Effects of Alcohol Intoxication on Sexual Decision-Making among Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM): Alcohol's Influences on Self-Control Processes.

This experiment tested mechanisms linking alcohol intoxication and analogue determinants of condomless anal intercourse (CAI) in a sample of 257 men who have sex with men (MSM). The two mechanisms tested were implicit approach biases toward CAI stimuli and executive working memory. Participants were randomized to 3 conditions (water control, placebo, or alcohol) and following beverage administration completed a working memory task, an Approach Avoidance Task of sexual vs. condom stimuli, and two video role-play vignettes of high-risk sexual scenarios. Sexual arousal and CAI intentions were assessed by self-report, and behavioral skills and risk exposure were derived from participants' role-play behavior. Estimation of four path models showed that the hypothesized mechanisms were supported for the CAI intention outcome, but the findings for the skills and risk exposure outcome were mixed. Implications for development and enhancement of HIV prevention interventions were discussed.

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Use is Associated With Health Risk Behaviors Among Moderate- and Heavy-Drinking MSM.

Among men who have sex with men (MSM), acute alcohol consumption is associated with higher rates of condomless anal intercourse, which is linked with a greater likelihood of exposure to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. While pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV infection has become more widespread in this population in recent years, so too have concerns that PrEP uptake may be associated with health risk behaviors. This study investigated differences in sexual behaviors and drug use habits between PrEP users and nonusers in a sample of moderate- and heavy-drinking MSM. Results indicated that PrEP use was associated with riskier sexual practices, weaker self-regulatory cognitions related to condom use, and more frequent illicit drug use. These findings suggest that moderate-and heavy-drinking MSM who use PrEP may comprise a unique risk group that could benefit from targeted counseling or other interventions to reduce their risk of negative health consequences.

Text messaging as an adjunct to a web-based intervention for college student alcohol use: A preliminary study.

Brief, web-based motivational interventions have shown promising results for reducing alcohol use and associated harm among college students. However, findings regarding which alcohol use outcomes are impacted are mixed and effects tend to be small to moderate, with effect sizes decreasing over longer-term follow-up periods. As a result, these interventions may benefit from adjunctive strategies to bolster students' engagement with intervention material and to extend interventions beyond initial contacts into student's daily lives. This study tested the efficacy of text messaging as an adjunct to a web-based intervention for heavy episodic drinking college students. METHODS: One-hundred and thirteen undergraduate student risky drinkers recruited from an introductory psychology class were randomly assigned to one of three conditions-assessment only (AO), web intervention (WI), and web intervention plus text messaging (WI+TXT). Heavy drinking episodes (HDEs), weekend quantity per occasion, and alcohol-related consequences were assessed at baseline and one month follow-up. Univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to assess the influence of condition assignment on 1-month outcomes, controlling for baseline variables. RESULTS: Planned contrasts showed that those in the WI+TXT condition showed significantly less weekend drinking than those in the AO and WI conditions. Although those in the WI+TXT condition showed significantly fewer HDEs compared to AO, it was not significantly different than the WI only condition. No differences were observed on alcohol-related problems. DISCUSSION: These findings provide partial support for the view that text messaging may be a useful adjunct to web-based interventions for reducing alcohol consumption among student drinkers.

The image-based alcohol-action implicit association test.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Previous work has shown that automatic alcohol-action associations, assessed by the Implicit Association Test (IAT), may play a role in hazardous drinking patterns. The majority of alcohol-related IATs have been constructed using verbal stimuli, and even those who have used pictorial stimuli have only represented beverage categories with pictures. To assess implicit appetitive responses among a broader population of alcohol users, such as those who experience limitations reading and understanding English, there may be utility in the development of an IAT that utilizes only non-verbal stimuli. METHODS: The current study presents an initial effort to develop such a task and examine its association with drinking. One hundred and fifty-three university students participated individually in a laboratory study in which they first completed a pictorial alcohol-specific approach/avoid IAT, followed by self-report measures of drinking. RESULTS: As hypothesized, negative binomial regression analyses showed that IAT scores predicted the number of heavy drinking episodes and typical number of drinks per occasion. LIMITATIONS: The use of a university student sample for this initial study represents an important limitation of this work, which should be addressed in future research. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide initial evidence for the potential use of non-verbal IATs to assess alcohol-related implicit cognition among adults. Implications for the assessment of hazardous drinking behavior across populations are discussed.

Executive function and appetitive processes in the self-control of alcohol use: the moderational role of drinking restraint.

BACKGROUND: Dual process models characterize hazardous drinking as a function of appetitive processes and executive processes that enable self-control. Although central to a number of models (e.g., Hofmann et al., 2009a,b), little empirical research has examined how drinking restraint may influence the effects of these processes on alcohol use. The current study examined whether drinking restraint influenced the predictive value of appetitive responses to alcohol cues and executive functioning on typical drinking behavior. It was hypothesized that the interaction between appetitive responses and executive functioning would only be observed among those who had stronger drinking restraint goals. METHODS: Sixty-nine hazardous drinking young adults (ages 21-30) completed the Trail Making Test and then were exposed to the sight and smell of an alcoholic beverage that they anticipated they would consume. Urge and anticipated stimulant effects of alcohol (A-BAES) were measured following the exposure. RESULTS: The interaction between Trails B and each of the appetitive response ratings (i.e., urge rating and A-BAES) was predictive of drinking behavior (TLFB) only among those high in drinking restraint. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of incorporating the role of motivational constructs such as restraint goals in current dual process models of alcohol-related self-control.