Research has revealed inconsistencies regarding the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol use. The goal of the current review is to examine lab-based studies that have been conducted in an attempt to help disentangle the social anxiety - alcohol link. Specifically, this review focuses on the most prominent theories present in this area of research, namely, the Tension Reduction Theory, the Stress-Response Dampening Model, the Self-Awareness Model, the Attention Allocation Model, and the Appraisal-Disruption Model. The review then describes the empirical studies that have been conducted to test predictions derived from each of these theories. This is followed by a discussion of some methodological considerations in this area of research, including an examination of participant characteristics, study selection criteria, alcohol administration procedures, the nature of the anxiety-inducing tasks that have been used in this area of research, and the different types of outcome measures that are typically used to measure social anxiety. The review ends with some tentative conclusions and directions for future research, including recommendations to recruit individuals with high levels of trait social anxiety, to closely monitor blood alcohol levels achieved at different time points during the study, to examine more interaction-based social anxiety provoking tasks, and to employ a wider range of outcome measures (e.g., cognitive and behavioural outcomes relevant to social anxiety).
We demonstrated that high enhancement-motivated drinkers exhibit a high, stable drinking level, regardless of the intensity of their high-arousal positive mood. In contrast, low enhancement-motivated drinkers decrease their drinking when in a high-arousal positive mood state. Clinicians may be able to help reduce heavy alcohol consumption in enhancement-motivated drinkers by teaching them to reduce their drinking when in a high-arousal positive mood state.
To explain the co-occurrence of social anxiety and alcohol use problems, researchers have used experimental methods to test whether alcohol reduces state social anxiety (SSa) in the lab. The present study used experience sampling to extend research into real world settings. Students (N = 132; 100 women; 32 men; aged 17 to 32 years) reported their SSa and alcohol intake 6 times from 4:00 pm to 4:00 am every day for 22 days. multilevel modeling suggested for each alcoholic drink consumed, SSa decreased by 4.0% two hours later. Those with greater levels of trait social anxiety (TSa) experienced higher SSa than those with lower levels of TSa. Findings support predictions made by tension reduction theory-that alcohol reduces SSa in daily life. These results extend many lab-based findings to the real world and provide further evidence that alcohol may provide negative reinforcement for those who are experiencing social anxiety.
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