Relationship-specific alcohol expectancies and gender moderate the effects of relationship drinking contexts on daily relationship functioning.

Objective: Research shows that drinking with one's partner in romantic relationships is associated with positive relationship functioning (e.g., increased intimacy), whereas drinking apart from one's partner is associated with negative relationship functioning (e.g., increased negative behaviors/events). Relationship-specific alcohol expectancies (RSAE) may moderate these associations and illuminate for whom these processes are more positive or negative. The current study tested RSAE as a moderator of the time-lagged daily associations between relationship drinking contexts and next-day relationship functioning in a sample of mostly adult, married, moderate-drinking couples. Method: Both members of 118 couples completed daily diary reports of drinking episodes and positive and negative relationship functioning for up to 56 days. Multilevel models predicted next-day relationship functioning from time-lagged relationship drinking contexts and between-person differences in RSAE and gender. Results: The results replicate previous research showing decreased negative and increased positive relationship functioning following drinking with (vs. apart from) one's partner. RSAE interacted with gender to moderate the association between drinking-with-partner and next-day positive relationship functioning. Men high in social expectancies and women high in intimacy expectancies reported significantly greater next-day positive relationship functioning following drinking-with-partner. In addition, both men and women high in intimacy expectancies reported significantly greater next-day negative relationship functioning following drinking-apart-from-partner. No effects were found for other RSAE domains. Conclusions: These results support and extend prior research showing that women's relationship drinking is associated with intimacy enhancement, whereas among men it is associated with social effects. The current study has implications for future research and theory on relationship-motivated drinking processes.