A CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON OF ALCOHOL EXPECTANCIES IN PUERTO RICO AND THE U.S.

Carlos Vélez-Blasini (Middlebuy College)

Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 29-31, 1996.

Alcohol expectancies of a Puerto Rican and a U.S. sample were assessed using an alcohol expectancy questionnaire. Factor analyses revealed a tendency for P.R. respondents to associate positive aspects of alcohol with expectations of increased sociability. For U.S. respondents these dimensions appeared to be independent. Puerto Ricans had expectations of concurrent positive and negative alcohol effects on sexual behavior. Positive expectancies were better predictors of drinking than negative expectancies in both samples.