Search

Background: Impaired control over drinking is a central feature of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), yet little within-person research on impaired control is available. As a result, there is little research regarding the dynamic impact of social drinking context on impaired control. The current study sought to fill these gaps, testing a sequential mediation model wherein social drinking context predicted episode-specific deviations in perceived impaired control, which indirectly predicted daily negative consequences via drinking more than planned. We also modeled if estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC) moderated associations between social context and perceived impaired control., Methods: Emerging adults (N = 131; 51.8 % female) completed 21 days of ecological momentary assessments, including assessments of past-night drinking and planned drinking on a given day, and event-contingent reports during acute drinking episodes., Results: At the episode-level, social drinking context predicted higher perceived impaired control than an individual's daily average. At the daily-level, social drinking context predicted higher perceived impaired control, which indirectly predicted more negative consequences than a person's average via drinking more than planned. There was a residual effect of social context on drinking more than planned and negative consequences, and of perceived impaired control on negative consequences above and beyond drinking more than planned. Episode-level relations between social context and perceived impaired control were potentiated at higher vs. lower eBACs than an individual's daily average, but the same pattern was not observed at the daily-level., Conclusions: Just-in-time interventions may benefit from increasing perceptions of control over drinking behavior, particularly during social drinking episodes., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Subjective response to alcohol is a robust predictor of alcohol outcomes. It is possible that the perceived subjective response of others may influence concurrent experiences of one's own subjective response. However, no studies have examined how the perceived subjective response of others might interact with personal subjective response and how such interactions may influence levels of craving and subsequent drinking., Method: Emerging adults (ages 18-25, N = 131, 53.4 % female) completed 21 days of ecological momentary assessments. During drinking events (N = 1335) both personal and perceived peer subjective response (four domains encompassing high- and low-arousal positive & negative effects) were assessed at drink initiation and two subsequent surveys 60 and 120min later. Current craving and drinking quantity since last report were also collected. Three-level multilevel structural equation models with Bayesian estimation tested indirect relations between subjective response and drinking continuation via craving and whether perceived subjective response moderated such relations., Results: Levels of both personal (b=0.029,95 %BCI:[0.012,0.053]) and perceived (b=0.027,95 %BCI:[0.012,0.051]) experiences of alcohol's rewarding, stimulating effects indirectly predicted drinking continuation via increased craving, and relations were potentiated when perceptions of peer reward were highest (b=0.015,95 %BCI:[0.008,0.020]). Personal experiences of alcohol's relaxing, calming effects indirectly predicted a lower likelihood of drinking continuation via decreased craving (b=-0.017,95 %BCI:[-0.036,-0.003]) whereas perceived effects directly predicted lower likelihoods of drinking (b=-0.133,95 %CI:[-0.239, -0.031])., Conclusion: Results suggest both personal and perceived peer subjective response independently influence drinking behavior even when controlling for one another. Targeted interventions focused on altering interpretations of peer subjective effects may be effective at reducing momentary risk., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use (SAM) is associated with riskier drinking. However, little is known regarding mechanisms of risk during drinking episodes. The current study tested whether subjective responses to simultaneous vs. alcohol-only use (i.e., high arousal positive/reward, high arousal negative/aggression, low arousal positive/relaxation, low arousal negative/impairment) were mechanisms through which SAM use was associated with daily drinking., Methods: Emerging adults who co-use alcohol and cannabis (N=85) completed 21 days of ecological momentary assessment with drink-contingent reports during drinking episodes. Participants reported on their simultaneous use and current subjective effects during drink reports and past-night total drinks consumed and negative consequences experienced the next morning. Three-level multilevel models (momentary, daily, person level) tested whether SAM use predicted subjective responses, and whether subjective responses mediated associations between SAM use, heavier drinking and negative consequences., Results: At the momentary and day-level, SAM (vs. alcohol-only) use predicted increased high arousal positive/rewarding, low arousal positive/relaxing, and low arousal negative/impairing subjective effects. SAM use indirectly predicted heavier day-level drinking and further negative consequences through high arousal positive/rewarding response. SAM use also indirectly predicted day-level negative consequences through low arousal negative/impairing response. At the person-level, more frequent SAM use predicted higher person-average high arousal positive/rewarding and low arousal positive/relaxing responses, and high arousal positive/rewarding response mediated relation between SAM frequency and heavier drinking., Conclusions: Simultaneous use was associated with reward, relief, and impairment, and reward and impairment were mechanisms of risk between SAM use and riskier drinking. Findings may inform theory and just-in-time interventions seeking to reduce alcohol misuse., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Solitary drinking (i.e., drinking alone) and coping drinking motives are risk factors for alcohol problems. Theoretical models suggest that solitary drinking and coping motives are highly related. However, the direction of effects between solitary drinking and coping motives is unclear. It also remains unclear if relations are present solely at the between-person level, or if there are also dynamic, within-person relations. Therefore, the current study tested dynamic, reciprocal relations among solitary drinking, coping motives, and alcohol problems using Random Intercept Cross Lagged Panel Modeling (RI-CLPM)., Methods: Data came from a large alcohol administration study with longitudinal follow-ups over 2 years (N = 448). Participants completed a baseline session and then were followed up 6, 12, 18, and 24 months later. Participants reported their solitary drinking frequency, coping motives, drinking behavior, and alcohol problems at all assessments., Results: Person-level solitary drinking was related to person-level coping motives and alcohol problems, and person-level coping motives were related to person-level alcohol problems. There were also contemporaneous within-person effects, such that a within-person increase in solitary drinking was associated with a concurrent within-person increase in coping motives, and a within-person increase in coping motives was associated with a concurrent within-person increase in alcohol problems. There were no within-person prospective relations among any variables., Conclusions: Findings suggest strong between-person associations among solitary drinking, coping motives, and alcohol problems. Within-person associations were concurrent but not prospective. Targeting solitary and coping-motivated drinkers, as well within-person increases in both, may be effective at reducing risk for alcohol problems., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Young adults with higher trait urgency (i.e., a tendency to act rashly in response to heightened affect) may be especially vulnerable to heavy drinking. The current study examined 1) the influence of urgency on daily relations between affect and drinking to intoxication, and 2) whether urgency influenced the effectiveness of naltrexone (vs. placebo) for reducing alcohol use., Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of data from 126 (n=40 female) heavy drinking young adults, ages 18-25, enrolled in a double-blind, 8-week clinical trial comparing brief motivational intervention and either naltrexone or placebo. Multilevel models examined whether trait urgency moderated daily relations between positive and negative affect and drinking to intoxication, measured by an estimated blood-alcohol concentration (eBAC) at or above the legal limit (≥0.08g%). Person-level interactions examined whether naltrexone was more effective than placebo at reducing the odds of eBAC≥0.08g% for individuals with higher vs. lower trait urgency., Results: On days of greater within-person positive or negative affect, young adults with higher urgency were more likely to drink to intoxication than those with lower urgency. Naltrexone reduced the odds of drinking to intoxication significantly more than placebo, independent of positive or negative urgency., Conclusions: Although naltrexone treatment reduced drinking overall, young adults with higher trait urgency were still at increased risk for hazardous drinking following times of strong positive or negative mood. Targeted interventions are needed to reduce the risk of heavy drinking among young adults with high trait urgency., Competing Interests: None., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Excess weight is a major threat to public health. An addiction-like tendency toward certain foods may contribute to overeating., Objective: We aimed to describe the prevalence and associated characteristics in relation to a food-addiction scale in middle-aged and older women., Design: We examined the prevalence and associated characteristics of a food-addiction scale measure in a cross-sectional analysis of 134,175 women participating in 2 ongoing prospective cohort studies of US nurses., Results: Overall, 7839 (5.8%) of the women surveyed met the criteria for food addiction measured by using the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale. The prevalence of food addiction was 8.4% in the younger cohort of women aged 45-64 y and 2.7% in the older cohort of women aged 62-88 y. In the multivariate model, body mass index (BMI; in kg/m²) ≥ 35.0 (compared with 18.5-22.9) was associated with food addiction, a prevalence ratio (PR) of 15.83 (95% CI: 12.58, 19.91) in the younger cohort of women, and a PR of 18.41 (95% CI: 11.63, 29.14) in the older cohort of women. Several other demographic characteristics and other factors were associated with the food-addiction measure in both cohorts of women., Conclusions: To our knowledge, for the first time in a large, US-based population of women, we documented the prevalence of food addiction by using a novel measurement scale in middle-aged and older women. The results may provide insight into the strong association between behavioral attributes of food consumption and the development of obesity.

Background: Discrimination is a risk factor for health-risk behaviors, including alcohol abuse. Far less is known about the mechanisms through which discrimination leads to alcohol-related problems, particularly during high-risk developmental periods such as young adulthood., Methods: The present study tested a mediation model using prospective data from a large, diverse sample of 1539 college students. This model hypothesized that discrimination would be associated with established cognitive (positive alcohol expectancies) and affective (negative affect and coping motives) risk factors for alcohol-related problems, which would account for the prospective association between discrimination and alcohol problems., Results: Structural equation modeling indicated that discrimination was associated cross-sectionally with negative affect and more coping motives for drinking, but not with greater alcohol expectancies. Coping motives mediated the prospective relationship between discrimination and alcohol-related problems. Additionally, results indicated significant indirect effects from discrimination to alcohol-related problems through negative affect and coping motives. These associations were evident for multiple groups confronting status-based discrimination, including women, racial/ethnic minorities, and lesbian/gay/bisexual individuals., Conclusions: This study identified potential affective mechanisms linking discrimination to alcohol-related problems. Results suggest several avenues for prevention and intervention efforts with individuals from socially disadvantaged groups., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)