College students' expectancies about and perceptions of drinking: Effects of gender, risk taking, identification with television characters, and exposure to beer commercials

A survey and an experiment were conducted to evaluate college students' beliefs about drinking, and to assess the effects of exposing them to beer commercials. Hypotheses were tested that considered the role of gender, propensity for risk taking in one's life, and exposure to beer commercials on positive expectancies about the social and physical benefits of drinking, and judgments of a character who drove drunk. It was expected that males would have the most positive alcohol expectancies and be more likely than females to exonerate a drunk driver; that risk takers would be more accepting of drunk driving; that subjects who identified most heavily with the show in which the drunk driving appeared would be less judgmental of it; and that exposure to beer commercials would result in more positive expectancies about drinking and more tolerance of drunk driving.;Additionally, subjects exposed to the beer commercials were asked about what they believed they had seen in the ads, to determine if they inferred that they saw characters engaging in risky activities while under the influence of alcohol.;The data indicate that males who were exposed to the beer ads were most likely to hold positive beliefs about the social benefits of drinking, but beer commercials did not affect either gender's beliefs about alcohol's physical benefits, or make them more accepting of irresponsible drinking. People who identified themselves as risk-takers were more accepting of risky drinking in another person. A number of viewers believed they had seen characters combining risky activities with drinking in the commercials.;This study offers support for the idea that, in some cases, beer ads can influence the beliefs about drinking that predict drinking, and that they can imply that certain activities are safe to mix with drinking when in fact they are not. Furthermore, the results indicate the more likely a person is to take risks in his or her own life, the more he or she will be accepting of drunk driving on the part of a television character.