The influence of negative mood on solitary drinking preference: An experiment with young adult solitary drinkers

Language-based EMA assessments help understand problematic alcohol consumption

BACKGROUND

Unhealthy alcohol consumption is a severe public health problem. But low to moderate alcohol consumption is associated with high subjective well-being, possibly because alcohol is commonly consumed socially together with friends, who often are important for subjective well-being. Disentangling the health and social complexities of alcohol behavior has been difficult using traditional rating scales with cross-section designs. We aim to better understand these complexities by examining individuals' everyday affective subjective well-being language, in addition to rating scales, and via both between- and within-person designs across multiple weeks.

METHOD

We used daily language and ecological momentary assessment on 908 US restaurant workers (12692 days) over two-week intervals. Participants were asked up to three times a day to "describe your current feelings", rate their emotions, and report their alcohol behavior in the past 24 hours, including if they were drinking alone or with others.

RESULTS

Both between and within individuals, language-based subjective well-being predicted alcohol behavior more accurately than corresponding rating scales. Individuals self-reported being happier on days when drinking more, with language characteristic of these days predominantly describing socializing with friends. Between individuals (over several weeks), subjective well-being correlated much more negatively with drinking alone (r = -.29) than it did with total drinking (r = -.10). Aligned with this, people who drank more alone generally described their feelings as sad, stressed and anxious and drinking alone days related to nervous and annoyed language as well as a lower reported subjective well-being.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals' daily subjective well-being, as measured via language, in part, explained the social aspects of alcohol drinking. Further, being alone explained this relationship, such that drinking alone was associated with lower subjective well-being.

Solitary-specific drinking to cope motives explain unique variance in solitary drinking behavior but not alcohol problems compared to general drinking to cope motives

OBJECTIVE

Adolescent and young adult solitary drinking is prospectively associated with alcohol problems, and it is thus important to understand why individuals engage in this risky drinking behavior. There is substantial evidence that individuals drink alone to cope with negative affect, but all prior studies have assessed motives for alcohol use without specifying the context of such use. Here, we directly compared solitary-specific drinking to cope motives with general drinking to cope motives in their ability to predict solitary drinking behavior and alcohol problems. We hypothesized that solitary-specific drinking motives would provide additional predictive utility in each case.

METHODS

Current underage drinkers (N = 307; 90% female; ages 18-20) recruited from a TurkPrime panel March-May 2016 completed online surveys querying solitary alcohol use, general and solitary-specific coping motives, and alcohol problems.

RESULTS

Both solitary-specific and general coping motives were positively associated with a greater percentage of total drinking time spent alone in separate models, after controlling for solitary-specific and general enhancement motives, respectively. However, the model with solitary-specific motives accounted for greater variance than the general motives model based on adjusted R2 values (0.8 versus 0.3, respectively). Additionally, both general and solitary-specific coping motives were positively associated with alcohol problems, again controlling for enhancement motives, but the model including general motives accounted for greater variance (0.49) than the solitary-specific motives model (0.40).

CONCLUSION

These findings provide evidence that solitary-specific coping motives explain unique variance in solitary drinking behavior but not alcohol problems. The methodological and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Solitary alcohol use in adolescence predicts alcohol problems in adulthood: A 17-year longitudinal study in a large national sample of US high school students

BACKGROUND

Identifying risk factors for alcohol use disorder (AUD) is important for public health. The social context of drinking-such as drinking alone-may be an independent and robust early risk marker for AUD symptoms later in life. We evaluated whether solitary alcohol use in adolescence (age 18) and young adulthood (age 23/24) was concurrently associated with binge drinking and prospectively predicted age 35 AUD symptoms, and whether associations differed by sex.

METHODS

Longitudinal data were from the Monitoring the Future study. Surveys were completed by adolescents in 12th grade at age 18 (1976-2002), young adults at age 23/24 (1981-2008), and adults at age 35 (1993-2019). Analyses included past 12-month alcohol users (n = 4464 for adolescent models; n = 4561 for young adult models). Multivariable regression analyses tested whether adolescent and young adult solitary alcohol use was associated concurrently with binge drinking frequency and prospectively with age 35 AUD symptoms.

RESULTS

Solitary alcohol use in adolescence and young adulthood was associated (a) concurrently with binge drinking and (b) prospectively with increased risk of age 35 AUD symptoms (even after controlling for earlier binge drinking, alcohol use frequency, and sociodemographic covariates). Adolescent solitary alcohol use was associated with age 35 AUD symptoms particularly among females; no interaction was observed between sex and young adult solitary alcohol use in predicting age 35 AUD symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescent and young adult solitary alcohol use was associated with increased adult AUD symptoms above and beyond other risk factors; adolescent female solitary alcohol users were especially at risk.

Dynamic longitudinal relations among solitary drinking, coping motives, & alcohol problems during emerging adulthood

INTRODUCTION

Solitary drinking (i.e., drinking alone) and coping drinking motives are risk factors for alcohol problems. Theoretical models suggest that solitary drinking and coping motives are highly related. However, the direction of effects between solitary drinking and coping motives is unclear. It also remains unclear if relations are present solely at the between-person level, or if there are also dynamic, within-person relations. Therefore, the current study tested dynamic, reciprocal relations among solitary drinking, coping motives, and alcohol problems using Random Intercept Cross Lagged Panel Modeling (RI-CLPM).

METHODS

Data came from a large alcohol administration study with longitudinal follow-ups over 2 years (N = 448). Participants completed a baseline session and then were followed up 6, 12, 18, and 24 months later. Participants reported their solitary drinking frequency, coping motives, drinking behavior, and alcohol problems at all assessments.

RESULTS

Person-level solitary drinking was related to person-level coping motives and alcohol problems, and person-level coping motives were related to person-level alcohol problems. There were also contemporaneous within-person effects, such that a within-person increase in solitary drinking was associated with a concurrent within-person increase in coping motives, and a within-person increase in coping motives was associated with a concurrent within-person increase in alcohol problems. There were no within-person prospective relations among any variables.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest strong between-person associations among solitary drinking, coping motives, and alcohol problems. Within-person associations were concurrent but not prospective. Targeting solitary and coping-motivated drinkers, as well within-person increases in both, may be effective at reducing risk for alcohol problems.