Integrating acquired preparedness and dual process models of risk for heavy drinking and related problems.

Abstract

The Acquired Preparedness Model (APM) posits that alcohol expectancies mediate effects of personality traits on drinking outcomes, whereas the Dual Process Model (DPM) suggests that top down behavioral control (e.g. self-control) moderates the impact of bottom up risk factors like alcohol expectancies. This study sought to integrate the APM and DPM by examining the extent to which indirect effects of impulsive sensation-seeking on drinking outcomes are moderated by self-control. We hypothesized that the APM may hold more strongly for people who are higher in self-control, as they may engage in alcohol use for the explicit purpose of meeting sensation seeking goals. Data were from 462 participants (ages 15–63; 58.4% male) who completed one of five studies affiliated with the Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism (CTNA). Consistent with the APM, higher levels of impulsive sensation seeking were associated with stronger positive expectancies which, in turn, contributed to heavier drinking and related problems. Consistent with the DPM, among non-dependent drinkers, indirect effects of impulsive sensation seeking on alcohol use were only present among those who were high in self-control. These findings suggest that expectancy challenges may be most effective for those with high levels of self-control prior to the development of alcohol dependence. However, future studies integrating the APM and DPM should include both implicit and explicit measures of expectancies to address the possibility that individuals with lower levels of self-control may be more influenced by automatic or implicit influences, and may therefore respond well to implicit expectancy challenges.

The Anticipated Effects of Cannabis Scale (AECS): Initial development and validation of an affect- and valence-based expectancy measure.

“…Alcohol outcome expectancies are thought to influence drinking behavior both directly (Ham & Hope, 2003; Jones et al, 2001) and indirectly through drinking motivation (e.g., Cooper et al, 1995). Decades of research suggest that positive alcohol expectancies are linked to a family history of Alcohol Use Disorder (Mann et al, 1987; Waddell et al, 2020), earlier adolescent drinking and heavier drinking (e.g., Bekman et al, 2011; Cooper et al, 1988; Corbin et al, 2015; Ham & Hope, 2003; Jones et al, 2001; Lac & Luk, 2019), alcohol-related problems (e.g., Corbin et al, 2015; Pabst et al, 2014; Turrisi et al, 2000), development of alcohol use disorder (AUD; e.g., Brown et al, 1985; Cooper et al, 1988; Jones et al, 2001), and poor AUD treatment outcomes (e.g., Sebold et al, 2017). Less is known about negative alcohol expectancies, which inconsistently are linked with use behavior (e.g., Fromme et al, 1993; Greenfield et al, 2009; Lac & Luk, 2019; Lee et al, 1999; McMahon & Jones, 1993; Walther et al, 2019).…”

Reactive and Regulative Temperament in Relation to Clinical Symptomatology and Personality Disorders in Patients with a Substance Use Disorder

“…As we were especially interested in the top-down regulation of psychopathology we did not include the interaction of BIS X BAS (the interplay between anxiety and reward). Our findings thus especially highlight the role of EC in the expression of psychopathology/comorbidity also in an adult sample of SUD patients of which is known they are already characterized by relatively low overall levels of self-control [60,66].…”

Patients with Methamphetamine Use Disorder Show Highly Utilized Proactive Inhibitory Control and Intact Reactive Inhibitory Control with Long-Term Abstinence

“…This may indicate that reactive inhibitory control mediates the relationship between sensation seeking and addictive behaviors. However, proactive inhibitory control strategies place more emphasis on an individual’s top-down, goal-oriented ability to mobilize cognitive resources to inhibit current behaviors as well as an individual’s proactivity in the current state, resembling self-control, which indirectly influences addictive behaviors [ 58 ]. Thus, no correlation was found between sensation seeking and proactive inhibitory control.…”