Description
- Abstract:
- Underage drinking is a serious public health concern in the US in part because earlier ages of drinking onset are associated with more severe alcohol problems later in life. Although there has been extensive research elucidating the external determinants of underage drinking, less is known regarding internal mechanisms like craving and attentional bias, which are central to many theories of addictive behavior. This dissertation presents three studies that examine alcohol cue exposure effects on craving and attentional bias among underage drinkers. Experiment 1 examined underage drinkers’ craving in response to in vivo presentations of alcoholic beverages presented in a lab-based cue reactivity paradigm and in response to alcohol cues reported as visible in their natural environments using ecological momentary assessments. Results suggest that subjective craving is a significant predictor of alcohol consumption among this age group, and that underage drinkers report increases in craving when exposed to alcohol cues in both the lab and natural environment. Experiments 2 and 3 were lab-based studies that examined the effects of alcohol cue exposure on not only craving but also attentional bias to alcohol. Results from Experiment 2 demonstrate that in vivo exposure to beer results in increases in subjective craving and a biasing of attention towards alcohol stimuli presented in a visual probe task. Experiment 3 replicated this initial finding. However, when in vivo alcohol cue exposure durations were extended, participants whose craving peaked at the end of the cue exposure procedure had significantly stronger attentional biases than those participants whose craving peaked early in the procedure and then reduced. The combined results demonstrate that underage drinkers experience increases in subjective craving and a biasing of attention to alcohol following exposure to alcohol cues. This pattern of results is consistent with a core assertion of the attentional bias model of drug use behavior (Franken, 2003), which posits that drug users experience increases in subjective craving when exposed to drug cues, which in turn biases attention back towards these drug cues. Implications of these effects on the prevention and treatment of underage drinking are discussed.
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2015)
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Citation
Ramirez, Jason J.,
"Alcohol Cue Exposure Effects on Craving and Attentional Bias among Underage Drinkers"
(2015).
Psychology Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0416VDN
