Positive and negative alcohol expectancies, as measured by the Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol questionnaire (CEOA; Fromme, Stroot, & Kaplan, 1993), were observed among alcohol drinkers and abstainers in a sample of 47 college students. We divided the sample into 5 levels of drinking: abstainers who had no intention of ever drinking (permanent abstainers), abstainers who presently do not drink but postulate that they will consume alcohol in the future (temporary abstainers), light drinkers, moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers. As hypothesized, temporary abstainers and light drinkers possessed significantly lower positive expectancies than did heavy drinkers. Temporary and permanent abstainers possessed significantly higher negative expectancies than did moderate and heavy drinkers, which we hypothesized for permanent abstainers but not for temporary abstainers.

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