Putting things in context: Longitudinal relations between drinking contexts, drinking motives, and negative alcohol consequences.

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that solitary (but not social) drinking may confer risk for negative alcohol consequences via beliefs about alcohol’s ability to reduce tension, and explicit motivations to drink to cope with negative mood states. However, because prior studies are largely cross-sectional, it is unclear if tension reduction expectancies and drinking to cope are antecedents or consequences of solitary drinking. The current study aimed to address this gap in the literature using prospective data (3 waves across 12 months) from a sample of moderate to heavy drinking young adults. Data were drawn from a larger investigation of contextual influences on subjective alcohol response. Participants (N = 448) reported on alcohol use in multiple drinking contexts and tension reduction expectancies at baseline (T1), drinking motives at a 6-month follow-up (T2), and past-month negative alcohol consequences at a 12-month follow-up (T3). We examined potential indirect effects of drinking contexts on negative consequences operating through alcohol expectancies and drinking motives. Solitary drinking was indirectly associated with later negative consequences through stronger coping motives, although tension reduction expectancies did not serve as a significant mediator. Social drinking was not directly or indirectly related to later alcohol consequences. Results suggest that solitary drinking contexts confer risk for negative consequences through coping motives, and that these effects are invariant across sex, race, and ethnicity. These findings have important clinical implications as they suggest that targeting solitary drinkers for skills-based coping interventions may reduce risk for a developmental trajectory toward negative alcohol consequences.

Differential effects of UPPS-P impulsivity on subjective alcohol response and craving: An experimental test of acquired preparedness.

“…Heavier drinkers may have higher base rates of impulsivity, subjective response, and craving, and several prior studies have used heavier drinkers and/or individuals with AUD (e.g., Berey, Leeman, Pittman, et al, 2019; Berey et al, 2017; Westman et al, 2017). Finally, the present study controlled for contextual influences, however, research suggests that different contexts may lead to different expectancies (e.g., Corbin et al, 2020; Waddell, Corbin, et al, 2021), acute subjective effects (e.g., Fairbairn et al, 2015), and drinking patterns (Waddell et al, in press). Therefore, future research should text moderation by context.…”

A systematic review and meta‐analysis on the association between solitary drinking and alcohol problems in adults

“…Thus, understanding the correlates and mechanisms of adult problematic drinking are research priorities. The current systematic review and meta-analysis focused on adult solitary drinking, as our prior meta-analysis revealed that it is a reliable marker of greater risk for AUD in younger demographics [16] (see also [13,15,17,18]).…”

“…Among these individuals, solitary drinking is associated with increased concurrent and prospective alcohol use and alcohol-related problems (e.g. [14][15][16][17][18]), as well as problems in academic [19], legal [20], physical health [19], emotional [21] and social domains (e.g. [22]).…”

Effects of stress, alcohol prime dose, and sex on ad libitum drinking.

“…The Self-Medication Hypothesis (SMH) theorizes individuals use alcohol to alleviate negative affect particularly after stressful events (Conger, 1956; Hersh & Hussong, 2009; Livingston et al, 2021; Vogel et al, 2021). Consistent with this model, individuals who report drinking to cope with negative affective states are at greater risk for future negative alcohol-related consequences (Armeli et al, 2014; Waddell et al, 2021). Both dependent and nondependent drinkers report drinking alcohol to cope with chronic stress (Sinha, 2007).…”