Журнал алкоголизма и наркотической зависимости
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Support for the Portion of the Sociometer that Operates within Conscious Awareness

Tiffany Erin Gorsuch Bainter1*, Michelle Ackerman2

The current study focused on contribution to the Sociometer theory by exploring the portion of the sociometer that operates within conscious awareness. The researcher gathered information regarding the lived experience of young adults’ engagement in binge drinking to increase self-esteem and social acceptance using a qualitative Interpretative Phenomenological Approach (IPA). A purposive sample of five female college students ages of 22-24 meeting inclusions criteria via researcher developed screening was recruited. Data was collected via face-to-face, semistructured interviews that were then transcribed, member-checked, and analyzed according to IPA methodology. Themes included: Low self-esteem led to binge drinking; causes and effects of binging behavior were cyclical in nature; there was a conscious awareness of the relationship between self-esteem and relational value; there was a conscious awareness of the cognitive processes regarding attempts to increase self-esteem. These findings have expanded upon the existing research regarding SMT to shed light on the portion of the sociometer that operates within conscious awareness. The participants’ descriptions of their lived experiences provided evidence supporting the conscious awareness of the relationship between self-esteem and relational value which supports existence of the conscious portion of the sociometer that motivates behavior in response to low self-esteem signaling decreased relational value.