Daily Associations Between Injunctive Drinking Norms and Alcohol Consumption.

OBJECTIVE: Perception of others' approval of alcohol use (i.e., injunctive drinking norms) is strongly predictive of alcohol use, particularly among young adults (Krieger et al., 2016). While between-person injunctive norms predict alcohol use (Neighbors et al., 2008), there is evidence of within-person fluctuations in the relationship between norms and drinking (Graupensperger et al., 2021). The current study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to test within-person, day-level associations between injunctive norms and alcohol use, and to test whether social context moderated this association. METHOD: Participants (n=83, M age=24.0, 50.9% female) completed a two-week EMA protocol using a smartphone application. Injunctive norms, social context (type and gender of companions), and number of drinks consumed were assessed each morning following a drinking event. Multilevel models with repeated measures nested within participants tested main effects and interactions of between- and within-person injunctive norms, type of drinking companions, and gender of drinking companions on number of drinks consumed. RESULTS: Day-level injunctive norms were positively associated with drinking quantity over and above baseline norms. The effect of norms differed by social context such that norms were only positively related to drinking quantity when drinking with a friend or romantic partner (vs. drinking alone). Gender of friends with whom participants drank did not moderate the effect of norms on quantity. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides one of the first examinations of daily fluctuations in injunctive drinking norms. As norms represent a malleable target for intervention (White et al., 2019), results offer new information regarding possible intervention targets.

Using mobile technology to influence alcohol-impaired driving risk perceptions and decisions.

OBJECTIVE: Despite significant individual and societal risk, alcohol-impaired driving (AID) remains prevalent in the United States. Our aim was to determine whether breathalyzer-cued warning messages administered via mobile devices in the natural drinking environment could influence real-world AID cognitions and behaviors. METHOD: One hundred twenty young adults (53% women; mean age = 24.7) completed 6 weeks of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and provided breathalyzer samples using a BACtrack Mobile Pro linked to their mobile device. On mornings after drinking episodes, participants reported their driving activities from the previous evening (787 episodes). Participants were randomly assigned to receive warning messages if they reached a breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) ≥ .05, or no messages. Participants in the warnings condition reported their willingness to drive and perceived danger of driving at EMA prompts (1,541 reports). RESULTS: We observed a significant effect of condition, such that the association between cumulative AID engagement and driving after reaching a BrAC of .05 was dampened among individuals in the warnings condition, compared to those in the no warnings condition. Receiving a warning message was associated with increased momentary perceived danger of driving and decreased willingness to drive. CONCLUSIONS: We found that BrAC-cued warning messages reduced the probability of AID and willingness to drive while impaired, and increased the perceived danger of driving after drinking. These results serve as proof-of-concept for the use of mobile technology to deliver an adaptive just-in-time intervention to reduce the probability of AID. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Craving, stimulation, and sedation as predictors of alcohol demand under intoxication.

Objective: Alcohol demand has been evaluated predominately as a trait-like construct, reflecting individual differences in alcohol's reinforcement value. Increases in state-dependent alcohol demand under intoxication have been demonstrated, indicating a potential mechanism that may influence drinking behavior. This study evaluated the roles of craving and subjective alcohol response (stimulation, sedation) in this process, testing whether increases in craving and stimulation, and reductions in sedation, predicted increased alcohol demand during a laboratory-based drinking episode. Method: Young adults (N = 90; 53% male; M age = 22.2) attended two sessions in a within-subjects alcohol/placebo design. Craving, stimulation, sedation, and alcohol demand (breakpoint, Omax, intensity) were assessed once before beverage consumption and at multiple points afterward at varying blood alcohol concentrations (M peak BrAC = 0.102 g%). Multilevel models tested associations between momentary and between-person predictors (craving, stimulation, sedation) and alcohol demand after accounting for sex, time trends, and baseline covariates. Results: When intoxicated, participants reported higher alcohol demand across the majority of the ascending limb and decreasing demand across the descending limb. Participants reported increased demand at moments when experiencing higher craving, ps ≤ .001, and stimulation, with momentary stimulation incrementally predicting demand above craving, ps ≤ .04. Between-persons, higher alcohol-induced craving was associated with increased demand, ps ≤ .001, whereas between-person stimulation and sedation were less robustly associated with demand indicators. Conclusions: Results indicate that within-person craving and stimulation during intoxication are independently associated with changes in alcohol's reinforcing value. Findings suggest the potential for state-dependent alcohol demand to serve as an additional motivational index of processes underlying ongoing drinking behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Comparing associations between mood and breath alcohol concentration in the laboratory and natural environment.

OBJECTIVE: Associations between mood and drinking are part of many theoretical models of problematic alcohol use. Laboratory and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) research on associations between mood and drinking behavior has produced mixed findings, and these constructs are often measured using different methods depending on research context. The present study compares associations between mood and alcohol consumption across research contexts (laboratory vs. daily life) and measurement methods (breathalyzer vs. self-report). METHOD: Forty-five young adults (53% women, Mage = 24.5) who drank moderate-to-heavy amounts completed an alcohol administration session and then 6 weeks of EMA with ambulatory breathalyzer samples. Participants reported their current mood (happy, nervous, upset, and excited) in both the laboratory and during EMA. Momentary, day, and person-level mood variables were examined in multilevel models predicting objective alcohol consumption [breath alcohol concentration (BrAC); lab and EMA] and subjective consumption (self-reported drinking occurrence and number of drinks; EMA). RESULTS: We identified discrepant mood-BrAC associations across laboratory and EMA contexts. Momentary excitement was negatively associated with BrAC in the lab, but positively associated with BrAC during EMA (ps < .01). We also identified discrepancies within EMA depending on the alcohol consumption measure used (BrAC or self-reported number of drinks) and the level of analysis (momentary or day). CONCLUSIONS: Studies testing theoretical models involving directional mood-alcohol associations (e.g., affective reinforcement models) need to carefully consider how research context and methods may influence findings of associations between mood and drinking. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Context, acute tolerance, and subjective response affect alcohol-impaired driving decisions.

RATIONALE: Alcohol intoxication produces effects that can impair judgment and increase engagement in risky behaviors, including alcohol-impaired driving (AID). Real-world AID decisions are informed by contextual circumstances and judgments of associated risk. How individuals vary in their AID decision-making across contexts and whether subjective alcohol responses (stimulation, sedation, acute tolerance) differentially affect AID decisions are critical, but under-studied research questions. OBJECTIVES: We systematically investigated predictors of AID decisions at different hypothetical driving distances across the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) curve. METHODS: Young adults (n = 40; 55% female) completed two laboratory sessions in a within-subjects alcohol/placebo design. At multiple points along the BAC curve (M peak BAC = 0.101 g%), participants rated their subjective intoxication, stimulation, sedation, and perceived dangerousness of driving prior to indicating their willingness to drive distances of 1, 3, and 10 miles. Multilevel mixed models assessed within- and between-person predictors of the maximum distance participants were willing to drive at matched BACs on the ascending and descending limb. RESULTS: Under intoxication (but not placebo), participants were willing to drive greater distances on the descending versus ascending limb. At the momentary level, participants were willing to drive further when they felt less intoxicated, stimulated, and sedated, and perceived driving as less dangerous. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals differed in the distance they were willing to drive as a function of indicators of intoxication, implicating driving distance as an important contextual factor relevant to AID decisions. Individuals may simultaneously perceive themselves as "unsafe" to drive, but "safe enough" to drive short distances, particularly when BAC is falling.

The Mediating Role of Anxiety Sensitivity in Uncontrolled Drinking: A Look at Gender-Specific Parental Influences.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety sensitivity (AS) reflects an individual's belief that experiencing anxiety will cause illness or embarrassment, and may be a reason individuals self-medicate with alcohol. Harsh or indulgent parenting could contribute to the development of AS. We examined the direct and indirect associations between parenting styles and alcohol-related variables through AS and impaired control over drinking (IC; i.e., perceived failure to adhere to limits on alcohol consumption in the future). METHODS: A multiple-group structural equation model with 614 university students (344 men; 270 women) was examined. Structural invariance tests were conducted to evaluate moderation by gender. We used a bias corrected bootstrap technique to obtain the mediated effects. RESULTS: Father authoritarianism and mother permissiveness were directly linked to AS among women, whereas father permissiveness was directly linked to AS among men. This suggests unique parental influences based on gender regarding AS. While AS was directly linked to alcohol-related problems for both men and women, several gender-specific associations were found. AS was directly linked to IC for men but not for women. For men, father permissiveness was directly related to AS, and AS mediated the indirect link between father permissiveness and IC along both the heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related problems pathways. Similar to other internalizing constructs (e.g., neuroticism and depression), higher AS was directly associated with less heavy episodic drinking but more alcohol-related problems. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the dangers of AS for men as an important correlate of under-controlled drinking behaviors. Additionally, permissive parenting of the same-gender parent was associated with AS, which is consistent with the gender-matching hypothesis. Together, these results underscore the importance of measuring the independent influence of both parents.

Social aggregation in pea aphids: experiment and random walk modeling.

From bird flocks to fish schools and ungulate herds to insect swarms, social biological aggregations are found across the natural world. An ongoing challenge in the mathematical modeling of aggregations is to strengthen the connection between models and biological data by quantifying the rules that individuals follow. We model aggregation of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum. Specifically, we conduct experiments to track the motion of aphids walking in a featureless circular arena in order to deduce individual-level rules. We observe that each aphid transitions stochastically between a moving and a stationary state. Moving aphids follow a correlated random walk. The probabilities of motion state transitions, as well as the random walk parameters, depend strongly on distance to an aphid's nearest neighbor. For large nearest neighbor distances, when an aphid is essentially isolated, its motion is ballistic with aphids moving faster, turning less, and being less likely to stop. In contrast, for short nearest neighbor distances, aphids move more slowly, turn more, and are more likely to become stationary; this behavior constitutes an aggregation mechanism. From the experimental data, we estimate the state transition probabilities and correlated random walk parameters as a function of nearest neighbor distance. With the individual-level model established, we assess whether it reproduces the macroscopic patterns of movement at the group level. To do so, we consider three distributions, namely distance to nearest neighbor, angle to nearest neighbor, and percentage of population moving at any given time. For each of these three distributions, we compare our experimental data to the output of numerical simulations of our nearest neighbor model, and of a control model in which aphids do not interact socially. Our stochastic, social nearest neighbor model reproduces salient features of the experimental data that are not captured by the control.