No evidence for trait- and state-level urgency moderating the daily association between negative affect and subsequent alcohol use in two college samples

It remains unclear whether the negative reinforcement pathway to problematic drinking exists, and if so, for whom. One idea that has received some support over the last few years is that people who tend to act impulsively in response to negative emotions (i.e., people high in negative urgency) may specifically respond to negative affect with increased alcohol consumption. We tested this idea in a preregistered secondary data analysis of two ecological momentary assessment studies using college samples. Participants (N = 226) reported on their current affective state multiple times per day and the following morning reported alcohol use the previous night. We assessed urgency both at baseline and during the momentary affect assessments. Results from our Bayesian model comparison indicate that no combination of the variables of interest (negative affect, urgency, and the respective interactions) outperform a baseline model including two known demographic predictors of alcohol use. A non-preregistered exploratory analysis provided some evidence for the effect of daily positive affect, positive urgency, as well as their interaction on subsequent alcohol use. Taken together, our results suggest that college students’ drinking may be better described by a positive rather than negative reinforcement cycle.

关于是否存在导致问题饮酒的负强化途径尚无定论，以及这种途径是否适用于特定人群。近年来，一种受到一定支持的观点是，倾向于在负面情绪影响下采取冲动行为的人（即负急迫性较高的人）可能会特别通过增加酒精摄入量来应对负面情绪。我们通过利用两个生态时刻评估研究的二次数据分析，对这一观点进行了检验，研究对象为大学生样本（N = 226）。参与者每日多次报告其情感状态，并在次日清晨报告前一晚的酒精摄入情况。我们分别在基线阶段和即时情感评估期间对急迫性进行了评估。贝叶斯模型比较的结果显示，所研究的变量（负面情绪、急迫性及其相互作用）的任何组合都无法超越包括两个已知酒精使用人口统计学预测因素的基线模型。一项未预先注册的探索性分析提供了一些证据，表明日常积极情感、积极急迫性及其相互作用对后续酒精使用的影响。综合来看，我们的研究结果暗示，大学生的饮酒行为可能更适宜用正强化而非负强化循环来描述。