The occurrence of partner physical aggression on days of alcohol consumption: A longitudinal diary study.

The likelihood of partner physical aggression on days of male partners' alcohol consumption, during a 15-month period, was examined for men entering a domestic violence treatment program (n=137) and domestically violent men entering an alcoholism treatment program (n=135). For men entering the domestic violence treatment program (alcoholism treatment program odds in parentheses), the odds of any male-to-female physical aggression were more than 8 times (11 times) higher on days when men drank than on days of no alcohol consumption. The odds of severe male-to-female physical aggression were more than 11 times (11 times) higher on days of men's drinking than on days of no drinking. These findings support the proximal effect model of alcohol use and partner violence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is expectancy reality? Associations between tension reduction beliefs and mood following alcohol consumption.

The present study investigated whether tension reduction expectancies were uniquely associated with self-reported mood following in-lab alcohol administration, given that little research has addressed this association. We also tested whether level of experience with alcohol, which may influence the learning of expectancies, moderated expectancy-mood associations. Regularly drinking college students (N = 145) recruited through advertisements completed self-report measures of positive alcohol expectancies, alcohol involvement, demographics, and pre- and post-drinking mood, and then consumed alcohol ad libitum up to four drinks in the laboratory. Regression analyses controlling for pre-consumption mood, blood alcohol concentration, and all other positive expectancies showed tension reduction expectancies to be a marginally significant positive predictor of negative mood post-drinking. This association was significant only for those who achieved lower blood alcohol concentrations in lab and those who reported less involvement with alcohol (i.e., lower typical quantity, heavy episodic drinking frequency, and years of regular drinking). Findings suggest that associations between expectations for mood and actual post-drinking mood outcomes may operate differently for less versus more involved drinkers. Clinical implications pertain to early intervention, when expectancies may be less ingrained and perhaps more readily modified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drinking habits and expectancies about alcohol's effects for self versus others.

Administered an alcohol effects questionnaire and a measure of drinking practices to 150 college students. Ss consistently expected alcohol to affect other people more than themselves for both positive effects such as social or sexual pleasure and negative effects such as impairment, except that moderate and heavy drinkers expected as much social/physical pleasure from alcohol as they expected others to receive. Moderate and heavy drinkers expected alcohol to enhance their own social and sexual pleasure, aggression, and tension reduction more than did light drinkers but did not differ in expected aversive consequences, suggesting that differences in anticipated reinforcement are more salient than anticipated impairment in influencing drinking behavior. Women expected less pleasure and tension reduction and more cognitive and motor impairment from alcohol but did not differ from men in expected enhancement of sexual pleasure, aggression, or expressiveness when differences in drinking habits were statistically controlled. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol use and intimate partner violence perpetration among college students: Assessing the temporal association using electronic diary technology.

Objectives: The primary goals of this study were to assess the temporal relationship between alcohol use and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration using state-of-the-art electronic diary assessment methods and to examine the extent to which distal factors (e.g., sex, psychopathology, relationship satisfaction) moderated that association. Method: Participants were 184 male and female college students in dating relationships who used a handheld computer to answer daily questions about alcohol use and IPV every day for 2 months. Results: Based on a total of 7,775 daily electronic diary reports, results showed that the odds of perpetrating psychological and physical aggression were 2.19 and 3.64 times greater, respectively, on drinking days relative to nondrinking days. Men evidenced 7.03 greater odds of engaging in psychological aggression on drinking days, whereas women had only 1.60 greater odds of engaging in psychological aggression on drinking relative to nondrinking days. Conclusion: Findings suggest the need to provide intervention early in dating relationships to reduce alcohol use to reduce the risk of IPV. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The link between alcohol use and aggression toward sexual minorities: An event-based analysis.

The current study used an event-based assessment approach to examine the day-to-day relationship between heterosexual men's alcohol consumption and perpetration of aggression toward sexual minorities. Participants were 199 heterosexual drinking men between the ages of 18–30 who completed (1) separate timeline followback interviews to assess alcohol use and aggression toward sexual minorities during the past year, and (2) written self-report measures of risk factors for aggression toward sexual minorities. Results indicated that aggression toward sexual minorities was twice as likely on a day when drinking was reported than on nondrinking days, with over 80% of alcohol-related aggressive acts perpetrated within the group context. Patterns of alcohol use (i.e., number of drinking days, mean drinks per drinking day, number of heavy drinking days) were not associated with perpetration after controlling for demographic variables and pertinent risk factors. Results suggest that it is the acute effects of alcohol, and not men's patterns of alcohol consumption, that facilitate aggression toward sexual minorities. More importantly, these data are the first to support an event-based link between alcohol use and aggression toward sexual minorities (or any minority group), and provide the impetus for future research to examine risk factors and mechanisms for intoxicated aggression toward sexual minorities and other stigmatized groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal relations between marital aggression and alcohol problems.

Relations between couples' (N = 158) marital aggression and alcohol problems were examined across a two-year period. Alcohol problems and aggression were assessed via self-report and partner-reports. Results support bidirectional relations between marital aggression and problem drinking. T1 wife problem drinking was associated with decreased T2 verbal aggression; T1 husband problem drinking was associated with increased T2 physical aggression. T1 physical aggression predicted increased T2 wife problem drinking; it predicted increased T2 husband problem drinking only when wife problem drinking was low. T1 verbal marital aggression predicted increased T2 husband problem drinking only when husbands engaged in greater problem drinking at T1. Results suggest that problem drinking may prevent couples from adequately handling marital disagreements, and that marital problems may lead to drinking as a form of coping with stress; couples in which the husband engages in greater problem drinking than the wife may be at increased risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Targeted Naltrexone Treatment Moderates the Relations Between Mood and Drinking Behavior Among Problem Drinkers.

One hundred fifty-three problem drinkers were randomly assigned to receive naltrexone 50 mg or placebo on a daily or targeted (to high-risk drinking situations) basis. Using structured nightly diaries, participants recorded negative and positive mood, desire to drink, and alcohol consumption over 8 weeks. Results indicated that individuals engaged in any drinking and heavy drinking more on days characterized by relatively higher levels of positive or negative mood states. Naltrexone attenuated the positive association between heavy drinking and both positive and negative mood, and targeted administration attenuated the positive association between heavy drinking and positive mood. There was also evidence that desire to drink mediated the effect of targeted administration on the relation between positive mood and any drinking that day. These findings underscore the utility of daily measurement for understanding the processes that underlie pharmacological interventions for problem drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining Masculinity Norms, Problem Drinking, and Athletic Involvement as Predictors of Sexual Aggression in College Men.

Male sexual aggression toward women is a serious social problem, particularly on college campuses. In this study, college men's sexually aggressive behavior and rape myth acceptance were examined using conformity to 11 masculine norms and 2 variables previously linked to sexual aggression: problem drinking and athletic involvement. Results indicated that men who use alcohol problematically and conform to specific masculine norms (i.e., having power over women, being a playboy, disdaining gay men, being dominant, being violent, and taking risks) tended to endorse rape myths and report sexually aggressive behavior. Additionally, men who reported higher levels of problematic alcohol use and risk taking were more likely to report sexually aggressive behavior without endorsing rape myths. Implications and recommendations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-regulation as a protective factor against risky drinking and sexual behavior.

Prior research suggests that high dispositional self-regulation leads to decreased levels of risky drinking and sexual behavior in adolescence and the early years of college. Self-regulation may be especially important when individuals have easy access to alcohol and freedom to pursue sexual opportunities. In the current 1-year longitudinal study, we followed a sample of N = 1,136 college students who had recently reached the legal age to purchase alcohol and enter bars and clubs to test whether self-regulation protected against heavy episodic drinking, alcohol-related problems, and unprotected sex. We tested main effects of self-regulation and interactions among self-regulation and established risk factors (e.g., sensation seeking) on risky drinking and sexual behavior. High self-regulation inversely predicted heavy episodic drinking, alcohol-related problems, and unprotected sex, even when taking into account gender and risk factors. Moreover, in predicting unprotected sex, we found three-way interactions among self-regulation, sensation seeking, and heavy episodic drinking. Self-regulation buffered against risk associated with heavy drinking but only among those low in sensation seeking. The protective effects of self-regulation for risky drinking and sexual behavior make it a promising target for intervention, with the caveat that self-regulation may be less protective among those who are more drawn to socially and emotionally rewarding stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moderating effects of a craving intervention on the relation between negative mood and heavy drinking following treatment for alcohol dependence.

Objective: Negative affect is a significant predictor of alcohol relapse, and the relation between negative affect and drinking has been shown to be strongly mediated by alcohol craving. Thus, targeting craving during treatment could potentially attenuate the relation between negative affect and drinking. Method: The current study is a secondary analysis of data from the COMBINE study, a randomized clinical trial that combined pharmacotherapy with behavioral intervention in the treatment of alcohol dependence. Our goal in the current study was to examine whether a treatment module that targeted craving would predict changes in negative mood during the 16-week combined behavioral intervention (n = 776) and the relation among changes in mood, craving, and changes in heavy drinking during treatment and 1 year posttreatment. Results: Changes in negative mood were significantly associated with changes in heavy drinking during treatment (f2 = 0.78). Participants (n = 432) who received the craving module had significantly fewer heavy drinking days during treatment (d = 0.31), and receiving the module moderated the relation between negative mood and heavy drinking during treatment (f2 = 0.92) and 1 year posttreatment (f2 = 0.03). Moderating effects of the craving module were mediated by changes in craving during treatment. Within-subject analyses indicated significant pre- to postmodule reductions in negative mood. Additionally, postmodule craving significantly mediated the association between negative mood and heavy drinking during treatment and at posttreatment. Conclusions: The craving module of the combined behavioral intervention may weaken the relation between negative affect and heavy drinking by fostering greater decreases in craving during treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in Heavy Drinking Over the Third Decade of Life as a Function of Collegiate Fraternity and Sorority Involvement: A Prospective, Multilevel Analysis.

Although affiliation with a fraternity or sorority is an important risk factor for heavy drinking, recent research indicates that this risk may be limited to the college years. Random coefficient growth modeling was used to track changes in patterns of heavy drinking over the course of 11 years as a function of gender and collegiate Greek involvement (N=318). Overall, greater cumulative exposure to the Greek system led to increased heavy drinking during the college years, particularly among men. Shortly after leaving college, heavy drinking levels dropped markedly and remained low through approximately age 30. Inclusion of peer alcohol use norms in the model reduced the influence of Greek involvement. Implications for models of heavy drinking and health risks are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short- and long-term effects of fraternity and sorority membership on heavy drinking: A social norms perspective.

This study sought to determine whether the well-established relation between fraternity/sorority (Greek) membership and heavy alcohol use persists beyond the college years and whether some common third variables might account for the relation between Greek status and heavy drinking. During each of 4 years of college and 1 additional year, young adults (N ?=?319) completed measures of alcohol use, personality, alcohol expectancies, and environmental influences on drinking. Throughout the college years, Greeks consistently drank more heavily than non-Greeks. Statistically controlling for previous alcohol use did not eliminate this effect. However, Greek status did not predict postcollege heavy drinking levels. Also, perceived peer norms for heavy drinking mediated the relation between Greek affiliation and heavy alcohol use. Results are discussed in terms of situational determinants of heavy alcohol involvement in young adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personalized mailed feedback for college drinking prevention: A randomized clinical trial.

The current study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a mailed feedback and tips intervention as a universal prevention strategy for college drinking. Participants (N = 1,488) were randomly assigned to feedback or assessment-only control conditions. Results indicated that the mailed feedback intervention had a preventive effect on drinking rates overall, with participants in the feedback condition consuming less alcohol at follow-up in comparison with controls. In addition, abstainers in the feedback condition were twice as likely to remain abstinent from alcohol at follow-up in comparison with control participants (odds ratio = 2.02), and feedback participants were significantly more likely to refrain from heavy episodic drinking (odds ratio = 1.43). Neither gender nor severity of baseline drinking moderated the efficacy of the intervention in these analyses, but more conservative analyses utilizing last-observation carryforward suggested women and abstainers benefited more from this prevention approach. Protective behaviors mediated intervention efficacy, with participants who received the intervention being more likely to use strategies such as setting limits and alternating alcohol with nonalcoholic beverages. Implications of these findings for universal prevention of college drinking are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do Parents Still Matter? Parent and Peer Influences on Alcohol Involvement Among Recent High School Graduates.

This study investigated the influences of peer and parent variables on alcohol use and problems in a sample of late adolescents in the summer immediately prior to entry into college. Participants (N = 556) completed a mail survey assessing peer influences (alcohol offers, social modeling, perceived norms), parental behaviors (nurturance, monitoring), and attitudes and values (disapproval for heavy drinking, permissiveness for drinking), and alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated significant associations between both peer and parental influences and alcohol involvement, and showed that parental influences moderated peer-influence-drinking behavior, such that higher levels of perceived parental involvement were associated with weaker relations between peer influences and alcohol use and problems. These findings suggest that parents continue to exert an influential role in late adolescent drinking behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of negative and positive mood phrases on priming of alcohol words in young drinkers with high and low anxiety sensitivity.

This study investigated whether potential emotional cues for drinking activate alcohol concepts in young drinkers. Participants were 84 university freshmen with high or low levels of anxiety sensitivity (AS). A verbal priming task measured activation (i.e., priming) of alcohol concepts (e.g., beer) by positive and negative mood phrases. Time to read alcohol target words was the dependent measure. Negative mood phrases consistently primed alcohol targets; positive mood phrases did not. Degree of negative mood priming did not differ as a function of gender or AS. Reported tendency to drink in bad moods predicted negative mood priming in women, whereas men showed negative mood priming irrespective of their reported drinking tendency. A general association between negative mood priming and severity of alcohol problems also emerged. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental alcohol involvement and adolescent alcohol expectancies predict alcohol involvement in male adolescents.

Current models of adolescent drinking behavior hypothesize that alcohol expectancies mediate the effects of other proximal and distal risk factors. This longitudinal study tested the hypothesis that the effects of parental alcohol involvement on their children's drinking behavior in mid-adolescence are mediated by the children's alcohol expectancies in early adolescence. A sample of 148 initially 9–11 year old boys and their parents from a high-risk population and a contrast group of community families completed measures of drinking behavior and alcohol expectancies over a 6-year interval. We analyzed data from middle childhood (M age = 10.4 years), early adolescence (M age = 13.5 years), and mid-adolescence (M age = 16.5 years). The sample was restricted only to adolescents who had begun to drink by mid-adolescence. Results from zero-inflated Poisson regression analyses showed that 1) maternal drinking during their children's middle childhood predicted number of drinking days in middle adolescence; 2) negative and positive alcohol expectancies in early adolescence predicted odds of any intoxication in middle adolescence; and 3) paternal alcoholism during their children's middle childhood and adolescents' alcohol expectancies in early adolescence predicted frequency of intoxication in middle adolescence. Contrary to predictions, child alcohol expectancies did not mediate the effects of parental alcohol involvement in this high-risk sample. Different aspects of parental alcohol involvement, along with early adolescent alcohol expectancies, independently predicted adolescent drinking behavior in middle adolescence. Alternative pathways for the influence of maternal and paternal alcohol involvement and implications for expectancy models of adolescent drinking behavior were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of drinking protective behavioral strategies in association to sex-related alcohol negative consequences: The mediating role of alcohol consumption.

Alcohol use has been implicated as a risk factor for sexual negative consequences, such as unprotected sexual intercourse. The present research was conducted to examine the relationship between drinking protective behavioral strategies and consensual sex-related alcohol negative consequences, and whether this relationship varied by gender. Additionally, typical number of drinks during sexual behavior was evaluated as a potential mediator of this association. Heavy drinking, sexually active college students (N = 297, 50.2% women) completed self-report measures of drinking protective behavioral strategies, alcohol consumption, and sex-related alcohol negative consequences. Findings indicated that women who used drinking protective behavioral strategies more frequently were less likely to experience sex-related alcohol negative consequences whereas this relationship was not significant for men. For women, this relationship was mediated by the typical number of drinks consumed during sexual behavior. The current research demonstrates that use of drinking protective behavioral strategies is related to a reduction in women's sex-related risks when drinking. Findings are discussed in terms of alcohol myopia theory. Implications for interventions aimed to reduce higher risk sexual behavior among college students are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors associated with marital aggression in male alcoholics.

Male alcoholics who were physically aggressive toward their wives in the year before alcoholism treatment (n?=?71) were compared with nonaggressive counterparts (n?=?36). Two key patterns were associated with marital aggression: (a) binge drinking linked with coercive marital conflicts and (b) markers of a severe early onset alcoholism syndrome. Maritally aggressive men were younger and exhibited more binge drinking, higher prevalence of arrest, more verbal aggression, greater alcohol problem severity, earlier alcohol problem onset, more alcoholism among male biological relatives, less maternal alcohol use, less confidence in their ability to manage interpersonal conflict without drinking, and stronger beliefs that alcohol causes marital problems. Marital adjustment levels were not associated with marital aggression, and very few differences were found between moderate and severe violence groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does drinking lead to sex? Daily alcohol–sex behaviors and expectancies among college students.

A within-person multilevel approach was used to model the links between alcohol use and sexual behavior among first-year college students, using up to 14 days of data for each person with occasions (Level 1, N = 2879 days) nested within people (Level 2, N = 218 people; 51.4% male). Between-persons (Level 2) effects were gender, relationship status, person means of alcohol use, and alcohol-sex expectancies for sexual affect and sexual drive. Within-person (Level 1) effects were weekend days, number of drinks consumed, and the interaction between drinks consumed and alcohol-sex expectancies. Independent of average alcohol use, consuming more drinks on a given day was associated with a greater likelihood of oral sex and with experiencing more positive consequences of sex that day. Significant Alcohol Use × Alcohol-Sex Expectancies interactions were found for oral sex and total sex behaviors, indicating that individuals with more positive expectancies were more likely to have sex after drinking. The negative association between drinks and condom use was at a trend level of significance. Results support the potential for promoting sexual health by focusing on cross-behavior expectancies among late adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Daily Process Examination of the Stress-Response Dampening Effects of Alcohol Consumption.

The authors used a daily process design to assess alcohol's stress-response dampening (SRD) effects. Moderate to heavy social drinkers (N=100) reported on palmtop computers their alcohol consumption and social context in vivo for 30 days. Participants also reported on their mood states in the late morning and early evening and completed a paper-and-pencil daily diary in which they recorded their negative events. The association between negative events and mood was weaker on days when individuals consumed alcohol prior to the final mood assessment. However, the moderating effect of alcohol on the negative event-mood association was limited to drinking in social situations. Alcohol's SRD effects varied as a function of several between-person risk factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)