Development and validation of the Alcohol Identity Implicit Associations Test (AI-IAT)

Abstract

Alcohol identity is the extent to which an individual perceives drinking alcohol to be a defining characteristic of his or her self-identity. Although alcohol identity might play an important role in risky college drinking practices, there is currently no easily administered, implicit measure of this concept. Therefore we developed a computerized implicit measure of alcohol identity (the Alcohol Identity Implicit Associations Test; AI-IAT) and assessed its reliability and predictive validity in relation to risky college drinking practices. One hundred forty-one college students completed the AI-IAT. Again 3- and 6-months later, we administered the AI-IAT and indices of engagement in risky college drinking practices. A subset of participants also completed the previously-validated implicit measure of alcohol identity. Scores on the AI-IAT were stable over time, internally consistent, and positively correlated with the previously-validated measure of alcohol identity. Baseline AI-IAT scores predicted future engagement in risky college drinking practices, even after controlling for standard alcohol consumption measures. We conclude that the AI-IAT reliably measures alcohol identity, a concept that appears to play an important role in risky college drinking practices.

Self-Control and Implicit Drinking Identity as Predictors of Alcohol Consumption, Problems, and Cravings

“…The emphasis on drinking identity stems from a reformulation of the theory of planned behavior (original: Ajzen, 1991;reformulation: Fekadu and Kraft, 2001) that posited and ultimately demonstrated that including measures of how strongly one identifi es with a (hazardous) behavior increases the predictability of that behavior. With respect to implicit drinking identity specifi cally, three recent studies (e.g., Gray et al, 2011;Lindgren et al, 2013aLindgren et al, , 2013b of undergraduates in three different regions of the United States have found support for implicit drinking identity as a unique predictor of alcoholrelated outcomes. Moreover, the two studies by Lindgren et al (2013aLindgren et al ( , 2013b) also found that implicit drinking identity associations, when compared with other implicit alcoholrelated associations, were the strongest and most consistent predictors of alcohol-related outcomes (e.g., self-reported consumption, cravings, and problems).…”

“…Although a variety of implicit alcohol-related associations have been investigated, implicit drinking identity associations (e.g., associations with the self and drinking or with the self and alcohol) have recently emerged as promising predictors of risky drinking behavior in young adults (Gray et al, 2011;Lindgren et al, 2013aLindgren et al, , 2013b. The emphasis on drinking identity stems from a reformulation of the theory of planned behavior (original: Ajzen, 1991;reformulation: Fekadu and Kraft, 2001) that posited and ultimately demonstrated that including measures of how strongly one identifi es with a (hazardous) behavior increases the predictability of that behavior.…”

“…We focused on the constructs of general or trait self-control and alcohol-specifi c ("alcohol") self-control and investigated their roles in predicting alcohol-related variables (consumption, problems, and cravings). Further, we tested them as moderators of the relationship between one type of implicit associations (i.e., associations about the self and drinking; Gray et al, 2011;Lindgren et al, 2013aLindgren et al, , 2013b and alcohol-related variables.…”

Using implicit association to access drug use trajectories of young people: Understanding the different drug use pathways for young people who use illicit substances and investigating the role of implicit identification as a useful indicator of risk of drug dependency

“…Research has shown that implicit identification has been found to predict unique variance in drinking outcomes (Gray, LaPlante, Bannon, Ambady & Shaffer, 2011;Lindgren et al, 2013) as well as length of time spent in rehabilitation centres for alcohol and drug dependence (Wolff et al, 2015). The current study did not support the idea that implicit identification with drug use can predict future drug related behaviour.…”

Tendencias en el estudio de la cognición implícita relacionada con el alcohol

“…Many of the analyzed articles evaluated the validity of the methods of IAC assessment and found that: the IAT, the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST;De Houwer, 2003), the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP; Payne, Cheng, Govorun & Stewart, 2005), the Affective Priming Paradigm (APP; Fazio et al, 1986), and the Word Association Test (Stacy, Leigh & Weingardt, 1994) were valid methods to assess IAC (Gray, LaPlante, Bannon, Ambady & Shaffer, 2011;Houben, Rothermund & Wiers, 2009;Lindgren, Westgate, Kilmer, Kaysen & Teachman, 2012;Lindgren, Hendershot, Neighbors, Blayney & Otto, 2011;Ostafin & Palfai, 2006;Payne, Govorun & Arbuckle, 2008).…”