The Moderation Effect of Basic Need Satisfaction in the Relationship Between Drinking Motives and Drinking Outcomes

BACKGROUND: Self-determination theory indicates that three basic psychological needs-autonomy, competence, and relatedness motivate human behaviors. OBJECTIVE: This research examined how basic need satisfaction moderated the relationship between drinking motives and drinking outcomes. METHOD: We analyzed the data from a baseline assessment of a larger project evaluating brief alcohol interventions among heavy-drinking college students. Participants were 605 undergraduate students from two large public universities. RESULTS: The results show that only relatedness needs moderated the relationship between coping drinking motives and drinking consumption. For alcohol-related problems as the outcome, relatedness and competence needs moderated the relationship between coping motives and drinking problems, competence needs moderated the relationship between enhancement motives and drinking problems, and autonomy needs moderated the relationship between conformity motives and drinking problems. For those whose relatedness needs were more satisfied, they were less likely to drink or have drinking problems if they drank to cope. The other three moderation effects were more difficult to interpret. For those who reported higher satisfaction of competence needs, drinking to cope was more strongly associated with drinking problems. Whereas, among those who reported lower satisfaction of competence needs, enhancement motives were more strongly associated with drinking problems. Finally, for those who reported greater satisfaction of autonomy needs, conformity motives were more strongly associated with drinking problems. CONCLUSION: This research addresses how the association between drinking motives and drinking outcomes varies across different levels of satisfaction of fundamental psychological needs.