Facial reactions to smoking cues relate to ambivalence about smoking.

In this study, the authors used the Facial Action Coding System (FACS; P. Ekman & W. V. Friesen, 1978) to examine the immediate facial responses of abstinent smokers exposed to smoking cues. The aim was to investigate whether facial expressions thought to be linked to ambivalence would relate to more traditional measures of ambivalence about smoking. The authors adapted N. A. Heather's (1998) definition of ambivalence about smoking, which emphasizes difficulty in refraining from smoking despite intentions to do so. Ambivalence expressed during smoking cue exposure was operationalized as the simultaneous occurrence of positive and negative affect-related facial expressions. Thirty-four nicotine-deprived dependent smokers were presented with in vivo smoking cues, and their facial expressions were coded using FACS. Participants also completed self-report measures related to ambivalence about smoking. Smokers who displayed ambivalent facial expressions during smoking cue exposure reported significantly higher scores on measures of smoking ambivalence than did those who did not display ambivalent facial expressions.</p

Self-Regulatory Failure and Addiction

Department of Psycholog

Solitary Alcohol Use in Teens Is Associated With Drinking in Response to Negative Affect and Predicts Alcohol Problems in Young Adulthood

<p>Adolescent solitary drinking may represent an informative divergence from normative behavior, with important implications for understanding risk for alcohol-use disorders later in life. Within a self-medication framework, we hypothesized that solitary alcohol use would be associated with drinking in response to negative affect and that such a pattern of drinking would predict alcohol problems in young adulthood. We tested these predictions in a longitudinal study in which we examined whether solitary drinking in adolescence (ages 12–18) predicted alcohol-use disorders in young adulthood (age 25) in 466 alcohol-using teens recruited from clinical programs and 243 alcohol-using teens recruited from the community. Findings showed that solitary drinking was associated with drinking in response to negative affect during adolescence and predicted alcohol problems in young adulthood. Results indicate that drinking alone is an important type of alcohol-use behavior that increases risk for the escalation of alcohol use and the development of alcohol problems.</p

Ambivalence about smoking and cue-elicited neural activity in quitting-motivated smokers faced with an opportunity to smoke.

Many cigarette smokers appear to experience ambivalence about smoking, defined as the simultaneous co-occurrence of a strong desire to smoke and a strong wish to quit smoking. Research suggests that this ambivalence about smoking affects how smokers respond to cigarette-related stimuli, but many important questions remain about precisely how smoking ambivalence influences cognitive and affective processing during cigarette cue exposure. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to address this knowledge gap by examining the relation between self-reported ambivalence about smoking and cue-reactivity in quitting-motivated smokers presented with an opportunity to smoke. Eighty-two quitting-motivated cigarette smokers completed a measure assessing their ambivalence about smoking. Subsequently, participants initiated an attempt to quit smoking and underwent an fMRI session, during which they were asked to hold and view a cigarette. Consistent with hypotheses, results indicated that self-reported smoking ambivalence was negatively correlated with cigarette-related activation in brain areas linked to reward-related processing, motivation, and attention (i.e., rostral anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex, caudate nucleus, visual cortex). Self-reported ambivalence was not, however, correlated with activation in brain regions related to conflict processing. This pattern of results is discussed with respect to the process of change for those attempting to quit smoking.</p

The Effects of Alcohol on the Emotional Displays of Whites in Interracial Groups

<p>Discomfort during interracial interactions is common among Whites in the U.S. and is linked to avoidance of interracial encounters. While the negative consequences of interracial discomfort are well-documented, understanding of its causes is still incomplete. Alcohol consumption has been shown to decrease negative emotions caused by self-presentational concern but increase negative emotions associated with racial prejudice. Using novel behavioral-expressive measures of emotion, we examined the impact of alcohol on displays of discomfort among 92 White individuals interacting in all-White or interracial groups. We used the Facial Action Coding System and comprehensive content-free speech analyses to examine affective and behavioral dynamics during these 36-min exchanges (7.9 million frames of video data). Among Whites consuming nonalcoholic beverages, those assigned to interracial groups evidenced more facial and speech displays of discomfort than those in all-White groups. In contrast, among intoxicated Whites there were no differences in displays of discomfort between interracial and all-White groups. Results highlight the central role of self-presentational concerns in interracial discomfort and offer new directions for applying theory and methods from emotion science to the examination of intergroup relations.</p

Personality, negative affect coping, and drinking alone: a structural equation modeling approach to examine correlates of adolescent solitary drinking.

<p>AIMS: This study examined the personality traits of negative emotionality and constraint and the ability to resist drinking during negative affective states as correlates of solitary drinking in adolescence. We hypothesized that higher levels of negative emotionality and lower levels of constraint would predict solitary drinking and that these relationships would be mediated by the ability to resist drinking in response to negative emotions.</p> <p>DESIGN: Structural equation modeling was used to fit a path model from the personality traits of negative emotionality and constraint to solitary drinking status through intermediate effects on the ability to resist drinking during negative emotions using cross-sectional data.</p> <p>SETTING: Clinical and community settings in Pennsylvania, USA.</p> <p>PARTICIPANTS: The sample included 761 adolescent drinkers (mean age = 17.1).</p> <p>MEASUREMENTS: Adolescents completed the Lifetime Drinking History, the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, the Constructive Thinking Inventory and the Situational Confidence Questionnaire.</p> <p>FINDINGS: The path model provided a good fit to the data. The association between trait negative emotionality and solitary drinking was fully mediated by adolescents' ability to resist drinking during negative affective states (b = 0.05, P = 0.01). In contrast, constraint had a direct effect on solitary drinking (odds ratio (OR) = 0.79, b = -0.23, P</p> <p>CONCLUSIONS: The ability to resist drinking while experiencing negative feelings or emotions may be an important underlying mechanism linking trait negative emotionality (a tendency toward depression, anxiety and poor reaction to stress) and constraint (lack of impulsiveness) to adolescent solitary drinking.</p

Extraversion and the Rewarding Effects of Alcohol in a Social Context.

<p>The personality trait of extraversion has been linked to problematic drinking patterns. Researchers have long hypothesized that such associations are attributable to increased alcohol-reward sensitivity among extraverted individuals, and surveys suggest that individuals high in extraversion gain greater mood enhancement from alcohol than those low in extraversion. Surprisingly, however, alcohol administration studies have not found individuals high in extraversion to experience enhanced mood following alcohol consumption. Of note, prior studies have examined extraverted participants-individuals who self-identify as being highly social-consuming alcohol in isolation. In the present research, we used a group drinking paradigm to examine whether individuals high in extraversion gained greater reward from alcohol than did those low in extraversion and, further, whether a particular social mechanism (partners’ Duchenne smiling) might underlie alcohol reward sensitivity among extraverted individuals. Social drinkers (n 720) consumed a moderate dose of alcohol, placebo, or control beverage in groups of 3 over the course of 36 min. This social interaction was video-recorded, and Duchenne smiling was coded using the Facial Action Coding System. Results indicated that participants high in extraversion reported significantly more mood enhancement from alcohol than did those low in extraversion. Further, mediated moderation analyses focusing on Duchenne smiling of group members indicated that social processes fully and uniquely accounted for alcohol reward-sensitivity among individuals high in extraversion. Results provide initial experimental evidence that individuals high in extraversion experience increased mood-enhancement from alcohol and further highlight the importance of considering social processes in the etiology of alcohol use disorder.</p

DRD4 polymorphism moderates the effect of alcohol consumption on social bonding.

<p>Development of interpersonal relationships is a fundamental human motivation, and behaviors facilitating social bonding are prized. Some individuals experience enhanced reward from alcohol in social contexts and may be at heightened risk for developing and maintaining problematic drinking. We employed a 3 (group beverage condition) ×2 (genotype) design (N = 422) to test the moderating influence of the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4 VNTR) polymorphism on the effects of alcohol on social bonding. A significant gene x environment interaction showed that carriers of at least one copy of the 7-repeat allele reported higher social bonding in the alcohol, relative to placebo or control conditions, whereas alcohol did not affect ratings of 7-absent allele carriers. Carriers of the 7-repeat allele were especially sensitive to alcohol's effects on social bonding. These data converge with other recent gene-environment interaction findings implicating the DRD4 polymorphism in the development of alcohol use disorders, and results suggest a specific pathway by which social factors may increase risk for problematic drinking among 7-repeat carriers. More generally, our findings highlight the potential utility of employing transdisciplinary methods that integrate genetic methodologies, social psychology, and addiction theory to improve theories of alcohol use and abuse.</p

Course of alcohol symptoms and social anxiety disorder from adolescence to young adulthood.

<p>BACKGROUND: There is limited knowledge of the course of social anxiety disorder (SAD) from adolescence into adulthood, and how SAD and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms change together over time. The current study examined how persistent and adolescent-limited SAD relate to alcohol symptom trajectories across adolescence and into adulthood, as well as gender differences in the course of SAD and AUD symptoms.</p> <p>METHODS: Participants were 788 youth (ages 12 to 18 at the baseline assessment; 46.2% female; 80.5% White) recruited from the community (n = 220) and from clinical programs (n = 568). Youth completed clinical interviews on their lifetime history of AUD symptoms and SAD at baseline and were followed through age 25. Multivariate polynomial growth mixture modeling was used to estimate developmental trajectories for SAD and AUD symptoms separately, then together in a dual trajectory model. Gender differences were examined using a classify-analyze approach.</p> <p>RESULTS: Three SAD trajectory classes were identified: adolescent-limited (15%), persistent (6%), and no SAD (79%). For AUD symptoms, 5 trajectories were identified: severe (10%), moderate (22%), remitting (18%), young adult onset (22%), and stable low (28%). Those with a history of SAD were about twice as likely to be in the severe AUD symptom class compared to those without a history of SAD. Compared to those with persisting SAD, those in the adolescent-limited SAD class were more likely to belong to the stable low AUD trajectory. Compared to males with SAD, females with SAD were less likely to be in the moderate AUD symptom class and were more likely to be in stable low and young adult onset AUD symptom classes.</p> <p>CONCLUSIONS: A history of SAD was associated with membership in the severe AUD trajectory group. The association of gender with SAD and AUD differed depending on developmental period. Future research should examine whether treating SAD in early adolescence may prevent subsequent AUD symptoms.</p

Alcohol and group formation: a multimodal investigation of the effects of alcohol on emotion and social bonding.

<p>We integrated research on emotion and on small groups to address a fundamental and enduring question facing alcohol researchers: What are the specific mechanisms that underlie the reinforcing effects of drinking? In one of the largest alcohol-administration studies yet conducted, we employed a novel group-formation paradigm to evaluate the socioemotional effects of alcohol. Seven hundred twenty social drinkers (360 male, 360 female) were assembled into groups of 3 unacquainted persons each and given a moderate dose of an alcoholic, placebo, or control beverage, which they consumed over 36 min. These groups' social interactions were video recorded, and the duration and sequence of interaction partners' facial and speech behaviors were systematically coded (e.g., using the facial action coding system). Alcohol consumption enhanced individual- and group-level behaviors associated with positive affect, reduced individual-level behaviors associated with negative affect, and elevated self-reported bonding. Our results indicate that alcohol facilitates bonding during group formation. Assessing nonverbal responses in social contexts offers new directions for evaluating the effects of alcohol.</p