcohol-relatedphysical acts of aggression. Other studies examiningthe role of expectancies and trait aggression inalcohol’s link to aggression have not examined theseforms of alcohol-related aggressive acts [e.g. Gian-cola et al., 2005; Quigley and Leonard, 1999]. Theseresults may reflect actual population differences, asanger and hostility can occur without accompanying

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

101-


Alc

oh

ol-

rela

ted

Ag

gre

ssio

n

High rum (y=.34x+.62)Mean rum (y=.24x+.63)Low rum (y=.14x+.64)

Fig. 3. Rumination moderated link between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related aggression.

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

101-


Alc

oh

ol-

rela

ted

Ag

gre

ssio

n

High Exp (y=.18x+.90)

Mean Exp (y=.24x+.63)

Low Exp (y=.30x+.36)

Fig. 2. Alcohol-aggression expectancies moderated link between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related aggression.

334 Borders et al.


aggression [Averill, 1983]. Alternatively, participantsmay simply feel more comfortable reporting moresocially accepted feelings and attitudes than physicalviolence. Because previous research suggests thatanger and hostility occur more often and likelyprecede severe aggressive acts [Norlander andEckhardt, 2005], understanding the predictors ofalcohol-related hostility may provide importantinsights into links between alcohol, interpersonalhostility, and violence.As in some previous studies [Chermack and

Taylor, 1995; Dermen and George, 1989; Leonardand Senchak, 1993; Smucker Barnwell et al., 2006],the interaction of alcohol consumption and alcoholexpectancies for aggression predicted both alcohol-related aggressive acts and hostility. More impor-tantly, these interactions emerged even after con-trolling for dispositional aggression. This suggeststhat alcohol expectancies for aggression may notmerely reflect tendencies for aggression or pastaggressive experiences.The nature of the interaction between alcohol

consumption and expectancies differed from manyprevious findings. When not controlling for disposi-tional aggression, other researchers found thatalcohol consumption predicts alcohol-relatedaggression for individuals with high alcohol expec-tancies for aggression [Dermen and George, 1989;Leonard and Senchak, 1993; Smucker Barnwellet al., 2006]. However, in the current analyses,individuals with strong alcohol-aggression expectan-cies reported high levels of alcohol-related aggres-sion and hostility irrespective of their typical alcohol

consumption levels. By contrast, for individuals withmoderate and low alcohol-aggression expectancies,heavier drinking related to more aggression andhostility following drinking. These results mighthighlight the unique effect of alcohol expectanciesfor aggression, without the confounding effect ofdispositional aggression. Specifically, a strong beliefthat alcohol leads to aggression may cause indivi-duals to behave aggressively even after smallamounts of alcohol. In other words, these indivi-duals will behave aggressively and experiencehostility after any amount of alcohol consumption.By contrast, the behavior of individuals with weakerexpectancies might depend more on the amount ofalcohol they consume. Clearly, future researchshould further test these conclusions, especiallybecause studies have found inconsistent effectsof alcohol expectancies for aggression after control-ling for aggression [Giancola et al., 2005; Quigleyand Leonard, 1999]. Moreover, longitudinalresearch would better establish the discriminantvalidity of alcohol-aggression expectancies and traitaggression.Rumination also emerged as an important new

predictor of alcohol-related aggression, even aftercontrolling for trait aggressiveness. Ruminationinteracted with alcohol consumption to predictovertly aggressive acts. Specifically, individualshigh in rumination were more likely to commitaggressive acts after heavy drinking than those lowin rumination. Given the known links betweendispositional rumination, hostility, and aggression[see Borders and Earleywine, 2006] and between

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

101-

Rumination(SD from Mean)

Alc

oh

ol-r

elat

ed A

gg

ress

ion

Male (y=-.08x+.58)

Female (y=.06x+.68)

Fig. 4. Gender moderated link between rumination and alcohol-related aggression.



alcohol and weakened inhibition toward aggression[e.g. Giancola, 2000], it is plausible that disposi-tional rumination interacts with heavy alcoholconsumption to create a state of disinhibitedaggression and hostility. Interestingly, Nolen-Hoek-sema and Harrell [2002] found that depressedindividuals high in rumination were more likely toturn to alcohol abuse as a coping mechanism.Therefore, ruminators may not only exhibit in-creased aggression but may also be heavy drinkers,resulting in a destructive cycle of rumination,alcohol abuse, and violence. Further research onthe role of rumination in the link between alcoholand aggression will provide greater insight intothis topic.These data also revealed important gender differ-

ences and similarities. Consistent with our firststudy, men reported more drinking and aggressiveacts overall than women [see also Giancola, 2002a,b,2003; Quigley et al., 2002]. These findings align withprevious research suggesting that men are morelikely to behave aggressively [Eagly and Steffen,1986] and aggress under the influence of alcohol[Quigley et al., 2002]. Interestingly, there were nogender differences in many of the individual hostilityitems (e.g., feeling angry, being upset by criticism,feeling jealous) or in the hostility index, suggestingthat women may be more likely to experience, orreport, hostile thoughts and feelings than actual actsof aggression.The significant interaction between gender and

rumination is difficult to interpret. Although thisinteraction predicted aggressive acts, the simpleregression slopes for men and women were notsignificant. Interestingly, men and women in oursample reported equivalent amounts of rumination,suggesting that the significant interaction was notdriven by gender differences in rumination. Theliterature is unclear about gender differences inrumination. Research with depressed participantshas found that women ruminate more than men[Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1994; Nolen-Hoeksemaand Harrell, 2002], but less is known aboutnormative populations. Moreover, the ruminationmeasure used in this study generally demonstratesno gender differences [Borders and Earleywine,2004; Trapnell and Campbell, 1999]. Therefore, therelationship between gender, rumination and ag-gressive responding remains unclear in this study.Further research on gender differences in rumina-tion and aggression could provide insight into thesedifferences. More research is needed to identify thedifferential predictors of men’s and women’s alco-hol-related aggression and hostility.

Limitations inherent to research of this naturemerit discussion. Moderator variables that have notbeen experimentally manipulated must be inter-preted with caution. It is possible that third partyvariables, such as depression, could underlie findingsrelated to both heavy alcohol consumption andrumination [e.g. Nolen-Hoeksema and Harrell,2002]. However, the established links betweenrumination and alcohol consumption and betweenrumination and aggression suggest that these find-ings may offer insight into the role of ruminationin alcohol-related aggression.Limitations related to data collection in a uni-

versity setting and potential self-report biases arealso notable. University students may be less likelyto endorse aggressive attitudes or behaviors due tosocial norms. Participants in this study tended to beyounger than those in similar examinations ofalcohol and violence [e.g. Giancola et al., 2005;Quigley and Leonard, 1999]. It is possible thatyounger respondents are more likely to commit and/or report higher levels of alcohol-related violence.Alternatively, students may hesitate to reportaggression to authority figures. Although partici-pants in this study aggressed at higher rates than theprevious research [Smucker Barnwell et al., 2006],rates of alcohol-related fighting were low [Chermackand Walton, 1999; Quigley et al., 2003]. It isplausible that participants who consumed alcoholmore heavily, reported more aggressive acts or metcriteria for substance abuse problems would yielddifferent study findings. Further research couldexamine study findings in different populations.However, this study’s inclusion of hostility may havetapped into more socially acceptable forms ofaggression that students will endorse, and thusincreased the amount of aggression reported.Indeed, almost half of the sample endorsed itemsrelated to hostility (e.g. feeling bitter and jealous).Given that underreporting tendencies would dimin-ish the likelihood of finding interactions within thedata, these data may actually underestimate trueeffects. Thus these limitations do not pose barriersto all data interpretation.In sum, this study provided important new

information about alcohol-related aggression andhostility. Notably, alcohol expectancies for aggres-sion contribute to alcohol-related aggression andhostility, even after controlling for dispositionalaggression. Moreover, rumination strengthens theassociation between alcohol consumption and ag-gressive acts. While some previous research suggeststhat expectancies offer no capacity to predictalcohol-related aggression beyond trait aggression

336 Borders et al.


[e.g. Giancola et al., 2005], this study suggeststhat expectancies may offer insight into futureaggressive acts. Unlike other studies [e.g. Quigleyand Leonard, 1999], individuals with the highestreported alcohol-aggression expectancies reporthigher levels of violence after any amount ofalcohol. Thus we believe that these data offer uniqueand valuable insights into the phenomenologyunderlying alcohol-related hostility and aggression.Future research could examine other predictors ofalcohol-related hostility and whether this hostilitymediates the association between alcohol consump-tion and alcohol-related acts of aggression. Further-more, if the identification of individual differencevariables (e.g. rumination, expectancies) offersgreater insight into attitudes and feelings that mightescalate into aggression, clinicians may wish toexamine assessment techniques that address thesevariables.

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