Affect and drinking behavior: Moderating effects of involuntary attention to emotion and distress tolerance.

Abstract

This study tested a multiple group path model in a sample of young adults (n = 402; 233 university participant pool/169 Amazon MTurk) linking positive and negative affect to alcohol consumption and problems via enhancement and coping motives, respectively. Motivational models of alcohol use suggest that individuals drink in order to alleviate negative affective states or to enhance positive moods or feelings. Deficits in modulating attention toward emotional experience (i.e., involuntary attention to emotion [IAE]); and poor distress tolerance may contribute to maladaptive patterns of substance use (i.e., negative reinforcement). As negative affect increases, those with deficits in the ability to efficiently attend to emotions as well as the inability to withstand distress may seek more external means of regulating unwanted or intrusive emotional experiences via alcohol. It was hypothesized that involuntarily attending to one’s emotions would contribute to negative reinforcement drinking and problems. Coping motives were directly associated with alcohol-related problems, while enhancement motives were directly associated with problems both directly and indirectly via alcohol consumption. The hypothesized interaction between negative affect and IAE to coping motives was conditional upon levels of distress tolerance, with the moderating effect of involuntary attention being significant at high but not low levels of distress tolerance. Distress tolerance exhibited direct, inverse associations with alcohol-related problems. This pathway was significant over and above the direct effects of both coping motives and alcohol consumption. This suggests that while tolerance for emotional distress may reduce negative reinforcement drinking, it also fosters adaptive regulation when intoxicated.

Executive Functioning and Distress Tolerance: A Moderating Role of Age and Family System

“…Moreover, another such study explores the relationship between frustration intolerance and lack of self-controlling behavior by Webb et al (2020). The result of the study supports the present study in a way as the results of the present study also suggest role of executive functioning in predicting distress tolerance and also suggested the role of age as a significant moderator of distress tolerance of university student (Webb et al, 2020).…”

“…Moreover, another such study explores the relationship between frustration intolerance and lack of self-controlling behavior by Webb et al (2020). The result of the study supports the present study in a way as the results of the present study also suggest role of executive functioning in predicting distress tolerance and also suggested the role of age as a significant moderator of distress tolerance of university student (Webb et al, 2020). Furthermore, a comprehensive work by Romer and his colleagues (2009) supports the results of the present research where the researcher explored the role of family system as extended and small family system as predictors of mental health problems in adults including distress (Romer et al, 2009).…”

Associates of Distress Tolerance among Adolescents: Role of Anger, Worry and Sadness

“…The objective of this research was to investigate in a non-clinical population the specificity of the association between concern and intolerance of uncertainty. In order to better comprehend worry and prevent generalised anxiety disorder, the findings are addressed in relation to their consequences (Webb, Simons, & Simons, 2020). Emotional intolerance and state-trait anxiety, entitlement and trait anger, intolerance and trait anger, and nonassertive behaviour and depression were indicated to have significant connections (distress).…”

Binge drinking indirectly predicts a negative emotional memory bias through coping motivations and depressive symptoms: The role of sex/gender

“…Importantly, contemporary conceptualizations of the negative reinforcement model propose that individuals who engage in excessive drinking behavior tend to endorse coping with negative affect as a motivation for alcohol use ( Webb et al, 2020 ), and report greater depressive symptoms ( Keough et al, 2015 ), which by extension, may also relate to an NMB. Indeed, greater alcohol consumption is associated with using alcohol as a coping mechanism ( Patrick and Schulenberg, 2011 ; Decaluwe et al, 2019 ), which may facilitate alcohol-related neurological changes that, in turn, increase recall of negative information ( Stephens and Duka, 2008 ).…”