Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on August 31, 2007
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2007 42(6):560-566; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agm064
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Stress increases attentional bias for alcohol cues in social drinkers who drink to cope
School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZA, UK
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed at: School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZA, UK. Tel: 0151 7941137; Fax: 0151 7942945; E-mail: mfield{at}liverpool.ac.uk
Received 17 April 2007; accepted 24 July 2007
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Abstract |
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Aims: To investigate the effects of stress on alcohol craving and attentional bias for alcohol-related cues in a group of heavy social drinkers. Method: Forty-four heavy social drinkers were exposed to either a laboratory stressor task or a control manipulation before completing a questionnaire measure of alcohol craving and a visual probe task which measured attentional bias for alcohol-related cues. Participants were subdivided into those with high and low levels of coping motives for drinking. Results: Compared to a control manipulation, the laboratory stressor task produced increases in alcohol craving (P < 0.01). The laboratory stressor task also produced a significant attentional bias for alcohol-related cues, but only among participants who had high levels of coping motives (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Findings are broadly consistent with contemporary negative reinforcement models of substance abuse, and with models of subjective craving and attentional biases for substance-related cues.