Aspettative, credenze metacognitive e uso di alcol

The expectancies from alcohol consumption refer to beliefs concerning the positive and negative effects produced by alcohol. Some research has explored the role of these constructs in continuing alcohol consumption but results remain unclear. More recent theories suggest that the absence of a clear distinction between cognitive-social expectancies and metacognitive beliefs concerning the effects of alcohol on regulating cognizance may be responsible for this ambiguity. This study explores the association between cognitive-social and metacognitive beliefs concerning alcohol consumption. A sample of inpatients with diagnosed problem drinking and participants recruited from the general public were compared in relation to the presence or absence of the different beliefs via a semi-structured interview based on the metacognitive profle (Wells, 2000). The results indicate that the two samples are signifcantly differed regarding the frequency of cognitive-social and metacognitive beliefs. In particular, the clinical sample has less negative cognitivesocial expectancies in relation to health damage due to alcohol consumption, more frequent positive metacognitive beliefs (relating to cognitive effciency, thought control, switching attention and losing consciousness) and negative metacognitive beliefs concerning the loss of executive control over cognizance and behaviour. The clinical implications of these fndings are discussed.