Preliminary support for the role of alcohol cues in food cravings and attentional biases

This study examined whether alcohol odors, in isolation or when combined with pictures, would influence food attentional biases and cravings. Participants' cravings and attentional biases to food and alcohol pictures were assessed after exposure to alcohol or water odors ( n = 77; mean age = 30.84 years, 51.9% female, 83.1% Caucasian). Food attentional biases were increased by alcohol odors, but food cravings were increased only by a combination of alcohol odors and food pictures. These effects were related with self-reported problematic food consumption. These findings support a research program for further examining the effect of alcohol cues on problematic food consumption

The Interactive Effects of Alcohol Cravings, Cue Reactivity, and Urgency on College Student Problematic Drinking.

Introduction: Alcohol cravings have been inconsistently associated with problematic drinking. Two possible moderators are cue reactivity and urgency. Individuals high on urgency might be more likely to develop reactivity to alcohol cues due to their higher rates of drinking. This reactivity might produce greater alcohol cravings and might consequently increase problematic drinking. We hypothesized that alcohol cravings would be more strongly associated with problematic drinking at higher levels of cue reactivity and urgency. Method: In a sample of college students (n = 240), the current study tested three way interactions among cue reactivity, urgency, and alcohol cravings on problematic drinking. The sample was 70.7% female and 75% Caucasian, with a mean age of 19.37 (SD = 1.65). Urgency was measured using two UPPS Impulsive Behavior subscales. Problematic drinking was measured using the AUDIT. Alcohol cravings were measured using the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale. Participants were presented with alcohol pictorial cues during the study, after which their cue reactivity was assessed using the Alcohol Urge Questionnaire. Interactions were tested using multiple regression and simple slope analyses. Results: The effect of alcohol cravings on problematic drinking was significant at low negative urgency and cue reactivity (b = 5.34, p = 0.001), low negative urgency and high cue reactivity (b = 8.69, p<0.001), high negative urgency and low cue reactivity (b = 5.53, p <0.001), and high negative urgency and cue reactivity (b = 4.71, p<0.001). A similar pattern of findings was present with positive urgency, but alcohol cravings were most strongly associated with problematic drinking at low cue reactivity and high positive urgency (b = 6.56, p<0.001). Discussion: These findings clarify the inconsistent alcohol cravings-problematic drinking associations in prior studies. These findings suggest the importance of considering cue reactivity and urgency in understanding how alcohol cravings create risk for problematic drinking

Preliminary support for the role of alcohol cues in food cravings and attentional biases

This study examined whether alcohol odors, in isolation or when combined with pictures, would influence food attentional biases and cravings. Participants’ cravings and attentional biases to food and alcohol pictures were assessed after exposure to alcohol or water odors (n = 77; mean age = 30.84 years, 51.9% female, 83.1% Caucasian). Food attentional biases were increased by alcohol odors, but food cravings were increased only by a combination of alcohol odors and food pictures. These effects were related with self-reported problematic food consumption. These findings support a research program for further examining the effect of alcohol cues on problematic food consumption

THE NEURAL CORRELATES OF EMOTION REGULATION AND URGENCY

poster abstractRecent studies have indicated five distinct facets of impulsivity related personality traits—each differentially related to risky behaviors. These facets are: sensation seeking, positive and negative urgency, premeditation, and perseverance. Urgency, defined as a tendency to behave impulsively in face of strong emotions, has been found to be the most consistent predictor of a number of problematic risky behaviors—including problematic substance use, pathological gambling, and problematic eating behaviors. It has been theorized that this relationship between urgency and problematic risky be-haviors can be attributed to an underlying dysfunction in the ability to regu-late emotions. No studies have examined the neural correlates of the urgen-cy facets. However, prior studies have looked at the neural correlates of emotion regulation, which is an aspect of the urgency facets. The intention of this poster is to review the neural correlates of emotion regulation in or-der to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying the urgency facets. Our review of the literature indicates that the amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex are involved in emotion regulation. Particularly, emotion regulation processes may be attributed to the independent and syn-ergistic functioning of these regions. These findings indicate that urgency and possibly other impulsivity related personality traits may have measura-ble neural correlates. Moreover, these findings also introduce the possibility of targeting neural dysfunctions in order to reduce emotionally driven impul-siveness and consequent problematic behaviors

The Interaction between Sensation Seeking and Negative Affect Lability on Alcohol Involvement

poster abstractSensation seeking has been inconsistently associated with increased alcohol involvement, suggesting that there might be moderating factors. Considering that sensation seeking has been associated with negative affect and affect lability, negative affect lability might moderate the sensation seeking-alcohol involvement association. We hypothesized that negative affect lability would enhance the effect of sensation seeking on alcohol involvement. Using a large sample of college undergraduate students (n = 734), the current study tested whether negative affect lability moderated the effect of sensation seeking on levels of (1) hazardous alcohol use and (2) alcohol related problems. The sample was 74.6% female and 72.7% Caucasian, and had a mean age of 22.22 (SD = 6.31). Affect lability was measured as anxiety and depression lability, and as anger lability. The hypothesis was tested using multiple regression and interactions were probed using simple slope analyses. Negative affect lability moderated the effect of sensation seeking on hazardous alcohol use and alcohol related problems. Sensation seeking predicted greater levels of hazardous alcohol use among participants with low levels of ADL (b = 1.19, p < .001), but this effect weakened at high levels of ADL (b = 0.11, p = .66). Similarly, the effect of sensation seeking on alcohol related problems was strongest for participants with low levels of AL (b = 1.10, p < .001), but weaker for participants with high levels of AL (b = -.17, p = .58). These findings are inconsistent with our hypothesis, and suggest that concurrent negative affect lability actually diminishes the effect of sensation seeking on hazardous alcohol use and alcohol related problems. These findings highlight the importance of considering negative affect lability among sensation seekers with problematic alcohol use

Role of Positive and Negative Urgency and Social Context on Problematic Alcohol Use Behaviors

poster abstractSocial context influences drinking behaviors; in particular, problematic alcohol use among adolescents and young adults is more frequent in those who drink in more social contexts or who drink for social reasons. Moreover, although positive and negative urgency (i.e., the tendency to act rashly in response to extreme positive or negative emotional states, respectively) also relate to problematic alcohol use, it is unclear whether these impulsivity traits affect problematic alcohol use through social context. As such, the current study examined how positive and negative urgency influence problematic alcohol consumption through the social context of drinking. Participants (n = 348, n = 70 men; Mean age = 20 (SD= 4.5); 78.2% Caucasian) were recruited from the Introduction to Psychology course from IUPUI and received course credit for the completion of an online survey. A series of correlation and mediation analyses were conducted. Problematic alcohol use was significantly related to positive urgency (r=0.33, p<.001) and negative urgency (r= 0.29, p<.001). Although contextual drinking factors did not mediate the relationship between urgency and problematic alcohol use, the relationship between urgency and problematic alcohol use was significantly mediated by the endorsement of social drinking motives (e.g., I drink in order to be more social) (indirect effect of positive urgency b = 1.85, indirect effect of negative urgency b =2.02). Even though social drinking context was not a significant mediator, likely due to very few people reporting drinking in isolation in the current sample, the endorsement of drinking for social reasons might partially explain how urgency influences problematic alcohol use. In this way, intervening on social drinking motives might mitigate the effects of urgency on problematic alcohol use, particularly among college students at risk for alcohol use problems

The Uniqueness of Negative Urgency as a Common Risk Factor for Alcohol Consumption, Self-harm Behaviors, and Eating Problems in College Students

poster abstractResearch suggests that self-control, affective lability, and negative urgency are associated with deliberate self-harm, problematic alcohol consumption, and eating problems. Few studies have fully examined how negative urgency might uniquely explain the effects of self-control and affective lability on these outcomes, as compared to other impulsivity-related traits. This was the goal of the current study. Of an initial group of 734 undergraduate students, 29% indicated a history of deliberate self-harm. These 215 individuals were randomly matched with a group of non-self-harmers (total N = 430; mean age = 22.36, SD = 6.59; 76.2% female). Self-harmers showed higher rates of alcohol use (F(2, 186) = 5.48, p < .001) and eating problems (F(2, 186) = 7.74, p < .001). In a structural equation model, negative urgency was significantly associated with self-harming frequency (β = 3.81, p < .001), variety of self-harm methods (β = 5.79, p < .001), the number of years of self-harming (β = 2.75, p < .001), problematic alcohol use (β = 1.80, p < .05), and eating problems (β = 3.99, p < .001). Negative urgency was positively associated with affective lability (β = 7.71, p < .001) and negatively associated with self-control (β = -13.59, p < .001). Negative urgency is the only impulsivity-related trait that is a common risk factor associated with increased self-harm, problematic alcohol use, and eating problems

Prohibition of e-cigarettes in the US: Are prohibitions where alcohol is consumed related to lower alcohol consumption?

Recently, research has suggested negative consequences related to electronic cigarette (e-cig) use, including the increased risk for alcohol use and abuse. Previous work found that cigarette smoking ban legislation lowered overall smoking and alcohol use rates; however, researchers have not yet examined the potential effects of prohibiting e-cig use. The present study surveyed 617 individuals from a community-based online sample in the US (mean age = 33.33, SD = 10.50, 54.7 per cent female) who reported their smoking/e-cig use status, alcohol consumption, and the presence of e-cig prohibitions where they consume alcohol. E-cig prohibition was associated with a lower likelihood of being an e-cig user (OR = 0.12, p < 0.001) or dual user (use both cigarettes and e-cigs) (OR = 0.07, p < 0.001). Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test scores (b = -1.92, p < 0.001), total drinks consumed over 14 days (b = -4.58, p = 0.002), and average drinks per drinking day (b = -0.71, p < 0.001) were all lower when e-cigs were prohibited. Findings are an initial step in this line of research and suggest important future work examining implications of e-cig prohibition recommendations and policy

Combined expectancies of alcohol and e-cigarette use relate to higher alcohol use

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) were created to approximate the look, feel, and experience of using a cigarette. Since cigarette and alcohol use co-occur, we hypothesized that e-cig and alcohol use also co-occur, likely due to shared positive drug expectations. Using self-report data from two independent samples of community-dwelling alcohol using adults, the present study: (1) modified the Nicotine and Other Substance Interaction Expectancy Questionnaire (NOSIE) to assess expectancies of combined e-cig and alcohol use (i.e. the individuals perceived likelihood of using e-cigs and alcohol together; NOSIE-ER); and (2) examined the relationships among e-cig use, expectancies, and alcohol use across e-cig use status. In the first sample (N=692, mean age=32.6, SD=9.74, 50.7% female, 82.2% Caucasian), exploratory factor analysis suggested the presence of two factors: (1) alcohol use leads to e-cig use (Scale 1; α=0.85); and (2) e-cig use leads to alcohol use (Scale 2; α=0.91). In the second sample (N=714, mean age=34.1, SD=10.89, 47.8% female, 75.6% Caucasian), confirmatory factor analysis supported this factor structure (χ(2)=47.00, p<0.01, df=19; RMSEA=0.08, 90% CI=0.05-0.11; TLI=0.99; CFI=0.99). Compared to non e-cig users, e-cig users had significantly higher problematic alcohol use in both samples (b's=0.09 to 0.14, p's<.05). Expectancies of combined e-cig and alcohol use were significantly related to problematic alcohol use (b's=-0.92 to 0.26, p's<.05). In sum, e-cig use is related to alcohol use and expectancies of combined e-cig and alcohol use; consequently, reshaping of beliefs about needs or desires to co-use could be a prime point of intervention

Examination of a Short Version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale

The current study examines a recently developed short version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale. Participants were 251 undergraduate students (59.3% male; mean age = 21.16 ( SD = 4.18); 72% Caucasian). The short version generally replicated the internal consistency (0.74 – 0.88 across subscales) and inter-scale correlations of the full UPPS-P. Moreover, the estimated loss of shared variance was small (0% – 6.4% reductions across subscales) as compared to a 66% time- savings. Structural equation modeling replicated previously supported factor structures and relationships to external outcomes using the full UPPS-P. The short UPPS-P scale should be considered a valid and reliable alternative to the full UPPS-P