Cox DN 1,2, Harrison A 1,2, Chrea C 1,3, Smyth S 1,3, Delahunty C 1,3, Forde C 1,3

1) Food Futures National Research Flagship,

2) Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Human Nutrition, PO Box 10041, Adelaide BC, SA 5000, Australia

3) Food Science Australia, North Ryde, NSW, Australia

Wine consumption is poorly measured and poorly understood.  As part of a larger project1 we sought to predict current (reported) red wine consumption from a community sample (n = 304) of Australian wine drinkers (recruited as drinking ≥2/week).

Questionnaires assessed participant’s current patterns of wine consumption (see table).  As predictors of consumption, validated psychometric scales included: need for cognition (2), wine product involvement (3) and wine subjective knowledge (4), impulsivity (5), self-monitoring (6), general self-efficacy7, behaviour inhibition and behaviour activation (BIS/BAS) (8) and socio-demographics.

Behaviour

Table: Reported red wine consumption  -  Mean (SD)
Average glass (ml)  -  205 (45)
Days consuming red wine/week  -  2.85 (1.5)
Glasses of red wine/ week  -  5.3 (2.9)
Total red wine consumed/week (ml)  -  1088 (646)
Bottles of red wine purchased for home use/ month  -  5.8 (3.8)

Men reported purchasing ~1 more bottle of red wine/month (p<0.05); drinking ~250ml more red wine/week (p<0.001); and drinking ~1 glass more red wine/week (p<0.01) than women.  The youngest age group drank 20ml more volume/glass than older age groups (p<0.01)


Predicting red wine consumption and involvement
Total red wine consumed/week was significantly predicted (p<0.05) by wine involvement – product involvement (β=.25); sex - male (β=.18) and self-monitoring – ability (β=.16) explaining 16% of variance.

The number of days/week drinking red wine was significantly predicted by age (β=.253, p<.001) and wine involvement – product sign (β=.202, p<0.05) explaining 17% of variance.

As wine involvement was an important predictor of wine consumption, further regression was performed. Wine involvement was significantly predicted by wine subjective knowledge (β=.469, p<0.001), BAS – reward responsiveness (β=.175, p<0.001), Impulsivity – non-planning (β=-.132, p<0.05) and need for cognition (β=.125, p<0.05), explaining 42% of variance.

Whilst variation explained may appear to be modest, the research sought to explain marginal differences in aspects of red wine consumption within regular consumers; hence the results may be useful. Additionally, the antecedents of wine involvement were well described.

References:

1)  Wine and the Consumer

2) Cacioppo, J. T., Petty R. E., and Kao C. F. (1984) Journal of Personality Assessment 48.3 306-07.

3) Mittal, B. and M-S. Lee. (1989)  Journal of Economic Psychology 10 363-89.

4) Flynn, L. R. and Goldsmith R. E. (1999): Journal of Business Research 46 57-66.

5) Spinella, M. (2007) International Journal of Neuroscience 117 359-68.

6) Lennox R. D. and Wolfe R. N. (1984) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 46.6: 1349-64.

7) Scholz, U., et al. (2002) European Journal of Psychological Assessment 18.3 245-51.8) Carver, C. S. and White T. L. (1994): Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67.2 319-33.