Effects of alcohol intoxication on self-reported drinking patterns, expectancies, motives and personality: a randomized controlled experimental study

Alcohol intoxication may affect self-reports of alcohol use and related constructs, such as impulsivity and dependence symptoms. Improved knowledge about potential systematic reporting biases induced by alcohol, e.g. through disinhibition, may be relevant for the assessment of intoxicated individuals both in clinical routine and research. We therefore randomly assigned 54 socially drinking males aged 18 to 19 without lifetime diagnosis of DSM-IV alcohol dependence to one of two experimental arms: either placebo infusion at day 1 and alcohol infusion at day 2, or vice versa. The lab-based intravenous alcohol infusion produced a constant blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent. On each day, participants completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, as well as other questionnaires on alcohol expectancies, drinking motives and substance use-related temperament traits. We found that alcohol significantly increased self-reported expectancies (tension reduction) and motives (conformity; η²  = .16-.23), but we observed no effect of sequence, i.e. alcohol first versus placebo first (P_corr  ≥ .118). High baseline alcohol expectancies did not moderate alcohol effects (P_corr  ≥ .462). We conclude that moderate alcohol intoxication might not generally affect the reliability of self-reported alcohol use, alcohol use problems and psychological concepts related to drinking behavior in young males without alcohol dependence. Future studies could examine larger, less selective and clinical samples for possible alcohol effects on self-report measures related to alcohol consumption.

Preventing Binge Drinking in Adolescents

BACKGROUND

In a survey taken in Germany in 2015, 14.1% of the 12- to 17-year-olds surveyed had practiced binge drinking at least once in the preceding 30 days. The school program "Klar bleiben" ("Keep a Clear Head") was designed for and implemented among 10th graders. The participants committed themselves to abstain from binge drinking for 9 weeks. We studied whether this intervention influenced the frequency and intensity of binge drinking.

METHODS

This cluster-randomized controlled trial was carried out in 196 classes of 61 schools, with a total of 4163 participants with a mean age of 15.6 years (standard deviation 0.73 years). Data were collected by questionnaire in late 2015, before the intervention and again six months later. The primary endpoints were the frequency of consumption of at least 4 or 5 alcoholic drinks (for girls and boys, respectively) and the typical quantity consumed. This trial was registered in the German Clinical Trials Registry (Deutsches Register Klinischer Studien, DRKS) with the DRKS ID number DRKS00009424.

RESULTS

At the beginning of the trial, there was no difference between the intervention group and the control group with respect to the primary endpoints. After the intervention, differences were found among participants who had consumed alcohol before the trial (73.2% of the overall sample): binge drinking at least once in the preceding month was reported by 49.4% of the control group and by 44.2% in the intervention group (p = 0.028). The mean number of alcoholic drinks consumed in each drinking episode was 5.20 in the control group and 5.01 in the intervention group (p = 0.047).

CONCLUSION

The intervention was effective only in the large subgroup of adolescents who had previously consumed alcohol: they drank alcohol less often and in smaller amounts than their counterparts in the control group.

The Inhibiting Function of Self-Control and Social Control on Alcohol Consumption

Research on substance use, health-, and risk-seeking behavior has focused on various control mechanisms, which are either embedded in the person (self-control) or in the social environment (social control), that prevent individuals from engaging in unhealthy behavior. The present article examines the role of both types of control with respect to alcohol consumption. Whereas most previous research into the interdependence of the two control types has focused on indirect concepts of social control, the present study targets direct social control exerted through social interaction with network persons. The study’s findings indicate that both control types have a mutually independent influence as well as an interdependent influence on drinking behavior. The results show that the effect of one control instance is attenuated when the control level of the other instance is high. The results are discussed with respect to the life-course interdependence model, the cumulative control model, and action-theoretical perspectives of health-related social interventions.

Effects of alcohol on the processing of social threat-related stimuli in socially phobic women

BACKGROUND

Social phobics are at a higher risk of developing alcohol problems. The mechanism promoting this association is not clear. According to Sayette (1993b), alcohol attenuates anxiety responses by disrupting initial appraisal of threatening stimuli. We used the emotional Stroop test and an implicit memory test to investigate whether alcohol hinders appraisal of social threat words in patients diagnosed with social phobia.

PROCEDURE

Thirty-two women with social phobia (DSM-IV) and 32 female controls performed an emotional Stroop test either after drinking alcohol resulting in a blood alcohol levels (BAL) of 0.6%. or after drinking a non-alcoholic beverage. The emotional Stroop test contained social anxiety-related and neutral stimuli. Implicit memory for the words presented was tested with a word-stem completion test.

RESULTS

Without alcohol, both controls and socially-phobic participants took longer to name the colour of socially-threatening stimuli than of neutral stimuli. Alcohol levelled response latencies to the two stimulus categories only in controls. Socially-phobic participants responded more slowly to social anxiety-related stimuli than to neutral stimuli, irrespective of their BAL. In contrast to controls, social phobics showed an implicit memory bias for social threat words. This bias was attenuated by alcohol.

DISCUSSION

Alcohol disrupts appraisal of social anxiety-related stimuli in controls but not in social phobics; in these it hinders the consolidation of memory. This also suggests that social phobics experience similar anxiety with and without alcohol, but remember this experienced anxiety less precisely. This effect might act as a reinforcer for the use of alcohol for the purpose of self-medication in future situations.

Ein Überblick über experimentelle Befunde zur Wirkung von Alkohol auf klinisch relevante Angst

Zusammenfassung. Hintergrund: Ein überzufälliger Zusammenhang zwischen Angststörungen und Alkoholproblemen ist belegt. Trotz zahlreicher Studien mit subklinischen Populationen ist die Befundlage zur anxiolytischen Wirkung von Alkohol jedoch uneindeutig. Fragestellung: Wirkt Alkohol bei klinisch relevanten Ängsten anxiolytisch? Welche Einflussfaktoren existieren und welche Mechanismen sind beteiligt? Methode: Ein Review empirischer Studien zur anxiolytischen Wirkung von Alkohol bei pathologischer Angst. Ergebnisse: Die Ergebnisse der 11 publizierten Studien werden dargestellt. Der Fokus liegt auf der Wirkung von Alkohol bei Sozialphobie (N = 7), Panikstörung (N = 3) und spezifischer Phobie (N = 1). Zusammenfassend ist eine anxiolytische Wirkung an eine Mindestmenge Alkohol (BAK: > 0.05%), positive Wirkungserwartungen sowie andere psychologische Faktoren gebunden. Diskussion: Die Selbstmedikationshypothese hat nur unter Berücksichtigung verschiedener biologischer und psychologischer Faktoren Bestand. Mögliche Implikationen für die Behandlung werden diskutiert.

Arbeitsbedingungen, Persönlichkeitsmerkmale und Alkoholkonsum: Eine Befragung in zwei Betrieben der Metallindustrie

Zusammenfassung. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, den Zusammenhang zwischen Stress in der Arbeitswelt und dem Konsum von Alkohol durch den Vergleich unterschiedlicher Stresskonzeptionen zu präzisieren und daraus Konsequenzen für betriebliche Suchtpräventionsprogramme abzuleiten. Dazu wurden die Zusammenhänge zwischen Neurotizismus, Extraversion, Stresseinschätzungen (Herausforderung, Bedrohung, Verlust), beruflichen Gratifikationskrisen, Wirkungserwartungen an den Alkoholkonsum bezüglich der Stressbewältigung und dem Alkoholkonsum bei Beschäftigten im Bereich der Metall verarbeitenden Industrie untersucht. Es nahmen insgesamt 1 735 Personen aus 2 Betrieben an der Studie teil. Die Daten wurden im Rahmen einer schriftlichen Befragung mithilfe von validierten Skalen bzw. Indikatoren erhoben. Im Rahmen einer pfadanalytischen Auswertung mithilfe von LISREL 8 zeigte sich, dass alle Konstrukte - mit Ausnahme der Herausforderungskognition - inhaltlich bedeutsame direkte oder indirekte Effekte auf den Alkoholkonsum besitzen. Der mit Abstand stärkste Effekt wird jedoch von den Wirkungserwartungen auf den Alkoholkonsum ausgeübt. Dies macht die Bedeutung dieser Wirkungserwartungen für den Konsum von Alkohol bei berufstätigen Erwachsenen deutlich und führt zu der Schlussfolgerung, dass betriebliche Alkoholpräventionsprogramme in erster Linie eine Modifikation dieser Wirkungserwartungen anstreben sollten.