The situational specificity of alcohol use among high-anxiety-sensitive young adults.
Date
1998
Authors
Barton Samoluk, Sarah.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Dalhousie University
Abstract
Description
This series of studies was designed to examine the situations in which high anxiety sensitive (AS) young adults are most likely to drink. The objective was to advance understanding of the heightened risk for alcohol abuse in high AS individuals. In the first study, participants rated their frequency of drinking in various situations using the 42-item Inventory of Drinking Situations. AS levels were found to be more highly predictive of drinking in negatively-reinforcing situations and temptation drinking situations than drinking in positively reinforcing situations. This study suggests a link between AS and the use of alcohol in situations involving coping with negative affect and testing personal control. In two ad-lib alcohol consumptions studies, high and low AS young adults participated in a bogus taste-rating task following various manipulations designed to induce social-affiliation and negative affect, respectively. Consistent with hypotheses, only high AS individuals drank more alcohol in a solitary drinking context where they self-reported more negative affect than in a social context. In the other study, high AS individuals unexpectedly did not experience greater negative affect as designed and failed to drink more alcohol when anticipating questions about anxiety, relative to control questions. Instead, high AS individuals drank more alcohol only when anticipating control questions about their food and leisure preferences. It is possible that the food question primed high AS individuals to attend to physical discomfort arising from hunger, which prompted their greater alcohol use. In a final study, participants were required to colour-name alcohol and food cues on the modified Stroop following a physical discomfort induction. AS levels were positively correlated with an attentional bias for alcohol cues only under the physical discomfort condition. Results are discussed in terms of implications for prevention and treatment of alcohol disorders in high AS individuals.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1998.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1998.
Keywords
Psychology, Behavioral., Psychology, Social., Health Sciences, Public Health., Psychology, Clinical.