(PS1-10) Coping Motives and Alcohol Use Problems in Adolescents: The Role of Sleep Quality

Among adolescents, major motivations for alcohol use include: social motives, enhancement motives, conformity motives, and coping motives (Cooper, 1994). Of these, coping-related motives have been most consistently linked to problematic alcohol use, et al., 2010; Zaso et al., 2021). In order to better understand the association between coping motives for alcohol use and alcohol use problems, it is important to examine the potential influence of sleep quality. A large body of work has demonstrated that poor-quality sleep among adolescents is prospectively associated with the onset and/or escalation of alcohol use and alcohol use problems (Hasler & Pederson, 2020). Poor sleep quality has also been prospectively linked to increased endorsement of coping motives (Digdon & Landry, 2013). It may be that coping motives evidence particularly strong associations with alcohol use problems among adolescents who report lower quality sleep. To date, no research has examined this interaction among adolescents. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to address this gap in the literature by examining the extent to which sleep quality moderated the association between coping motives and alcohol use problems among an adolescent sample.
Data were collected from 147 adolescents ages 13–18 years age = 16.31; SD = 0.96) from all geographic regions in the United States using social media platforms (i.e., Facebook and Instagram). Participants who reported having tried alcohol at least once completed the following self-report measures: the Adolescent Sleep-Wake Scale (ASWS), the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI), and the Teenage Motivation for Drinking Questionnaire (TMDQ).  
Results revealed a significant omnibus regression model, F(3,146) = 34.07, p < .001, which explained 41.2% of the variance in alcohol use problems. There was a significant main effect of ASWS, (b = -0.19, p < .001), and the main effect for coping motives was significant, (b = 4.49, p < .001). Sleep quality also exerted a significant moderating effect on the relationship between coping motives and alcohol use (b = -0.11, p = .002), such that greater coping motives for alcohol use were associated with increased alcohol use problems, but only for adolescents who reported average or low levels of sleep quality. Coping motives for alcohol use were not related to alcohol use problems among adolescents with higher quality sleep.
Findings from the current study suggest that sleep quality plays an important role in the association between coping motives for alcohol use and alcohol use problems. Sleep quality may be a salient focus of alcohol-based interventions (i.e., cognitive-behavioral therapy) to inhibit the escalation of alcohol use, especially when targeting adolescent populations. Prospective work would benefit from further examining these associations among a clinical sample of adolescents with alcohol-related problems. Moreover, as one of the first studies to identify sleep quality as a moderating factor that influences the relation between coping motives and alcohol-related problems among adolescents, findings allow for more nuanced tailoring of prevention and evidence-based intervention efforts for adolescent alcohol use.