Expectancy for social facilitation from drinking: the divergent paths of high-expectancy and low-expectancy adolescents

The impact of alcohol on affiliative verbal behavior: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Language is a fundamental aspect of human social behavior that is linked to many rewarding social experiences, such as social bonding. Potential effects of alcohol on affiliative language may therefore be an essential feature of alcohol reward and may elucidate pathways through which alcohol is linked to social facilitation. Examinations of alcohol's impact on language content, however, are sparse. Accordingly, this investigation represents the first systematic review and meta-analysis of alcohol's effects on affiliative language. We test the hypothesis that alcohol increases affiliative verbal approach behaviors and discuss future research directions.

METHODS

PsycInfo and Web of Science were systematically searched in March 2023 according to our preregistered plan. Eligible studies included social alcohol administration experiments in which affiliative verbal language was assessed. We present a random-effects meta-analysis that examines the effect of alcohol compared to control on measures of affiliative verbal behavior.

RESULTS

Our search identified 16 distinct investigations (comprising 961 participants) that examined the effect of alcohol on affiliative verbal behavior. Studies varied greatly in methods and measures. Meta-analytic results demonstrated that alcohol is modestly associated with increases in affiliative verbal behavior (Hedges' g = 0.164, 95% CI [0.027, 0.301], p = 0.019). Study quality was rated using an adapted version of the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies and did not significantly moderate alcohol's effects.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides preliminary evidence that alcohol can increase affiliative verbal behaviors. This effect may be an important feature of alcohol reward. Given heterogeneity in study features, low study quality ratings, and limited reporting of effect size data, results simultaneously highlight the promise of this research area and the need for more work. Advances in language processing methodologies that could allow future work to systematically expand upon this finding are discussed.

Alcohol consumption, alcohol expectancies, and drinking contexts in young Argentinean college students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a one-year follow-up study

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns are known to affect alcohol consumption. This study examines drinking expectancies and contexts upon alcohol consumption of Argentinean students.Objectives: To assess within-person changes in alcohol consumption in Argentinean college students (aged 18-24), from August 2019 with a one-year follow-up during the COVID-19 lockdown, considering alcohol expectancies, drinking contexts, and main socio-demographic variables. To validate the stability of these predictors, we discuss the effects on the alcohol consumption across dependent and independent measures.Methods: We assessed one longitudinal (N = 300, 70% female) and one cross-sectional (N = 165, 78% female) sample via online surveys and applied multilevel analysis and regressions, respectively.Results: Alcohol consumption significantly increased during lockdown compared to one-year before (mean: 6.91 and 8.26 alcohol units, correspondingly). In the longitudinal sample, social facilitation (medium effect sizes [ES]: 0.21, 0.22) and parental presence (medium ES: 0.12, 0.21) significantly and stable (through time) predicted increasing effects on consumption. In the cross-sectional sample, stress control (high ES: 0.78) and parental presence (high ES: 0.42) were associated with higher consumption during lockdown.Conclusion: College students increased their alcohol consumption during lockdown, suggesting that restrictive sanitary measures may negatively affect consumption. Literature is not conclusive as both decreases and increases in alcohol consumption in students from developed countries were reported. Before and during COVID-19 lockdown, parental presence is a stable predictor of increased alcohol consumption, though unusual according to the literature. Health policies aimed at modifying the behavior of parents who promote/share alcohol consumption with their offspring may help reduce drinking in college students.

Hazardous drinking and alcohol use disorders

Alcohol is one of the most widely consumed psychoactive drugs globally. Hazardous drinking, defined by quantity and frequency of consumption, is associated with acute and chronic morbidity. Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are psychiatric syndromes characterized by impaired control over drinking and other symptoms. Contemporary aetiological perspectives on AUDs apply a biopsychosocial framework that emphasizes the interplay of genetics, neurobiology, psychology, and an individual's social and societal context. There is strong evidence that AUDs are genetically influenced, but with a complex polygenic architecture. Likewise, there is robust evidence for environmental influences, such as adverse childhood exposures and maladaptive developmental trajectories. Well-established biological and psychological determinants of AUDs include neuroadaptive changes following persistent use, differences in brain structure and function, and motivational determinants including overvaluation of alcohol reinforcement, acute effects of environmental triggers and stress, elevations in multiple facets of impulsivity, and lack of alternative reinforcers. Social factors include bidirectional roles of social networks and sociocultural influences, such as public health control strategies and social determinants of health. An array of evidence-based approaches for reducing alcohol harms are available, including screening, pharmacotherapies, psychological interventions and policy strategies, but are substantially underused. Priorities for the field include translating advances in basic biobehavioural research into novel clinical applications and, in turn, promoting widespread implementation of evidence-based clinical approaches in practice and health-care systems.

Change in alcohol outcome expectancies from childhood to emerging adulthood: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies

ISSUES

Knowledge on the development of alcohol outcome expectancies (AOE) is relevant because AOE predict change in drinking behaviours. The present meta-analysis integrates results of longitudinal studies on change in AOE from childhood to emerging adulthood (age 23/24).

APPROACH

A systematic search in electronic databases identified 64 studies that were analysed with three-level meta-analyses.

KEY FINDINGS

AOE about positive and social consequences tended to increase, on average, from childhood to middle or late adolescence, respectively. In contrast, negative AOE declined over time. Change in positive, social and tension reduction AOE were described as an inverted u-shaped curve. The strongest increase of more than two standard deviation units was observed with regard to social AOE between the age of 7 and 16, followed by small decline in the transition to emerging adulthood.

IMPLICATIONS

The meta-analysis found evidence for strong increases of positive AOE from childhood to middle or late adolescence.

CONCLUSIONS

The results inform about reasonable age-ranges for expectancy-challenging interventions. To obtain a clearer picture of change in AOE beyond adolescence, longitudinal research is needed on younger children and beyond college age.

The paradoxical association between tension-reduction alcohol outcome expectancies and tension following alcohol consumption

BACKGROUND

Behavioral models suggest that strong tension-reduction alcohol-outcome expectancies (TREs) among drinkers should be associated with greater tension reduction after drinking. Yet, the few studies investigating this have found either no relationship or the opposite relationship.

OBJECTIVES

We sought to explore this relationship by building upon the limitations of past studies and employing a placebo-controlled, within-subject experimental design.

METHODS

Sixty social drinkers (26 M, 34 F) visited the lab on two occasions spaced one week apart. Each participant was randomly assigned to receive alcoholic drinks targeting a BAC of 0.05% on one testing day and placebo drinks on the other, with the order counter-balanced. On both testing days, participants completed measures of state anxiety and fear both before drinking and following a drinking/absorption period. While completing the self-report measures, participants were anticipating an impending, mildly stressful heartbeat perception task.

RESULTS

Multilevel modeling revealed that the more strongly individuals believed that alcohol reduces tension, the less the pharmacologic properties of alcohol did so (p = .02 for the state anxiety outcome measure; p = .001 for the fear outcome measure). This was the case even with anxiety sensitivity - a known predictor of stress-response dampening - controlled for.

CONCLUSIONS

These results provide further evidence for the paradoxical association of TREs and the dampening of anxiety. Additionally, the findings are consistent with the basis of expectancy challenges that aim to reframe inaccurate TREs among drinkers.

Drinking Together and Drinking Alone: A Social-Contextual Framework for Examining Risk for Alcohol Use Disorder

The context in which drinking occurs is a critical but relatively understudied factor in alcohol use disorder (AUD) etiology. In this article, I offer a social-contextual framework for examining AUD risk by reviewing studies on the unique antecedents and deleterious consequences of social versus solitary alcohol use in adolescents and young adults. Specifically, I provide evidence of distinct emotion regulatory functions across settings, with social drinking linked to enhancing positive emotions and social experiences and solitary drinking linked to coping with negative emotions. I end by considering the conceptual, methodological, and clinical implications of this social-contextual account of AUD risk.

The Altered Course of Learning: How Alcohol Outcome Expectancies Are Shaped by First Drinking Experiences

According to expectancy theory, outcome expectancies are first formed vicariously (through observing other people) and then through direct experience. This cohort-sequential longitudinal study explored these expectancy origins in 1,023 youths (52% female, ages 10.5-15.5 years at recruitment, M = 12.47 years, SD = 0.95). Discontinuous multilevel growth models described patterns of change in expectancies before and after the first experience of distinct drinking milestones (i.e., first sip, first full drink, first heavy-drinking situation). Youths' expectations for positive and negative drinking outcomes generally increased and decreased over adolescence, respectively, reflecting general developmental trends. Drinking experiences altered learning trajectories, however, reifying positive expectancies and invalidating negative expectancies at each milestone and altering the course of expectancy change thereafter. For positive outcome expectancies, the influence of direct experience on learning was stronger when drinking milestones were met at an earlier age. Conversely, invalidation of negative expectancies was stronger when the first-drink milestone was met at a later age.

Increased ethanol intake is associated with social anxiety in offspring exposed to ethanol on gestational day 12

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) can result in physical, cognitive, and neurological deficits termed Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Deficits in social functioning associated with PAE are frequently observed and persist throughout the lifespan. Social impairments, such as social anxiety, are associated with increased alcohol abuse, which is also highly pervasive following PAE. Yet, the relationship between PAE-induced social alterations and alcohol intake later in life is not well understood. In order to test this relationship, we exposed pregnant female Sprague Dawley rats to a single instance of PAE on gestational day 12, a period of substantial neural development, and tested offspring in adulthood (postnatal day 63) in a modified social interaction test followed by alternating alone and social ethanol intake sessions. Consistent with our previous findings, we found that, in general, PAE reduced social preference (measure of social anxiety-like behavior) in female but not male adults. However, ethanol intake was significantly higher in the PAE group regardless of sex. When dividing subjects according to level of social anxiety-like behavior (low, medium, or high), PAE males (under both drinking contexts) and control females (under the social drinking context) with a high social anxiety phenotype showed the highest level of ethanol intake. Taken together, these data indicate that PAE differentially affects the interactions between social anxiety, ethanol intake, and drinking context in males and females. These findings extend our understanding of the complexity and persistence of PAE's sex-dependent effects into adulthood.

Effects of Observable Parent Alcohol Consequences and Parent Alcohol Disorder on Adolescent Alcohol Expectancies

BACKGROUND

Parental drinking and parent alcohol use disorder (AUD) are known predictors of adolescent positive alcohol expectancies, but their link to negative expectancies is unclear. Research suggests that parent drinking may indirectly predict adolescent expectancies through exposure to parental drinking events. However, exposure to parent negative alcohol consequences may be more relevant to adolescents' expectancies. The present study tested the mediating effect of parent observable negative alcohol consequences in the association between parent AUD and adolescent expectancies.

METHODS

This study used parent and adolescent data from the Adult and Family Development Project. A total of 581 adolescents reported on their alcohol expectancies across 2 waves of data, and their parents reported on potentially observable alcohol-related negative consequences during the first wave. Past-year and lifetime parent AUD were assessed with diagnostic interviews across 6 waves of data.

RESULTS

Mothers' observable consequences mediated the effect of her past-year AUD on adolescent negative expectancies in adolescence, but this effect did not hold at a 1.5-year follow-up. Mothers' lifetime AUD was the only prospective predictor of later adolescent negative expectancies. No father drinking variables predicted expectancies, and all models were invariant across child biological sex. Finally, older adolescent age prospectively predicted higher positive expectancies, whereas the adolescents' own drinking predicted lower negative expectancies.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings, in line with other recent studies, suggest that exposure to mothers' negative experiences with alcohol may counterintuitively normalize negative alcohol effects. This may paradoxically increase risk for adolescents rather than buffering the effects of a family history of parental AUD.

Mis-anaesthetized society: expectancies and recreational use of ketamine in Taiwan

Background

The popularity of ketamine for recreational use has been increasing in Asia, including Taiwan. Still, little known about the pattern of ketamine expectancies and whether such patterns are related to ketamine use. This study aimed to examine whether the positive and negative ketamine expectancies are differentially associated with ketamine-using behavior, and whether such relationship may differ by early-onset use of tobacco or alcohol.

Methods

Participants were recruited using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) among regular tobacco and alcohol users, aged 18 to 50, residing in Taipei from 2007 to 2010. Totally 1115 participants (with an age distribution skewed to the right, median = 26; interquartile range: 22–32) had information on substance use and completed a 12-item ketamine expectancies questionnaire (with 6 positive and 6 negative statements). Using two axes of High and Low expectancies, the four combinations of binary positive and binary negative ketamine expectancies were created. Each participant’s drug-using experience was categorized into illicit drug naïve, exclusive ketamine use, polydrug ketamine use, or other illicit drug use. Using the weights in the network output by RDS Analysis Tool, multivariable logistic regression analysis was then conducted.

Results

The weighted prevalence was 2.4% for exclusive ketamine use, 9.0% for polydrug ketamine use, and 9.1% for the other illicit drug use. Ketamine users (11.4%) had greater positive expectancies and lower negative expectancies, particularly the combination of High Positive with Low Negative, as compared to the illicit drug-naïve or other illicit drug users. After adjustment for early-onset tobacco (or alcohol) use and sociodemographic characteristics, High Positive, Low Negative, and their combination of High Positive-Low Negative expectancies remained strongly associated with ketamine uses, without evidence of moderation from early-onset use of tobacco or alcohol.

Conclusions

Positive and negative ketamine expectancies were associated in opposite directions with ketamine use, independent of early-onset use of tobacco or alcohol. Our results indicate ketamine expectancies as possible targets for future intervention and prevention of ketamine use, with a less confrontational feedback on decreasing an individual’s positive expectancies is essential in preventing young people from the initiation of ketamine use.

A risk model for addictive behaviors in adolescents: interactions between personality and learning

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

To determine whether transdiagnostic risk, represented as elevations in one high-risk personality trait, interacts with behavior-specific risk, represented as elevated expectancies for reinforcement from either drinking or smoking, to account partly for early adolescent drinking and smoking behavior.

DESIGN

Multiple regression analysis.

SETTING

Twenty-three public schools in two school systems in the United States.

PARTICIPANTS

A sample of 1897 adolescents tested in the spring of 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades.

MEASUREMENTS

Transdiagnostic risk was measured as negative urgency, the tendency to act rashly when distressed, using the UPPS-P child version. Drinking-specific and smoking-specific risk were measured as expectancies for reinforcement from drinking and smoking, using the Memory Model-Based Expectancy Questionnaire (alcohol) and the Adolescent Smoking Consequences Questionnaire (smoking).

FINDINGS

There was consistent concurrent prediction from the interactions of (a) negative urgency and alcohol reinforcement expectancies to early adolescent drinking and (b) negative urgency and smoking reinforcement expectancies to early adolescent smoking, above and beyond prediction from the main effects of those variables. In each case, expectancies were more predictive at higher levels of negative urgency. Incremental R2 values for main effects ranged from 0.07 to 0.26, and for interactions ranged from 0.01 to 0.03. Prospectively, the main effects predicted subsequent behavior but the interaction effects did not, except in one case.

CONCLUSIONS

Among elementary and high school students in the United States, the joint effects of negative urgency and behavior-specific expectancies help to explain drinking and smoking behavior. Joint elevations on the trait and the learning variable account for drinking and smoking behavior beyond the main effects of each predictor. However, there is reason to doubt whether the joint effects predict subsequent increases in drinking and smoking beyond the main effects of those variables.

Grandiose and vulnerable narcissism: Associations with alcohol use, alcohol problems and problem recognition

OBJECTIVE

This study fills a gap in the literature by examining the relationship between two types of narcissism, vulnerable and grandiose, and five alcohol-related outcomes (ie, alcohol use, alcohol problems, evaluation and expectancies of problems, and readiness to change).

PARTICIPANTS

345 college students (28% men, 72% women) from a Midwestern university were recruited from undergraduate psychology courses from April 2015 to October 2016.

METHODS

Participants completed an online survey with questionnaires measuring the variables of interest. Multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.

RESULTS

Grandiose narcissism was a positive predictor of alcohol consumption and a positive (ie, good) evaluation of alcohol-related problems. Vulnerable narcissism was a positive predictor of alcohol-related problems, problem recognition (ie, readiness to change), and problem expectancies.

CONCLUSIONS

The results speak to the effects that different types of narcissism have on alcohol use, alcohol problems and attitudes towards alcohol problems among young adults.

Racial/ethnic differences in the time-varying association between alcohol expectancies and drinking during the transition from childhood to adolescence

Alcohol expectancies are important determinants of adolescent drinking, but this relationship may differ based on race/ethnicity. This study used time-varying effect modeling to examine racial/ethnic differences in positive and negative alcohol expectancies and their relationship with drinking among White, African American, and Hispanic youth. Youth reported alcohol expectancies and drinking frequency from 5th grade to 10th grade. African Americans initially endorsed higher positive alcohol expectancies than Whites, but the relationship with drinking was stronger among Whites. Hispanic youth reported slightly higher negative alcohol expectancies in high school, but the relationship between negative expectancies and alcohol use was comparable across groups. The effect of expectancies on alcohol use outcomes may be more robust for Whites, which warrants investigation of risk factors for minority youth.

Ethanol facilitates socially evoked memory recall in mice by recruiting pain-sensitive anterior cingulate cortical neurons

Alcohol is a traditional social-bonding reinforcer; however, the neural mechanism underlying ethanol-driven social behaviors remains elusive. Here, we report that ethanol facilitates observational fear response. Observer mice exhibited stronger defensive immobility while observing cagemates that received repetitive foot shocks if the observer mice had experienced a brief priming foot shock. This enhancement was associated with an observation-induced recruitment of subsets of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) neurons in the observer mouse that were responsive to its own pain. The vicariously activated ACC neurons projected their axons preferentially to the basolateral amygdala. Ethanol shifted the ACC neuronal balance toward inhibition, facilitated the preferential ACC neuronal recruitment during observation, and enhanced observational fear response, independent of an oxytocin signaling pathway. Furthermore, ethanol enhanced socially evoked fear response in autism model mice.

Enhanced sensitivity to socially facilitating and anxiolytic effects of ethanol in adolescent Sprague Dawley rats following acute prenatal ethanol exposure

Emerging evidence suggests that deficits in social functioning and social anxiety are associated with adolescent alcohol use. Our previous research has shown that acute exposure to a high dose of ethanol on gestational day (G) 12 produces social alterations in adolescent Sprague Dawley rats. The present study assessed whether these social alterations can affect sensitivity to acute ethanol challenge during adolescence. Pregnant females were exposed intraperitoneally (i.p.) to ethanol (2.5 g/kg followed by 1.25 g/kg in 2 h) or saline on G12, and their male and female offspring were tested on postnatal day (P) 42. Rats were challenged i.p. with one of four ethanol doses (0, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 g/kg), and their social behavior was assessed in a modified social interaction test. Social alterations associated with prenatal ethanol exposure and indexed via decreases of social investigation, social preference, and play fighting were evident in males and females challenged with the 0 g/kg ethanol dose. Acute ethanol increased social investigation, social preference, and play fighting in animals prenatally exposed to ethanol. In contrast, rats prenatally exposed to saline, showing no social facilitation, demonstrated significant ethanol-induced (0.75 and 1.0 g/kg) decreases in social behavior. Given that late adolescents demonstrating social alterations induced by prenatal ethanol exposure become sensitive to the socially anxiolytic as well as socially facilitating effects of acute ethanol, it is possible that the attractiveness of ethanol to these adolescents may be based on its ability to alleviate anxiety under social circumstances and facilitate interactions with peers.

Personality and learning predictors of adolescent alcohol consumption trajectories

In a sample of 1,897 youth studied across the last year of elementary school to the second year of high school, we identified five trajectories of drinking frequency. Three of those (nondrinkers, middle onset, and late onset drinkers) were not drinking in elementary school; two others (moderate drinkers and early high drinkers) were. Among originally nondrinking groups, multiple impulsigenic traits and the acquired preparedness risk model predicted membership in groups that subsequently began drinking. Membership in trajectory groups characterized by drinking during this age period was associated with (a) the experience of alcohol-related problems and (b) further increases in both impulsigenic traits and alcohol expectancies. Youth vary considerably in the development of drinking behavior across the transitions from elementary to high school. Harms associated with early drinking involve both problems from drinking and increases in high-risk personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record

Effects of AMPA receptor antagonist, NBQX, and extrasynaptic GABAA agonist, THIP, on social behavior of adolescent and adult rats

Adolescence is characterized by high significance of social interactions, along with a propensity to exhibit social facilitating effects of ethanol while being less sensitive than adults to the inhibition of social behavior that emerges at higher doses of ethanol. Among the neural characteristics of adolescence are generally enhanced levels of glutamatergic (especially NMDA receptor) activity relative to adults, whereas the GABA system is still developmentally immature. Activation of NMDA receptors likely plays a role in modulation of social behavior in adolescent animals as well as in socially facilitating and suppressing effects of ethanol. For instance, adolescent and adult rats differ in their sensitivities to the effects of NMDA antagonists and ethanol on social behavior, with adolescents but not adults demonstrating social facilitation at lower doses of both drugs and adults being more sensitive to the socially suppressing effects evident at higher doses of each. The roles of AMPA and extrasynaptic GABA_A receptors in modulation of social behavior during adolescence and in adulthood are still unknown. The present study was designed to assess whether pharmacological blockade of AMPA receptors and/or activation of extrasynaptic GABA_A receptors results in age-dependent alterations of social behavior. Adolescent and adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with an assigned dose of either a selective AMPA antagonist, NBQX (Experiment 1) or extrasynaptic GABA_A agonist, THIP (Experiment 2) and placed into a modified social interaction chamber for a 30-min habituation period prior to a 10-min social interaction test with a novel age- and sex-matched partner. Behaviors such as social investigation, contact behavior and play behavior were scored from video recordings of the interaction tests. In Experiment 1, NBQX produced similar social inhibition at higher doses in both age groups. In Experiment 2, THIP induced inhibition in adolescents, but not adults. No social facilitation was evident following low doses of either drug. Therefore, AMPA and extrasynaptic GABA_A receptors appear to play little role if any in modulation of peer-directed social behavior in adolescence and adulthood and not likely to contribute to previously observed age differences in the social effects of acute ethanol.

Moving alcohol prevention research forward-Part I: introducing a complex systems paradigm

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

The drinking environment is a complex system consisting of a number of heterogeneous, evolving and interacting components, which exhibit circular causality and emergent properties. These characteristics reduce the efficacy of commonly used research approaches, which typically do not account for the underlying dynamic complexity of alcohol consumption and the interdependent nature of diverse factors influencing misuse over time. We use alcohol misuse among college students in the United States as an example for framing our argument for a complex systems paradigm.

METHODS

A complex systems paradigm, grounded in socio-ecological and complex systems theories and computational modeling and simulation, is introduced. Theoretical, conceptual, methodological and analytical underpinnings of this paradigm are described in the context of college drinking prevention research.

RESULTS

The proposed complex systems paradigm can transcend limitations of traditional approaches, thereby fostering new directions in alcohol prevention research. By conceptualizing student alcohol misuse as a complex adaptive system, computational modeling and simulation methodologies and analytical techniques can be used. Moreover, use of participatory model-building approaches to generate simulation models can further increase stakeholder buy-in, understanding and policymaking.

CONCLUSIONS

A complex systems paradigm for research into alcohol misuse can provide a holistic understanding of the underlying drinking environment and its long-term trajectory, which can elucidate high-leverage preventive interventions.

What Did You Expect? Substance Use Expectancies Mediate the Relationships Between Dark Triad Traits, Substance Use, and Substance Preference

This study explores the role of substance use expectancies as mediators between the Dark Triad of personality, substance use, and substance use preferences. A sample of college students ( M = 19.38, SD = 2.63, N = 207) completed an online questionnaire that assessed the Dark Triad traits, substance use history, substance preferences, and substance use expectancies. Three specific substance use expectancies-increased confidence, tension reduction, and cognitive enhancement-were shown to either partially or fully mediate the relationships between the Dark Triad and substance use behaviors and preference for certain substances of abuse. These findings may hold clinical implications for the treatment of substance use disorders and further the understanding of factors contributing to the etiology and progression of substance abuse and substance use disorders.

Validation of the Adolescent Drinking Expectancy Questionnaire and development of a short form

AIMS

This study aimed to validate the Drinking Expectancy Questionnaire-Adolescent version (DEQ-A) in a large adolescent sample and to develop and validate a brief measure, the Drinking Expectancy Questionnaire-Shortened Adolescent version (DEQ-SA).

DESIGN AND METHODS

Cross-sectional survey of secondary school students (n = 2357, aged 13-16, M = 14.66 years, SD = 0.60). Students completed the DEQ-A in school, and measures of alcohol consumption including the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption. The data were randomly split, and Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed using subsample 1, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis and reliability and validity testing were performed using subsample 2.

RESULTS

The 24-item DEQ-A was successfully reduced to 12 items (DEQ-SA) without compromising psychometric properties. The DEQ-A and the DEQ-SA both demonstrated adequate-to-good fit to the data and very good internal reliability. The DEQ-A and DEQ-SA explained 20 and 18% of the variance in alcohol consumption. Adolescents who drank endorsed more positive alcohol expectancies, whereas alcohol-naïve adolescents scored higher on negative alcohol expectancies. As the DEQ-SA comprises two subscales of the DEQ-A, the endorsement rates are applicable to both scales.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The DEQ-A and the short form of this scale developed in this study (DEQ-SA) show good reliability, internal structure and account for a large proportion of variance in alcohol consumption. Both scales can assist in targeting cognitive change processes within tailored alcohol prevention and treatment approaches, and investigating hypothesised mechanisms of change. The DEQ-SA is recommended for more time-limited environments. [Patton KA, Connor JP, Rundle-Thiele S, Dietrich T, Young RM, Gullo MJ. Validation of the Adolescent Drinking Expectancy Questionnaire and development of a short form.

Racial differences in the link between alcohol expectancies and adolescent drinking

INTRODUCTION

Alcohol expectancies are important determinants and predictors of adolescent alcohol use. Research with African Americans has shown that the endorsement of positive alcohol expectancies differs from that of Whites during childhood and predicts different alcohol outcomes during young adulthood. However, limited research has explored racial differences in the relationship between expectancy endorsement and alcohol use in school-aged adolescents. The current study examines the effect of White or African American race on the relationship between positive alcohol expectancies and alcohol use.

METHODS

Participants were 104 adolescents ages 12-18 who identified as either non-Hispanic White or non-Hispanic African American. Participants completed self-report measures of alcohol consumption and positive social alcohol expectancies.

RESULTS

Preliminary analyses revealed no racial differences in alcohol expectancies or consumption. However, race moderated the relationship between alcohol expectancies and alcohol use such that more positive expectancies predicted alcohol use among White youth, but not African American youth.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that alcohol expectancies, which were thought to be important mediators of the relationship between social and personality factors and adolescent alcohol use may not be as impactful for African Americans. Future research should focus on identifying factors posing unique risk for alcohol consumption in this population.

Early life predictors of alcohol-related attitudes among 11-year-old never drinkers

Alcohol-related attitudes are evident before children have personal experience drinking alcohol and represent key proximal predictors of alcohol use, but relatively little is known about how early life characteristics predict these attitudes. Among late childhood lifetime alcohol abstainers (M_age=10.67years; 51% girls), we examine predictors of positive alcohol expectancies and perceived risk of alcohol use. Data from the Millennium Cohort Study, an ongoing nationally representative longitudinal study of children born in the UK, were available from 11,097 children who completed the self-report survey at modal age 11 and reported never drinking alcohol. A sequential structural model suggested that sociodemographic factors were distal predictors of age 11 alcohol attitudes that operated, in part, through family and child risk factors (measured at ages 3 to 7). Alcohol attitudes varied by sociodemographics; for example, boys had higher positive expectancies than girls and White British children had higher positive expectancies and lower perceived risk than Black British and Asian British children. In terms of family factors, parent alcohol problems predicted children's lower perceived risk, and higher parent-child conflict predicted more positive expectancies. For child factors, children's greater cognitive skills predicted higher perceived risk, and internalizing problems predicted more positive expectancies. Indirect effects from sociodemographics through parent-child conflict and internalizing problems predicted positive expectancies; indirect effects through parent alcohol problems and cognitive skills predicted perceived risk. Future research should delve further into mechanisms underlying the development of alcohol attitudes and their potential as malleable targets for prevention.

Internalizing symptoms and conduct problems: Redundant, incremental, or interactive risk factors for adolescent substance use during the first year of high school?

AIM

The complex interplay of externalizing and internalizing problems in substance use risk is not well understood. This study tested whether the relationship of conduct problems and several internalizing disorders with future substance use is redundant, incremental, or interactive in adolescents.

METHODS

Two semiannual waves of data from the Happiness and Health Study were used, which included 3383 adolescents (M age=14.1years old; 53% females) in Los Angeles who were beginning high school at baseline. Logistic regression models tested the likelihood of past six-month alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and any substance use at follow-up conditional on baseline conduct problems, symptoms of one of several internalizing disorders (i.e., Social Phobia and Major Depressive, Generalized Anxiety, Panic, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), and their interaction adjusting for baseline use and other covariates.

FINDINGS

Conduct problems were a robust and consistent risk factor of each substance use outcome at follow-up. When adjusting for the internalizing-conduct comorbidity, depressive symptoms were the only internalizing problem whose risk for alcohol, tobacco, and any substance use was incremental to conduct problems. With the exception of social phobia, antagonistic interactive relationships between each internalizing disorder and conduct problems were found when predicting any substance use; internalizing symptoms was a more robust risk factor for substance use in teens with low (vs. high) conduct problems.

CONCLUSIONS

Although internalizing and externalizing problems both generally increase risk of substance use, a closer look reveals important nuances in these risk pathways, particularly among teens with comorbid externalizing and internalizing problems.

Moderation of the Expectancy-Alcohol Use Relation by Private Self-Consciousness: Data from a Longitudinal Study

This study investigated whether the relation between alcohol outcome expectancies and alcohol use may be moderated by individual differences in private self-consciousness (PSC). Quantity/frequency of alcohol use, expectancies, and PSC in a sample of young adults were assessed annually over 4 years. Regression equations were used to predict alcohol use from expectancies, PSC, and their interaction while controlling for sex and family history of alcoholism. High PSC was associated with a stronger association between expectancies and alcohol use than was low PSC, although only in participants of legal drinking age. Also, PSC was negatively associated with alcohol use for underage participants when expectancies were statistically controlled, consistent with previous work linking PSC to adherence to legal proscriptions. Findings are discussed in relation to a model of expectancy accessibility.

Implications of an Emerging Integration of Universal and Culturally Specific Psychologies

Psychological researchers increasingly recognize that human behavior reflects a complex interplay of universal human capacities, cultural responses to unique histories and circumstances, and individual differences. Many psychological processes appear to reflect culturally specific instantiations of universal capacities. Current integrative research focuses on further clarifying definitions of universality and on refining methods for identifying universal and cultural components of psychological processes. In this article, we consider implications of this emerging integration. To illustrate possible implications for psychology, we apply it to the study of psychopathology. We report on formal models that explain why some cultures embrace dysfunction among members. We then use the integrative framework to describe methods for determining whether putative disorders bring universal or contextual life dysfunction and to clarify etiological models of three disorders. Models of psychopathology can be more informed and precise if they include careful consideration of both universal and cultural influences on behavior.

Dynamic associations among alcohol use and anxiety symptoms in early adolescence

The relationship between anxiety and alcohol use in adolescence remains unclear, with evidence for no association and for risk and protective effects of anxiety. Considering developmental trajectories may be important for understanding the association between anxiety and alcohol use and may help clarify prior mixed findings. The present study examined trajectories of alcohol use, social anxiety symptoms, and general anxiety symptoms in early to middle adolescence through the use of univariate and parallel process growth models. Social anxiety and general anxiety symptoms declined, while alcohol use increased with age. Parallel process growth models suggested that less rapid declines in social anxiety and general anxiety symptoms were associated with more rapid escalation in alcohol use. These results suggest that young adolescents who do not show normative declines in social anxiety or general anxiety symptoms may be at risk for more rapid increases in alcohol use.

Risk for Substance Abuse: Memory as a Common Etiological Pathway

Memory processes may be part of the causal chain by which known antecedents of alcohol and drug abuse influence drinking. Recent findings on alcohol expectancies are consistent with a memory model and help articulate how consumption may be influenced by memory representations of biological and environmental characteristics. This line of research suggests novel prevention and intervention strategies.

Acute prenatal exposure to ethanol on gestational day 12 elicits opposing deficits in social behaviors and anxiety-like behaviors in Sprague Dawley rats

Our previous research has shown that in Long Evans rats acute prenatal exposure to a high dose of ethanol on gestational day (G) 12 produces social deficits in male offspring and elicits substantial decreases in social preference relative to controls, in late adolescents and adults regardless of sex. In order to generalize the observed detrimental effects of ethanol exposure on G12, pregnant female Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to ethanol or saline and their offspring were assessed in a modified social interaction (SI) test as early adolescents, late adolescents, or young adults. Anxiety-like behavior was also assessed in adults using the elevated plus maze (EPM) or the light/dark box (LDB) test. Age- and sex-dependent social alterations were evident in ethanol-exposed animals. Ethanol-exposed males showed deficits in social investigation at all ages and age-dependent alterations in social preference. Play fighting was not affected in males. In contrast, ethanol-exposed early adolescent females showed no changes in social interactions, whereas older females demonstrated social deficits and social indifference. In adulthood, anxiety-like behavior was decreased in males and females prenatally exposed to ethanol in the EPM, but not the LDB. These findings suggest that social alterations associated with acute exposure to ethanol on G12 are not strain-specific, although they are more pronounced in Long Evans males and Sprague Dawley females. Furthermore, given that anxiety-like behaviors were attenuated in a test-specific manner, this study indicates that early ethanol exposure can have differential effects on different forms of anxiety.

Differences in weekday versus weekend drinking among nonstudent emerging adults

In the current investigation, we sought to examine "day-of-the-week" drinking of an at-risk sample of nonstudent emerging adults and whether specific factors are associated with differential drinking patterns. Our study aims were to (a) identify differences in weekday versus weekend drinking, and (b) examine specific expectancies (i.e., sociability, tension reduction) and demographic factors (e.g., age, sex) relating to weekend versus weekday drinking after controlling for harmful drinking and holiday drinking. Participants were heavy-drinking noncollege attenders recruited from the community (N = 238; 63.4% men, 35.7% women; M age = 21.92 years). They reported daily drinking for the previous 30 days and completed measures of harmful drinking, alcohol expectancies, and demographic information. Results showed that more drinks were consumed on the weekends (i.e., Thursday to Saturday) than weekdays, with 63% of drinks consumed on weekends. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that weekday drinking was associated with tension-reduction expectancies, social expectancies, sex, and age. Weekend-drinking increases were related to social expectancies, but not tension-reduction expectancies. Our final model indicated that, after controlling for the effect of holiday drinking, the within-person weekday-weekend distinction explained 18% of the total variance. In general, our findings highlight the importance of alcohol expectancies and drinking contexts in understanding the drinking behaviors of nonstudents. The differential role of tension-reduction and social-facilitation expectancies on drinking throughout the week imply that different cognitive pathways are involved in weekday versus weekend drinking, and both types of expected alcohol effects should be targets of risk-reduction efforts with nonstudent drinkers.

Trajectories and correlates of reasons for abstaining or limiting drinking during adolescence

INTRODUCTION

Our aim was to enhance understanding of the trajectory of reasons for abstaining and limiting drinking (RALD) over the course of adolescence and how RALD levels or trajectories may differ based on lifetime experience with alcohol and/or gender.

METHODS

Participants were 1023 middle school students (52% female) who completed online surveys at baseline and five follow-ups over a 3-year period, assessing lifetime sip and full drink of alcohol and RALD. Hierarchical linear models were used to estimate change over time in total RALD and RALD subscales (upbringing, performance/control). Between-person (gender and drinking status) correlates of average RALD and change in RALD over time were considered.

RESULTS

RALD total and subscale scores significantly decreased over time (ages 10.5-16.5). Drinking experience in both milestones (sip, full drink) was found to be a significant moderator of change in RALD over time; decline was fastest among adolescents reporting lifetime experience with drinking. Boys reported lower RALD, though the pace of change in RALD across time did not differ by gender.

CONCLUSIONS

This was the first study to report prospective changes in the cognitive domain of RALD among young adolescents. That change over time in RALD is moderated by drinking experience suggests an increased risk among those with earlier drinking experience. Findings highlight the importance of considering sipping, not just consumption of a full drink, as a pivotal developmental milestone. Prevention efforts that target RALD are implicated and parent-based intervention strategies may be beneficial.

Why Do Different Individuals Progress Along Different Life Trajectories?

The core marker of progress in psychological science is the degree to which our work enhances the welfare of people. In order to effectively enhance human welfare, we must develop comprehensive models that explain why different individuals progress along different life trajectories. Exciting theoretical accounts that describe transitional processes from gene polymorphisms through moment-to-moment behavior are beginning to emerge. These early accounts highlight opportunities to investigate specific transitional steps along that long pathway, the need to understand the universal and the contextual aspects of psychological processes, and the need to define and measure psychological constructs with more precision and clarity. It is likely that creative new research in each of these areas will bring enormous progress over the coming decade.

How do we 'learn' addiction? Risk factors and mechanisms getting addicted to alcohol

BACKGROUND

Alcohol dependence is one of the leading contributors to the burden of disease in the world. A range of genetic and environmental risk factors has been identified to date, and preclinical and clinical studies including imaging studies have identified neuronal networks involved in the development of alcohol dependence.

METHODS

We review genetic and environmental risk factors for the development of alcohol addiction as well as structural and neuronal changes, including their transmitter systems, due to regular alcohol intake.

RESULTS

Stress as well as family background and, in juveniles, the peer group could be identified as environmental risk factors for alcohol dependence. Heritability is estimated at around 50%, and it seems to be comparable in women and men. There is ongoing research on a broad range of putative endophenotypes such as tolerance of the effects of alcohol intake or personal traits like 'impulsivity'. On the neurobiological level, chronic alcohol intake seems to render mesolimbic circuits hypersensitive to alcohol and alter the motivational reward system including dopaminergic neurotransmission.

CONCLUSION

Environmental and genetic risk factors, and especially their interaction, facilitate the development of alcohol dependence. Ongoing alcohol intake results in profound alterations of neuronal systems crucial for motivation, learning, memory and cognition control. Future studies should further combine the knowledge of neurobiological mechanisms and risk factors to develop new prevention strategies.

Longitudinal test of a developmental model of the transition to early drinking

This article reports on a longitudinal test of a developmental model of early drinking that specifies transactions among personality, learning, and behavior in the risk process. The model was tested on 1,906 children making the transition from elementary school to middle school across 3 time points: the spring of 5th grade, the fall of 6th grade, and the spring of 6th grade. In a transaction that has been referred to as acquired preparedness, individual differences in the trait positive urgency at the end of 5th grade were associated with increases in expectancies for social facilitation from alcohol at the start of 6th grade, which then predicted drinker status at the end of 6th grade. In addition, the alcohol expectancy and drinker status predicted each other reciprocally across time. Multiple factors appear to transact to predict early drinking behavior.

Drinking like everyone else: trait self-control moderates the association between peer and personal heavy episodic drinking

BACKGROUND

Alcohol consumption often appears to be under social influence. However, we know relatively little about whether some people are particularly likely to exhibit similar drinking patterns to their peers.

OBJECTIVES

Here we tested the extent to which trait social approval concerns and trait self-control are associated with the likelihood that individuals display similar heavy episodic drinking patterns to their peers.

METHOD

One thousand and fifty-six young adults participated in an online study. We measured trait social approval concerns (the Need to Belong scale) and trait self-control (the Self-Control scale) alongside personal heavy episodic drinking and perceptions of peer heavy episodic drinking.

RESULTS

Beliefs that one's peers (other students) drank heavily were associated with heavier personal episodic drinking. This relationship was moderated by trait self-control: The correlation between personal heavy episodic drinking and perceived peer drinking was much stronger in those with low self-control compared with those with high self-control. Contrary to hypotheses, trait social approval concerns did not moderate the relationship between perceived peer drinking and personal heavy episodic drinking.

CONCLUSIONS

Social norms about drinking could act as a form of informational cue for one's own alcohol consumption, but the extent to which individuals follow or override this cue may depend on individual differences in self-control.

Drinking experience uncovers genetic influences on alcohol expectancies across adolescence

AIMS

To test whether drinking onset moderates genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in the etiology of alcohol expectancies across adolescence.

DESIGN

Longitudinal twin design.

SETTING

Community sample from Los Angeles, CA, USA.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 1292 male and female twins, aged 11–18years, were assessed at 1 (n = 440), 2 (n = 587) or 3 (n = 265) occasions as part of the risk factors for the Antisocial Behavior Twin Study.

MEASUREMENTS

Social behavioral (SB) alcohol expectancies were measured using an abbreviated version of the Social Behavioral subscale from the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire for adolescents (AEQ-A). Drinking onset was defined as >1 full drink of alcohol.

FINDINGS

Alcohol expectancies increased over age and the increase became more rapid following onset of drinking. The importance of genetic and environmental influences on SB scores varied with age and drinking status, such that variation prior to drinking onset was attributed solely to environmental influences, whereas all post-onset variation was attributed to genetic influences. Results did not differ significantly by sex.

CONCLUSION

Only environmental factors explain beliefs about the social and behavioral consequences of alcohol use prior to drinking onset,whereas genetic factors explain an increasing proportion of the variance in these beliefs after drinking onset.

Alcohol use among reserve-dwelling adult First Nation members: use, problems, and intention to change drinking behavior

INTRODUCTION

Although alcohol use was not part of traditional First Nation (FN) life, alcohol misuse currently poses a significant public health problem. There is a dearth of research efforts to understand both alcohol misuse and efforts to resolve these problems. The primary aims of this study were to 1) present descriptive data on alcohol use in FN adults living on one reserve in Eastern Canada; and 2) explore correlates of help seeking intentions and past behaviors.

METHODS

We administered questionnaires to 211 FN people (96 men; 113 women; 2 unknown).

RESULTS

Nearly two-thirds of our sample were current drinkers (N=150). Of those, 29% endorsed they needed help with their drinking, and half reported that they would probably try to cut down or stop drinking in the next year. Multiple regression analyses suggested that drinking was positively associated with a greater perceived need for help with drinking (β=.40, p=<.001). Lower scores on a measure of cultural identity (i.e., stronger FN identity) was associated with a greater perceived need for help with drinking (β=-.18, p=.04). Greater endorsement of past year attempts to stop drinking (β=.33, p<.001) and higher alcohol reduction expectancies (β=.43, p<.00) were positively associated and lower scores on cultural identity (i.e., stronger FN identity) (β=-.19, p=.03) was associated with trying to cut down or stop drinking in the next year.

CONCLUSIONS

Future research should explore the nature of cultural identity as a protective factor.

Peer influences on alcohol expectancies in early adolescence: a study of concurrent and prospective predictors in Taiwan

The effects of peers on three domains of alcohol expectancies through early adolescence were prospectively examined over 2 years. Information on pubertal development, parental drinking, peer characteristics, network structure, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol consumption was assessed in a three-wave longitudinal study of 779 6th graders (~12 years of age) randomly selected from northern Taiwan. Complex survey regression analyses, stratified by drinking experience in 6th grade, were performed to identify predictors of two positive (i.e., enhanced social behaviors and relaxation/tension reduction) and one negative alcohol expectancies (i.e., cognitive/behavioral deterioration) in 7th grade. The results showed that the effects of peer influence on adolescents' alcohol expectancies varied by prior drinking experiences and by expectancy domains. For the alcohol naive, recent exposure to peer drinking was significantly associated with positive and negative alcohol expectancies in grade 7, and this association was moderated by advanced pubertal development (ESBlate puberty: ßwt=0.55; ESBearly puberty: ßwt=-0.40; PRTRlate puberty: ßwt=0.01; PRTRearly puberty: ßwt=1.22; CBD late puberty: ßwt=-0.84; CBDearly puberty: ßwt=0.56). For the alcohol experienced, neither peer drinking nor pubertal development showed any significant links with alcohol expectancies. Occupying a bridge position was slightly linked with negative expectancy (ßwt=0.25). Concurrent drinking serves as a strong predictor for the endorsed alcohol expectancy in both groups, particularly for the domain of enhanced social behaviors. If these effects are confirmed, knowledge of the effect of interplay between peer factors and pubertal development on alcohol expectancies in early adolescence can provide effective targets in prevention programs.

Alcohol expectancies in childhood: change with the onset of drinking and ability to predict adolescent drunkenness and binge drinking

AIMS

We examined the relationship between alcohol expectancies in childhood and onset of drinking, binge drinking and drunkenness in adolescence and the influence of drinking onset on expectancy development.

DESIGN

A prospective, longitudinal study of children assessed for alcohol expectancies and drinking at four time-points between ages 6 and 17 years.

SETTING

Community study of families at high risk for alcoholism conducted in a four-county area in the Midwestern United States.

PARTICIPANTS

The study involved 614 children; 460 were children of alcoholics and 70% were male.

MEASUREMENTS

Expectancies about alcohol effects were measured using the Beverage Opinion Questionnaire and child's drinking by the Drinking and Drug History-Youth Form.

FINDINGS

Partial factor invariance was found for expectancy factors from ages 6 to 17 years. Survival analysis showed that social/relaxation expectancies in childhood predicted time to onset of binge drinking and first time drunk (Wald χ(2) , 1 d.f. = 3.8, P = 0.05 and 5.0, P < 0.05, respectively). The reciprocal effect was also present; when adolescents began drinking, there was an increase in social/relaxation expectancy and a concomitant increase in slope of the expectancy changes lasting throughout adolescence.

CONCLUSIONS

A reciprocal relationship exists between childhood alcohol expectancies and the development of alcohol involvement. Higher expectancies for positive effects predict earlier onset of problem drinking. Onset of use, in turn, predicts an increase in rate of development of positive expectancies.

Sex differences in sensitivity to the social consequences of acute ethanol and social drinking during adolescence

In human adolescents, sociable males frequently drink to enhance positive emotional states, whereas anxious females often drink to avoid negative affective states. This study used a rat model of adolescence to provide information regarding possible sex differences in contributors to social drinking. The effects of ethanol (0, 0.5, and 0.75g/kg) on play fighting and social preference were assessed on P30, P32, and P34 using a within-subject design. Then animals were tested in a social drinking paradigm (P37-P40), with this testing revealing high drinkers and low drinkers. Sex differences in sensitivity to ethanol emerged among high and low drinkers. High socially drinking males, but not females, when tested prior to drinking sessions, showed significant increases in play fighting at both doses. In low drinking males, play fighting was increased by 0.5g/kg ethanol, whereas the higher dose of 0.75g/kg produced significant decreases in play fighting. High drinking females initially showed low levels of social preference than high drinking males and low drinking females and were extremely sensitive to ethanol-induced enhancement of this social measure. Low social drinkers, both males and females, were more sensitive to the suppressing effects of ethanol on social preference following 0.75g/kg ethanol. These findings indicate that during adolescence enhanced sensitivity to the facilitating effects of ethanol on play fighting is associated with heavy drinking among males, whereas low social preference together with high sensitivity to ethanol-induced enhancement of social preference is related to high social drinking in females.

Effects of acute ethanol exposure on anxiety measures and epigenetic modifiers in the extended amygdala of adolescent rats

Epigenetic mechanisms appear to play an important role in neurodevelopment. We investigated the effects of acute ethanol exposure on anxiety measures and function of histone deacetylases (HDAC) and DNA methyltransferases (DNMT) in the amygdala and bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BNST) of adolescent rats. One hour after ethanol exposure, rats were subjected to anxiety measures. A subset of adolescent rats was exposed to two doses (24 h apart) of ethanol (2 g/kg) to measure rapid ethanol tolerance to anxiolysis. The HDAC and DNMT activities and mRNA levels of DNMT isoforms were measured in the amygdala and BNST. The lower dose of ethanol (1 g/kg) produced neither anxiolysis, nor inhibited the HDAC and DNMT activities in the amygdala and BNST, except DNMT activity in BNST was attenuated. Anxiolysis by ethanol was observed at 2 and 2.25 g/kg, whereas higher doses (2.5 and 3 g/kg) were found to be sedative. DNMT activity in the amygdala and BNST, and nuclear HDAC activity in the amygdala, but not in the BNST were also inhibited by these doses of ethanol. A lack of tolerance was observed on ethanol-induced inhibition of DNMT activity in the amygdala and BNST, and nuclear HDAC activity in the amygdala, as well to anxiolysis produced by ethanol (2 g/kg). The DNMT1, DNMT3a, and DNMT3b mRNA expression in the amygdala was not affected by either 1or 2 doses of 2 g/kg. However, DNMT1 and DNMT3a expression in the BNST was increased, whereas DNMT3l mRNA was decreased in the amygdala, after 2 doses of 2 g/kg ethanol. These results suggest that reduced sensitivity to anxiolysis and the lack of rapid tolerance to the anxiolytic effects of ethanol and inhibition of HDAC and DNMT functions may play a role in engaging adolescents in binge drinking patterns.

Social consequences of ethanol: Impact of age, stress, and prior history of ethanol exposure

The adolescent period is associated with high significance of interactions with peers, high frequency of stressful situations, and high rates of alcohol use. At least two desired effects of alcohol that may contribute to heavy and problematic drinking during adolescence are its abilities to both facilitate interactions with peers and to alleviate anxiety, perhaps especially anxiety seen in social contexts. Ethanol-induced social facilitation can be seen using a simple model of adolescence in the rat, with normal adolescents, but not their more mature counterparts, demonstrating this ethanol-related social facilitation. Prior repeated stress induces expression of ethanol-induced social facilitation in adults and further enhances socially facilitating effects of ethanol among adolescent rats. In contrast, under normal circumstances, adolescent rats are less sensitive than adults to the social inhibition induced by higher ethanol doses and are insensitive to the socially anxiolytic effects of ethanol. Sensitivity to the socially anxiolytic effects of ethanol can be modified by prior stress or ethanol exposure at both ages. Shortly following repeated restraint or ethanol exposure, adolescents exhibit social anxiety-like behavior, indexed by reduced social preference, and enhanced sensitivity to the socially anxiolytic effects of ethanol, indexed through ethanol-associated reinstatement of social preference in these adolescents. Repeated restraint, but not repeated ethanol, induces similar effects in adults as well, eliciting social anxiety-like behavior and increasing their sensitivity to the socially anxiolytic effects of acute ethanol; the stressor also decreases sensitivity of adults to ethanol-induced social inhibition. The persisting consequences of early adolescent ethanol exposure differ from its immediate consequences, with males exposed early in adolescence, but not females or those exposed later in adolescence, showing social anxiety-like behavior when tested in adulthood. Adult males exposed to ethanol early in adolescence also show enhanced sensitivity to the socially facilitating effects of ethanol, whereas adult males exposed to ethanol during late adolescence demonstrate insensitivity to the socially suppressing effects of ethanol. To the extent that these results are applicable to humans, stressful live events may make alcohol more attractive for stressed adolescents and adults due to its socially facilitating and socially anxiolytic properties, therefore fostering high levels of drinking. Retention of adolescent-typical responsiveness to alcohol in adult males following adolescent alcohol exposure, including enhanced sensitivity to the socially facilitating effects of ethanol following early exposure and insensitivity to the socially inhibiting effects following late adolescent exposure, may put these males at risk for the development of alcohol-related disorders later in life.

Beliefs and attitudes regarding drug treatment: application of the theory of planned behavior in African-American cocaine users

BACKGROUND

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) can provide insights into perceived need for cocaine treatment among African American cocaine users.

METHODS

A cross-sectional community sample of 400 (50% rural) not-in-treatment African-American cocaine users was identified through respondent-driven sampling in one urban and two rural counties in Arkansas. Measures included self-reports of attitudes and beliefs about cocaine treatment, perceived need and perceived effectiveness of treatment, and positive and negative cocaine expectancies. Normative beliefs were measured by perceived stigma and consequences of stigma regarding drug use and drug treatment. Perceived control was measured by readiness for treatment, prior drug treatment, and perceived ability to cut down on cocaine use without treatment.

FINDINGS

Multiple regression analysis found that older age (standardized regression coefficient β=0.15, P<0.001), rural residence (β=-0.09, P=0.025), effectiveness of treatment (β=0.39, P<0.001), negative cocaine expectancies (β=0.138, P=0.003), experiences of rejection (β=0.18, P<0.001), need for secrecy (β=0.12, P=0.002), and readiness for treatment (β=0.15, P<0.001) were independently associated with perceived need for cocaine treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

TPB is a relevant model for understanding perceived need for treatment among African-American cocaine users. Research has shown perceived need to be a major correlate of treatment participation. Study results should be applicable for designing interventions to encourage treatment participation.

A social-attributional analysis of alcohol response

Conventional wisdom and survey data indicate that alcohol is a social lubricant and is consumed for its social effects. In contrast, the experimental literature examining alcohol's effects within a social context reveals that alcohol does not consistently enhance social-emotional experience. We identify a methodological factor that might explain inconsistent alcohol-administration findings, distinguishing between studies featuring unscripted interactions among naïve participants (k = 18) and those featuring scripted social interactions with individuals identified as study confederates (k = 18). While 89% of naïve-participant studies find positive effects of alcohol on mood (d = 0.5), only 11% of confederate studies find evidence of significant alcohol-related mood enhancement (d = -0.01). The naïve-participant versus confederate distinction remains robust after controlling for various moderators including stress manipulations, gender, group size, anxiety outcome measure, and within-group consistency of beverage assignment. Based on the findings of our review, we propose a multidimensional, social-attributional framework for understanding alcohol-related reward. Borrowing organizing principles from attribution theory, the social-attributional approach predicts that alcohol will enhance mood when negative outcomes are perceived to be unstable and/or self-relevant. Our framework proposes that alcohol's effects within a social context are largely explained by its tendency to free individuals from preoccupation with social rejection, allowing them to access social rewards. The social-attributional approach represents a novel framework for integrating distinct, well-validated concepts derived from several theories of alcohol's effects. It further presents promising lines of inquiry for future research examining the role of social factors in alcohol reward and addiction susceptibility.

Protective behavioral strategies, alcohol expectancies, and drinking motives in a model of college student drinking

An extensive body of research asserts alcohol expectancies, or beliefs regarding the effects of alcohol, as an important influence on drinking. However, the extent to which expectancies are related to drinking motives and protective behavioral strategies (PBS) has yet to be examined. Existing alcohol mediational models suggest associations between expectancies and drinking motives as well as positive drinking motives and PBS use. Thus, it is possible that drinking motives and PBS use act as intervening factors in the relationship between expectancies and alcohol outcomes. Consequently, the cross-sectional study presented here aimed to test the indirect effect of expectancies (i.e., social facilitation) on alcohol outcomes through drinking motives and PBS use. Participants were 520 (358 female) college student drinkers with a mean age of 20.80 (SD = 4.61) years. Students completed measures of expectancies, drinking motives, PBS use, alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that drinking motives and PBS mediated the relationship between social expectancies and alcohol use. In particular, expectancies were associated with greater positive drinking motives, drinking motives were associated with less PBS use, and PBS was associated with less alcohol use and fewer alcohol-related problems. Given the key role of PBS in explaining drinking outcomes in our model, active efforts to incorporate PBS in alcohol interventions may be particularly beneficial for college students. Further, our findings support the consideration of PBS use as a part of the motivational model of alcohol use in future work.

An Expert Map of Gambling Risk Perception

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the moderating or mediating role played by risk perception in decision-making, gambling behaviour, and disordered gambling aetiology. Eleven gambling expert clinicians and researchers completed a semi-structured interview derived from mental models and grounded theory methodologies. Expert interview data was used to construct a comprehensive expert mental model 'map' detailing risk-perception related factors contributing to harmful or safe gambling. Systematic overlapping processes of data gathering and analysis were used to iteratively extend, saturate, test for exception, and verify concepts and emergent themes. Findings indicated that experts considered idiosyncratic beliefs among gamblers result in overall underestimates of risk and loss, insufficient prioritization of needs, and planning and implementation of risk management strategies. Additional contextual factors influencing use of risk information (reinforcement and learning; mental states, environmental cues, ambivalence; and socio-cultural and biological variables) acted to shape risk perceptions and increase vulnerabilities to harm or disordered gambling. It was concluded that understanding the nature, extent and processes by which risk perception predisposes an individual to maintain gambling despite adverse consequences can guide the content of preventative educational responsible gambling campaigns.