Alcohol and Aggression Without Consumption. Alcohol Cues, Aggressive Thoughts, and Hostile Perception Bias

Discrimination Without Intoxication: The Role of Controlled Processes in the Promotion of Racial Bias After Viewing Alcohol-Related Cues

Viewing alcohol-related cues (e.g., advertisements) is known to promote expressions of racial bias and aggression through the temporary promotion of reflexive or impulsive responding. However, this increased automaticity may be inhibited by thoughtful control of behavior. We examined the role of controlled processes in the suppression of racial bias following alcohol cue exposure across two experiments. Experiment 1 (N = 125) indicated reduced control of behavior promoted greater expressions of racial bias after viewing alcohol-related cues. Experiment 2 (N = 71) replicated these effects, suggesting individuals with lower neural indices of control, indexed by reduced amplitudes of the error-related negativity (ERN), similarly express greater racial bias after viewing alcohol-related cues. These findings replicate previous work suggesting alcohol-related cues promote impulsivity and application of negative racial stereotypes. Yet, whether this automaticity manifests into behavioral expressions of racial bias depends on the availability to engage self-control to inhibit these socially undesirable responses.

How associative thinking influences scene perception

Perception of our external environment is not isolated from the influence of our internal thoughts, and past evidence points to a possible common associative mechanism underlying both the perception of scenes and our internal thought. Here, we investigated the nature of the interaction between an associative mindset and scene perception, hypothesizing a functional advantage to an associative thought pattern in the perception of scenes. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that associative thinking facilitates scene perception, which evolved over the course of the experiments. In contrast to scene perception, Experiment 3 showed that associative thinking hinders the perception of mundane objects, in which associative information is minimized. Nevertheless, object perception was facilitated when associative thinking was reduced. This double dissociation suggests that an associative mind is more receptive of externally perceived associative information, and that a match between the orientation of internal and external processing may be key for perception.

Alcohol Priming and Attribution of Blame in an Acquaintance Rape Vignette

Research on nonpharmacological effects of alcohol shows that exposure to alcohol-related cues (i.e., alcohol priming) can increase behaviors associated with actual alcohol consumption. Attributions of responsibility to female victims in sexual assault scenarios are affected by whether or not alcohol was consumed by a victim and/or perpetrator. Victims often receive higher levels of blame if they consume alcohol prior to the assault. This work extends the research on nonpharmacological effects of alcohol into a novel domain of blame attribution toward rape victims. In two studies, participants in lab settings (Study 1; N = 184) and online (Study 2; N = 421) were primed with alcohol or neutral beverage advertisements as part of a purportedly separate ad-rating task and then were presented with a vignette depicting an acquaintance rape where the characters consumed beer or soda. Participants subsequently completed a questionnaire assessing victim blame and perpetrator blame. Across both studies, participants blamed the victim most when they were exposed to both contextual (story) and noncontextual (ads) alcohol cues; this effect was especially prominent in males in Study 1. Findings for perpetrator blame were inconsistent across studies. Implications of nonpharmacological effects of alcohol on blame attribution toward rape victims are discussed in the context of courtroom situations and bystander intervention.

Gay-Specific and General Stressors Predict Gay Men's Psychological Functioning Over Time

Gay men experience various stressors, including gay-specific stressors such as discrimination and internalized homonegativity as well as general stressors such as occupational and financial strain. While a robust literature has examined how gay-specific stressors are associated with negative mental health outcomes among gay men, less attention has been paid to the association between general stress and gay men's psychological functioning or to how different types of stressors may interact to affect functioning. The current study sought to address this gap by examining the unique and combined associations between gay-specific external stress (discrimination), gay-specific internal stress (rejection sensitivity, internalized homonegativity, sexual identity concealment), and general stressors (e.g., academic difficulties) and negative affect and alcohol use over time. A total of 147 self-identified gay men living in the greater New York City area participated in a baseline assessment and a 7-week diary study. Univariate and multivariate results revealed that gay-specific external stress, gay-specific internal stress, and general stress were each positively and uniquely associated with higher mean levels of and greater fluctuations in negative affect over time, and general stress was positively associated with greater fluctuations in alcohol use over time. Multiplicative analyses indicated that individuals reporting high levels of stress in multiple domains experienced particularly high mean levels of negative affect. These findings highlight the unique contribution of general stress to gay men's functioning over time and underscore the importance of considering multiple forms of stress (i.e., gay-specific and general stress) and their interactions to better understand gay men's psychological functioning.

The Computations of hostile biases (CHB) model: Grounding hostility biases in a unified cognitive framework

Our behavior is partly a product of our perception of the world, and aggressive individuals have been found to have 'hostility biases' in their perception and interpretation of social information. Four types of hostility biases can be distinguished: the hostile attribution, interpretation, expectation, and perception bias. Such low-level biases are believed to have a profound influence on decision-making, and possibly also increase the likelihood of engaging in aggressive acts. The current review systematically examined extant research on the four types of hostility bias, with a particular focus on the associations between each type of hostility bias and aggressive behavior. The results confirmed the robust association between hostility biases and aggressive behavior. However, it is still unknown how exactly hostility biases are acquired. This is also caused by a tendency to study hostility biases separately, as if they are non-interacting phenomena. Another issue is that current approaches cannot directly quantify the latent cognitive processes pertaining to the hostility biases, thus creating an explanatory gap. To fill this gap, we embedded the results of the systematic review in a state-of-the-art computational framework, which provides a novel mechanistic account with testable predictions.

The Longitudinal Associations Between Outness and Health Outcomes Among Gay/Lesbian Versus Bisexual Emerging Adults

Sexual minorities are at increased risk for substance use and mental health problems. Although previous studies have examined the associations between outness and health outcomes, few have used longitudinal designs or examined differences across subgroups of sexual minorities. To address these gaps, the current study examined sexual orientation and gender as moderators of the longitudinal associations between outness and substance use (cigarettes, marijuana, illicit drugs, and alcohol) and mental health (depression and anxiety). Data were from a sample of 169 sexual minority emerging adults (98 women and 71 men) who provided self-report data at four times over 3.5 years. Results indicated that sexual orientation moderated the within-person associations between outness and changes in health. For bisexual individuals, being more out was associated with increases in marijuana use, illicit drug use, and depression. In contrast, for gay/lesbian individuals, being more out was associated with decreases in illicit drug use and it was not significantly associated with changes in marijuana use or depression. Additionally, outness was not significantly associated with changes in cigarette use, alcohol use, or anxiety for gay/lesbian or bisexual individuals, and gender did not moderate any of the associations. In sum, being more open about one's sexual orientation had negative consequences for bisexual individuals but not for gay/lesbian individuals. Professionals who work with sexual minorities need to be aware of the potential risks of being open about one's sexual orientation for bisexual individuals. Interventions are needed to facilitate disclosure decisions and to promote the health of sexual minorities.

The neural correlates of alcohol-related aggression

Alcohol intoxication is implicated in approximately half of all violent crimes. Over the past several decades, numerous theories have been proposed to account for the influence of alcohol on aggression. Nearly all of these theories imply that altered functioning in the prefrontal cortex is a proximal cause. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment, 50 healthy young men consumed either a low dose of alcohol or a placebo and completed an aggression paradigm against provocative and nonprovocative opponents. Provocation did not affect neural responses. However, relative to sober participants, during acts of aggression, intoxicated participants showed decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex, caudate, and ventral striatum, but heightened activation in the hippocampus. Among intoxicated participants, but not among sober participants, aggressive behavior was positively correlated with activation in the medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These results support theories that posit a role for prefrontal cortical dysfunction as an important factor in intoxicated aggression.

A Longitudinal Study of IPV Victimization Among Sexual Minority Youth

Although intimate partner violence (IPV) is highly prevalent among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, little is known regarding its developmental patterns, risk factors, or health-related consequences. We examined IPV victimization in an ethnically diverse community-based convenience sample of 248 LGBT youth (aged 16-20 at study outset) who provided six waves of data across a 5-year period. Results from multilevel models indicated high, stable rates of IPV victimization across this developmental period (ages 16-25 years) that differed between demographic groups. Overall, 45.2% of LGBT youth were physically abused and 16.9% were sexually victimized by a dating partner during the study. Odds of physical victimization were 76% higher for female than for male LGBT youth, 2.46 times higher for transgender than for cisgender youth, and 2 to 4 times higher for racial-ethnic minorities than for White youth. The prevalence of physical IPV declined with age for White youth but remained stable for racial-ethnic minorities. Odds of sexual victimization were 3.42 times higher for transgender than for cisgender youth, 75% higher for bisexual or questioning than for gay or lesbian youth, and increased more with age for male than female participants. Within-person analyses indicated that odds of physical IPV were higher at times when youth reported more sexual partners, more marijuana use, and lower social support; odds of sexual IPV were higher at times when youth reported more sexual partners and more LGBT-related victimization. In prospective analyses, sexual IPV predicted increased psychological distress; both IPV types marginally predicted increased marijuana use.

Effects of romantic involvement on substance use among young sexual and gender minorities

BACKGROUND

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents and young adults experience elevated rates of alcohol and drug use; it is, therefore, important to identify protective factors that decrease risk for substance use in this population. This study examined whether involvement in a romantic relationship, a well-established protective factor against heavy drinking and drug use among heterosexual adults, is also protective for SGM youth.

METHODS

This study used eight waves of data provided by a community sample of 248 racially diverse SGM youth (ages 16-20 years at baseline). Multilevel structural equation models were used to assess within-person associations between relationship involvement and use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and other illicit drugs. Age, gender, and sexual identity were tested as moderators.

RESULTS

Romantic involvement was associated with less drinking for all participants (Rate Ratio = 0.64) and decreased likelihood of illicit drug use for gay and lesbian participants (Odds Ratio = 0.56). However, participants reported smoking 26% more cigarettes when romantically involved. Further, among bisexuals, romantic involvement was associated with increased marijuana (Rate Ratio = 2.31) and other illicit drug use (Odds Ratio = 2.39).

CONCLUSIONS

Study findings indicate some protective effects of relationship involvement against substance use among SGM youth, particularly with respect to alcohol and illicit drugs other than marijuana. However, dating may promote smoking in all SGM youth and drug use in bisexual youth. The demographic differences observed in the effects of romantic involvement highlight the importance of attending to differences among SGM youth in research, theory, and substance use reduction efforts.

Effects of Exposure to Alcohol-Related Cues on Racial Prejudice

Abstract. Prior research ( Stepanova, Bartholow, Saults, & Friedman, 2012 ) indicates that exposure to alcohol-related cues increases expressions of racial biases. This study investigated whether such effects can be replicated with other tasks assessing racial bias and whether they stem from stereotyping or prejudice. In two experiments participants (N1 = 118; N2 = 152) were exposed to either alcohol-related or neutral advertisements, and then completed a race-priming lexical decision task (LDT, Wittenbrink, Judd, and Park, 1997) . Experiment 1 provided weak evidence that exposure to alcohol cues decreases positive attitudes toward Blacks, which was not confirmed in a high-powered replication (Experiment 2). Our findings suggest a short-lived nature (if any) of alcohol priming effects on racial bias when measured by the primed LDT.

Pervasive, hard-wired and male: Qualitative study of how UK adolescents view alcohol-related aggression

Laboratory studies of alcohol-inexperienced adolescents show that aggression can be primed by alcohol-related stimuli, suggesting that alcohol-related aggression is partly socially learned. Script theory proposes that alcohol-related aggression 'scripts' for social behaviors are culturally-available and learned by individuals. The purpose of the study was to understand the content and origins of alcohol-related aggression scripts learned by adolescents. This qualitative focus group study of 40 adolescents (ages 14-16 years) examined alcohol-related aggression scripts. Participants believed aggression and severe injury to be pervasive when young people drink. Viewed through a biological lens, participants described aggression as an 'instinctive' and 'hard-wired' male trait facilitated by intoxication. As such, alcohol-related aggression was not seen as intended or personally controllable and participants did not see it in moral terms. Females were largely viewed as either bystanders of inter-male aggression or potential victims of male sexual aggression. Participants attributed their views on the frequency and nature of alcohol-related aggression to current affairs and reality television, which they felt portrayed a reality of which they had little experience. The origins of the explicitly biological frameworks that participants used seemed to lie in pre-existing beliefs about the nature of gender differences. Perceptions of the pervasiveness of male alcohol-related aggression, and the consequent failure to view alcohol-related aggression in moral terms, could dispose some young people to alcohol-related aggression. Interventions could target (1) the beliefs that alcohol-related aggression is pervasive and uncontrollable in males, and (2) participants' dysfunctional views of masculinity that underpin those beliefs.

Effects of Weapons on Aggressive Thoughts, Angry Feelings, Hostile Appraisals, and Aggressive Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Weapons Effect Literature

A landmark 1967 study showed that simply seeing a gun can increase aggression—called the “weapons effect.” Since 1967, many other studies have attempted to replicate and explain the weapons effect. This meta-analysis integrates the findings of weapons effect studies conducted from 1967 to 2017 and uses the General Aggression Model (GAM) to explain the weapons effect. It includes 151 effect-size estimates from 78 independent studies involving 7,668 participants. As predicted by the GAM, our naïve meta-analytic results indicate that the mere presence of weapons increased aggressive thoughts, hostile appraisals, and aggression, suggesting a cognitive route from weapons to aggression. Weapons did not significantly increase angry feelings. Yet, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis indicated that not all naïve mean estimates were robust to the presence of publication bias. In general, these results suggest that the published literature tends to overestimate the weapons effect for some outcomes and moderators.

Hostility predicts alcohol consumption over a 21-year follow-up in the Gazel cohort

BACKGROUND

Hostility has been found to be positively associated with alcohol intake in cross-sectional studies. Our aim was to examine prospectively the long-lasting association of hostility with alcohol consumption.

METHODS

We included 10,612 men and 3834 women from the French Gazel cohort with mean ages in 1993 of 48.6 (SD=2.9) and 45.7(SD=4.2), respectively. Hostility (i.e., total, cognitive and behavioral) was assessed in 1993 with the Buss and Durkee Hostility Inventory. Alcohol consumption was self-reported annually from 1994 to 2014. Hostility scores were introduced successively in general linear mixed models with annual alcohol consumption in drinks per week as dependent variable. Multivariable analyses were adjusted for age, occupational status, marital status, retirement status and depression score. All the analyses were stratified by sex.

RESULTS

Among men (women), 83.0% (76.2%) completed at least 75% of all annual assessment of alcohol consumption over a 21-year follow-up. In univariate analysis, alcohol consumption was associated with total and behavioral hostility in both sex (all p<0.001). In multivariable analyses, these associations remained significant with a greater size effect for behavioral hostility. Estimated means of alcohol consumptions ranged from 10.50 [95CI%: 10.01-10.92] drinks per week to 13.32 [95%CI: 12.90-13.74] in men and from 4.09 [95%CI: 3.71-4.46] to 5.78 [95%CI: 5.39-6.17] in women, for the first and last quartiles respectively (p trends<0.001 and all pairwise comparisons<0.01). Similar effects were observed among participants with at-risk alcohol consumption at baseline.

CONCLUSIONS

In both men and women, behavioral hostility predicted alcohol consumption over a 21-year follow-up. Interventions aiming at modulating behavioral hostility may help reducing its long-lasting influence on alcohol consumption.

The weapons effect

In some societies, weapons are plentiful and highly visible. This review examines recent trends in research on the weapons effect, which is the finding that the mere presence of weapons can prime people to behave aggressively. The General Aggression Model provides a theoretical framework to explain why the weapons effect occurs. This model postulates that exposure to weapons increases aggressive thoughts and hostile appraisals, thus explaining why weapons facilitate aggressive behavior. Data from meta-analytic reviews are consistent with the General Aggression Model. These findings have important practical as well as theoretical implications. They suggest that the link between weapons and aggression is very strong in semantic memory, and that merely seeing a weapon can make people more aggressive.

Examining daily variability in willingness to drink in relation to underage young adult alcohol use

A key component of the Prototype Willingness Model is willingness, which reflects an openness to opportunity to perform a behavior in situations that are conducive to that behavior. Willingness has traditionally been tested using global, hypothetical assessments, and has not been examined at the daily level. We expected to find within-person variability in willingness to drink, such that on days with greater willingness, individuals would report greater drinking. A national sample (N=288) of young adults aged 18 to 20 (31.60% female) completed a Web-based survey that was comprised of measures of drinking and sexual behavior, including the Timeline Follow-Back (Sobell & Sobell, 1992). Findings show daily variability in willingness to drink (ICC=0.54), which suggests that there are substantial differences from day-to-day in this drinking-related cognition. Participants drank more on days when individuals also reported feeling more willing to drink than their own average level across the two weeks. Daily process level mechanisms allow greater insight into factors contributing to increased risk in-the-moment, which may point to targets for interventions aimed at improving adolescents' and young adults' abilities to make healthier choices in moments when they may be at greater risk for engaging in risky behaviors.

Effects of Evaluative Context in Implicit Cognitions Associated with Alcohol and Violent Behaviors

Introduction

A large body of literature has substantiated the relationship between alcohol use and violent behaviors, but little consideration has been given to implicit interactions between the two. This study examines the implicit attitudes associated with alcoholic drinks and violent behaviors, and their relationship to explicit reports of problematic behaviors associated with alcohol use.

Methods

The Go/No-Go Association Task (GNAT; Nosek & Banaji, 2001) was used to test the effect of distracters (noise) on implicit cognitions associated with alcoholic drinks and violent behaviors. Data was collected from 148 students enrolled in a Midwestern university.

Results

Irrespective of contextual distractions, participants consistently exhibited negative implicit cognitions associated with violent behaviors. However, context impacted the valence of cognitions associated with alcoholic beverages. Implicit cognitions associated with alcoholic beverages were negative when nonalcoholic beverages were used as distracters, but were positive when licit and illicit drugs were used as distracters. Implicit cognitions associated with alcoholic drinks were correlated with implicit cognitions associated with violent behaviors and explicit measures of problem drinking, problem drug-related behaviors, and measures of craving, to name a few.

Conclusion

Evaluative context can have an effect on the expressed appraisal of implicit attitudes. Implications, limitations, and future directions for using the GNAT in addictions research are discussed.

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Implicit cognitions associated with violent behaviors were always negative.

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Implicit cognitions of alcohol were negative when drinks were used as distracters.

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Implicit cognitions of alcohol were positive when drugs were used as distracters.

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Evaluative context had an effect on the expressed appraisal of implicit attitudes.

Simple exposure to alcohol cues causally increases negative implicit attitudes toward lesbians and gay men

Previous research has shown that acute alcohol consumption is associated with negative responses toward outgroup members such as sexual minorities. However, simple alcohol cue exposure without actually consuming alcohol also influences social behavior. Hence, it was reasoned that priming participants with words related to alcohol (relative to neutral words) would promote prejudiced attitudes toward sexual minorities. In fact, an experiment showed that alcohol cue exposure causally led to more negative implicit attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. In contrast, participants' explicit attitudes were relatively unaffected by the priming manipulation. Moreover, participants' typical alcohol use was not related to their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. In sum, it appears that not only acute alcohol consumption but also the simple exposure of alcohol cues may promote negative views toward lesbians and gay men.

Alcohol expectancies and evaluations of aggression in alcohol-related intimate-partner verbal and physical aggression

OBJECTIVE

Alcohol aggression expectancies have been found to be associated with increases in aggressive behavior. However, research has not consistently examined evaluations of such behavior. This is unfortunate as both expectancies and evaluations may play a role in whether such behavior will occur. Given this, the current study cross-sectionally examined the associations between alcohol aggression expectancies, evaluations of alcohol-related aggression, indicators of excessive drinking, and alcohol-related verbal and physical aggression.

METHOD

The sample consisted of 280 married and cohabiting couples. These couples reported on excessive drinking indicators, alcohol expectancies and evaluations, and alcohol-related verbal and physical aggression during the past year.

RESULTS

Findings showed that verbal aggression was positively associated with indicators of excessive drinking among females and with alcohol aggression expectancies for females who evaluated such aggression positively. For males, aggression expectancies and indicators of excessive drinking were positively associated with verbal aggression. For physical aggression, results showed that indicators of excessive drinking and aggression expectancies were associated with physical aggression for females. For males, aggression expectancies were positively associated and evaluations were negatively associated with physical aggression.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings add to previous research on alcohol aggression expectancies in close relationships and emphasize the importance of considering evaluations of alcohol-related behavior and how they may play a role in intimate-partner violence and aggression.

Intoxicated prejudice: The impact of alcohol consumption on implicitly and explicitly measured racial attitudes

Recent research has shown that alcohol consumption can exacerbate expressions of racial bias by increasing reliance on stereotypes. However, little work has investigated how alcohol affects intergroup evaluations. The current work sought to address the issue in the context of the correspondence between implicit and explicit measures of anti-black attitudes. Participants were randomly assigned to consume an alcoholic (target BAC of 0.08%), placebo, or control beverage prior to completing implicit and explicit measures of racial attitudes. Although beverage condition did not affect prejudice levels on either measure, it did change the correlation between them. Implicitly measured attitudes significantly predicted explicit reports of prejudice and discrimination only for participants who consumed alcohol. We discuss the implications of our findings for debates regarding dissociations between implicit and explicit measures and the cultural phenomenon of intoxicated individuals attributing prejudiced statements to alcohol consumption rather than personal attitudes.

Translational clinical neuroscience perspectives on the cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms underlying alcohol-related aggression

Alcohol-related violence, a longstanding, serious, and pervasive social problem, has provided researchers from diverse disciplines with a model to study individual differences in aggressive and violent behavior. Of course, not all alcohol consumers will become aggressive after drinking and similarly, not all individuals with alcohol use disorders will exhibit such untoward behavior. Rather, the relationship is best conceptualized as complex and indirect and is influenced by a constellation of social, cognitive, and biological factors that differ greatly from one person to the next. Animal experiments and human studies have elucidated how these mechanisms and processes explain (i.e., mediate) the relation between acute and chronic alcohol consumption and aggressive behavior. Further, the rich body of literature on alcohol-related aggression has allowed for identification of several potential high-yield targets for clinical intervention, e.g., cognitive training for executive dysfunction; psychopharmacology targeting affect and threat perception, which may also generalize to other psychiatric conditions characterized by aggressive behavior. Here we aim to integrate pertinent findings, derived from different methodological approaches and theoretical models, which explain heterogeneity in aggressive responses to alcohol. A translational platform is provided, highlighting common factors linking alcohol and aggression that warrant further, interdisciplinary study in order to reduce the devastating social impact of this phenomenon.

Are You Insulting Me? Exposure to Alcohol Primes Increases Aggression Following Ambiguous Provocation

Considerable research has shown that alcohol consumption can increase aggression and produce extremes in other social behaviors. Although most theories posit that such effects are caused by pharmacological impairment of cognitive processes, recent research indicates that exposure to alcohol-related constructs, in the absence of consumption, can produce similar effects. Here we tested the hypothesis that alcohol priming is most likely to affect aggression in the context of ambiguous provocation. Experiment 1 showed that exposure to alcohol primes increased aggressive retaliation but only when an initial provocation was ambiguous; unambiguous provocation elicited highly aggressive responses regardless of prime exposure. Experiment 2 showed that alcohol prime exposure effects are relatively short-lived and that perceptions of the provocateur's hostility mediated effects of prime exposure on aggression. These findings suggest modification and extension of existing models of alcohol-induced aggression.

Not intending but somewhat willing: the influence of visual primes on risky sex decisions

OBJECTIVES

This article investigates a potential mechanism underlying the 'sexually conservative puzzle' (the scenario where people reporting little to no casual sex intentions nevertheless go on to engage in casual sex).

METHODS

In two experiments, we tested whether people reporting no behavioural intentions (BI) for casual sex were nevertheless more responsive to risk-conducive cues, when compared to those with some BI. Responsiveness to cues was assessed in terms of increases in behavioural willingness (BW) for casual sex.

RESULTS

In Study 1, subliminal priming of sexual images (vs. control images) increased the casual sex BW of male undergraduates, but only among those who had previously reported no BI for casual sex in a baseline survey. In Study 2, these results were replicated using supraliminal priming with a more diverse online sample; effects were not moderated by age, education, or relationship status.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, these findings suggest that although sexually conservative people often do not plan on having sex (i.e., they have no BI), for some, their reactive, context-sensitive decision-making (i.e., their BW) can be swayed in the presence of risk-conducive cues.

STATEMENT OF CONTRIBUTION

What is already known on this subject? The sexually conservative puzzle occurs when those with low casual sex intentions go on to have casual sex. When experience for a health-risk behaviour is low, behavioural willingness (BW) tends to predict better than behavioural intentions (BI). Risk-inductive cues can increase risk cognitions and behaviour, but there are important individual differences. What does this study add? Among men with low BI for casual sex at baseline, sexual primes increased casual sex BW. It appears that more sexually conservative men are more swayed by sexual cues. Results highlight an interesting and rather unsuspected group of at-risk individuals.

The combined effects of alcohol, caffeine, and expectancies on subjective experience, impulsivity, and risk-taking

Caffeinated alcoholic beverage (CAB) consumption is a rapidly growing phenomenon among young adults and is associated with a variety of health-risk behaviors. The current study examined whether either caffeinated alcohol or the expectation of receiving caffeinated alcohol altered affective, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes hypothesized to contribute to risk behavior. Young adult social drinkers (N = 146) participated in a single session where they received alcohol (peak Breath Alcohol Content = .088 g/dL, SD = .019; equivalent to about four standard drinks) and were randomly assigned to one of four further conditions: 1) no caffeine, no caffeine expectancy, 2) caffeine and caffeine expectancy, 3) no caffeine but caffeine expectancy, 4) caffeine but no caffeine expectancy. Participants' habitual CAB consumption was positively correlated with measures of impulsivity and risky behavior, independently of study drugs. Administration of caffeine (mean dose = 220 mg, SD = 38; equivalent to about 2.75 Red Bulls) in the study reduced subjective ratings of intoxication and reversed the decrease in desire to continue drinking, regardless of expectancy. Caffeine also reduced the effect of alcohol on inhibitory reaction time (RT) (faster incorrect responses). Participants not expecting caffeine were less attentive after alcohol, whereas participants expecting caffeine were not, regardless of caffeine administration. Alcohol decreased response accuracy in all participants except those who both expected and received caffeine. Findings suggest that CABs may elevate risk for continued drinking by reducing perceived intoxication, and by maintaining the desire to continue drinking. Simply expecting to consume caffeine may reduce the effects of alcohol on inattention, and either expecting or consuming caffeine may protect against other alcohol-related performance decrements. Caffeine, when combined with alcohol, has both beneficial and detrimental effects on mechanisms known to contribute to risky behavior.

Moderating effect of age on the association between alcohol use and sexual risk in MSM: evidence for elevated risk among younger MSM

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are substantially impacted by HIV/AIDS in the United States. Alcohol use is frequently studied as a predictor of sexual risk in MSM, but findings for this association have been mixed. Developmental differences in this effect may help to explain equivocal findings. 143 MSM (analytic sample 137) ages 16-40 completed weekly diaries of sexual encounters and associated situational factors for 12 weeks. Analyses were conducted with Hierarchical Linear Modeling. Alcohol use before sex was not associated with sexual risk across all participants. Participant age moderated this effect; alcohol use before sex was associated with increased odds of sexual risk in younger MSM only. These analyses expand on previous findings by utilizing a wider age range than most prior studies and adjusting for the effects of several theoretically-selected covariates. Young MSM are an important group to target for addressing alcohol use in the context of sexual behavior.

Examining risk and protective factors for alcohol use in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth: a longitudinal multilevel analysis

OBJECTIVE

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth are at increased risk for alcohol misuse, but little is known about the psychosocial and demographic factors that are associated with these differences over time. The purpose of this study was to investigate change in alcohol use across development. We aimed to describe group/demographic differences in alcohol use, the effects of psychosocial variables on drinking within persons (i.e., psychological distress, sexual orientation-based victimization, and perceived family support), and the interactions between demographic differences and longitudinal psychosocial variables in predicting rates of alcohol use.

METHOD

The current study used data from the longest running longitudinal study of LGBT youth. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine both demographic differences and psychosocial predictors of alcohol use in an ethnically diverse sample of 246 LGBT youth (ages 16-20 years at baseline) across five time points over 2.5 years.

RESULTS

Drinking increased significantly over time in a linear fashion, although it tended to increase more rapidly among male LGBT youth compared with females. Analyses of group differences revealed lower average rates of drinking for African American and female LGBT youth, and there were no differences between bisexual youth and gay/lesbian youth. Psychological distress and sexual orientation-based victimization were associated with increased alcohol use at each wave of data collection for female LGBT youth only. Perceived family support at each wave was negatively associated with alcohol use for all LGBT youth.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate that there is significant heterogeneity in the etiological pathways that lead to alcohol use in LGBT youth and that correlates of drinking are similar to those found in general populations. These crucial findings indicate that existing alcohol interventions also may be effective for LGBT youth and open up a wider array of prevention and treatment options for this at-risk population.

Alcohol-related Cues Promote Automatic Racial Bias

Previous research has shown that alcohol consumption can increase the expression of race bias by impairing control-related processes. The current study tested whether simple exposure to alcohol-related images can also increase bias, but via a different mechanism. Participants viewed magazine ads for either alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages prior to completing Payne's (2001) Weapons Identification Task (WIT). As predicted, participants primed with alcohol ads exhibited greater race bias in the WIT than participants primed with neutral beverages. Process dissociation analyses indicated that these effects were due to automatic (relative to controlled) processes having a larger influence on behavior among alcohol-primed relative to neutral-primed participants. Structural equation modeling further showed that the alcohol-priming effect was mediated by increases in the influence of automatic associations on behavior. These data suggest an additional pathway by which alcohol can potentially harm inter-racial interactions, even when no beverage is consumed.

Alcohol expectancies, alcohol use, and hostility as longitudinal predictors of alcohol-related aggression

The direct and interactive effects of alcohol expectancies for aggression, dispositional hostility, and heavy alcohol consumption on alcohol-related physical aggression were examined across the first four years of marriage in a sample of 634 newlywed couples. For husbands, alcohol aggression expectancies predicted increases in alcohol-related aggression; across husbands and wives, however, aggression expectancies were not found to interact with hostility or alcohol consumption to predict physical aggression. Consistent with previous research, hostility and alcohol consumption interacted with each other to predict alcohol-related aggression. Specifically, for both husbands and wives high in dispositional hostility, heavy alcohol consumption was positively associated with the occurrence of alcohol-related aggression; for those low in dispositional hostility, however, there was no association between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related aggression. Findings are contrasted with previous longitudinal research on alcohol aggression expectancies and physical aggression in married couples. The article discusses the extent to which findings may vary depending on whether expectancies are assessed in relation to alcohol's effect on one's own behavior versus alcohol's effect on others' behavior.

Implicit alcohol-aggression scripts and alcohol-related aggression on a laboratory task in 11- to 14-year-old adolescents

Social scripts are commonly shared representations of behavior in social contexts, which are seen to be partly transmitted through social and cultural media. Research suggests that people hold scripts associated with alcohol-related aggression, but, unlike general aggression scripts, there is little evidence of social transmission. To demonstrate social transmission of alcohol-related aggression scripts, learning mechanisms based on personal experience should be minimized. We used a lexical decision task to examine implicit links between alcohol and aggression in alcohol-naïve adolescents who have limited personal or vicarious experience of alcohol-related aggression. One hundred and four 11-14 year old adolescents made lexical decisions on aggressive or nonaggressive words preceded by 40-ms alcohol or nonalcohol word primes. Repeated measures analyses of group data showed that alcohol word primes did not lead to faster responses to aggressive words than to nonaggressive words, nor were responses to aggressive words faster when they were preceded by alcohol word primes than by nonalcohol word primes. However, at an individual level, faster recognition times to the alcohol prime/aggression target word combination predicted aggression on a competitive laboratory task in 14 year olds only. This occurred only when the competitive aggression task was preceded by a visual presentation of alcoholic, but not nonalcoholic beverage, images. We concluded that alcohol-related aggression scripts are not strongly developed in this age group, but individual differences in script strength are linked to alcohol-related laboratory aggression.

Cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms of alcohol-related aggression

Alcohol-related violence is a serious and common social problem. Moreover, violent behaviour is much more common in alcohol-dependent individuals. Animal experiments and human studies have provided insights into the acute effect of alcohol on aggressive behaviour and into common factors underlying acute and chronic alcohol intake and aggression. These studies have shown that environmental factors, such as early-life stress, interact with genetic variations in serotonin-related genes that affect serotonergic and GABAergic neurotransmission. This leads to increased amygdala activity and impaired prefrontal function that, together, predispose to both increased alcohol intake and impulsive aggression. In addition, acute and chronic alcohol intake can further impair executive control and thereby facilitate aggressive behaviour.

Alcohol-related image priming and aggression in adolescents aged 11-14

In adults, alcohol-related stimuli prime aggressive responding without ingestion or belief of ingestion. This represents either experiential or socially-and culturally-mediated learning. Using a laboratory-based competitive aggression paradigm, we replicated adult findings in 103 11-14 year old adolescents below the legal UK drinking age. Using a two-independent group design, priming with alcohol-related imagery led participants to deliver louder noise punishments in a competition task than priming with beverage-related images. This effect was stronger in participants scoring low on an internalization measure. Priming effects in relatively alcohol-naïve participants could constitute evidence of socio-cultural transmission of scripts linking alcohol use and aggression. The enhanced effect in lower internalization scorers suggests that alcohol priming might undermine behavioral inhibition processes in otherwise stable adolescents.

Automatic Effects of Alcohol and Aggressive Cues on Aggressive Thoughts and Behaviors

Numerous studies have shown that alcohol increases aggression. In this article it is proposed that the link between alcohol and aggression is so strong that mere exposure to alcohol-related cues will automatically activate aggressive thoughts and behaviors. Two experiments tested this automaticity theory of alcohol-related aggression. In Experiment 1, participants exposed to alcohol- or weapon-related primes made faster lexical decisions about aggression-related words than did participants exposed to neutral primes. In Experiment 2, participants exposed to alcohol- or aggression-related subliminal primes were more aggressive toward the experimenter than were participants exposed to neutral subliminal primes. In both experiments, the effects of alcohol-related cues were as strong as the effect of aggression-related cues on aggressive thoughts and behaviors. People do not need to drink a drop of alcohol to become aggressive; exposure to alcohol cues is enough to automatically increase aggression.

Alcohol primes, expectancies, and the working self-concept

Previous research has shown that alcohol consumption can lead to momentary changes in the self-concept (e.g., Steele & Josephs, 1990). In two studies (n = 150), we examined whether the implicit activation of alcohol expectancies (i.e., sociability-related expectancies) would also lead to changes in self-perception. To test this idea, participants first completed a measure of sociability-related alcohol expectancies. In a subsequent laboratory session, participants were exposed to either alcohol-related primes (i.e., pictures or words associated with alcohol) or neutral primes. After the priming task, participants completed an ostensibly unrelated self-concept survey that contained words related to sociability (e.g., "outgoing") and nonsociability related words (e.g., "clever"). For both studies, results revealed that sociability-related alcohol expectancies were positively associated with sociability-related self-concept ratings for participants exposed to alcohol primes, but not for participants exposed to the neutral primes. Implications for the role implicit self-concept activation may have on drinking behaviors are discussed.

Marijuana primes, marijuana expectancies, and arithmetic efficiency

OBJECTIVE

Previous research has shown that primes associated with alcohol influence behavior consistent with specific alcohol expectancies. The present study examined whether exposure to marijuana-related primes and marijuana expectancies interact to produce similar effects. Specifically, the present study examined whether marijuana primes and marijuana expectancies regarding cognitive and behavioral impairment interact to influence performance on an arithmetic task.

METHOD

Two independent samples (N = 260) of undergraduate students (both marijuana users and nonusers) first completed measures of marijuana-outcome expectancies associated with cognitive and behavioral impairment and with general negative effects (Sample 2). Later in the semester, participants were exposed to marijuana-related (or neutral) primes and then completed an arithmetic task.

RESULTS

Results from Sample 1 indicated that participants who were exposed to marijuana-themed magazine covers performed more poorly on the arithmetic task if they expected that marijuana would lead to cognitive and behavioral impairment. Results from Sample 2 indicated that, for marijuana users, cognitive and behavioral impairment expectancies, but not expectancies regarding general negative effects, similarly moderated arithmetic performance for participants exposed to marijuana-related words.

CONCLUSIONS

Results support the hypothesis that the implicit activation of specific marijuana-outcome expectancies can influence cognitive processes. Implications for research on marijuana are discussed.

Alcohol expectancy priming and drinking behavior: the role of compatibility between prime and expectancy content

According to information-processing models of alcohol use, alcohol expectancies constitute representations in long-term memory that may be activated in the presence of drinking-related cues, thereby influencing alcohol consumption. A fundamental implication of this approach is that primed expectancies should affect drinking only for those individuals who possess the specific expectancies primed. To test this notion, in the present study, participants were initially assessed on 3 distinct domains of positive alcohol expectancies. Approximately 1 week later, they completed an ad libitum drinking study during which only a single expectancy domain (sociability) was primed in the experimental condition. Consistent with predictions, following exposure to sociability primes but not control primes, individuals with stronger expectancies that alcohol would enhance sociability uniquely showed increased placebo consumption of nonalcoholic beer. These results, which demonstrate the moderating role of compatibility between the specific content of primes and that of underlying expectancies, offer new, direct support for memory network-based models of drinking behavior.

Effects of acute alcohol consumption and alcohol expectancy on processing of perceptual cues of emotional expression

We recently demonstrated that alcohol elicits a difference between men and women in perceptual threshold for facial expressions of sadness. However, this study did not include a manipulation of alcohol expectancy. Therefore, we sought to determine whether these effects may be due to the expectation of having consumed alcohol. Male and female participants (n = 100) were randomised using a balanced-placebo design to receive either an alcoholic or a non-alcoholic drink and to be told that this was alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Participants completed a psychophysical task which presented male and female faces expressing angry, happy, and sad emotions. Analysis of threshold data indicated a significant two-way interaction of drink x target emotion, reflecting a higher threshold for the detection of sad facial expressions of emotion, compared with angry or happy expressions, in the alcohol condition compared with the placebo condition. We did not observe any evidence of sex differences in these effects. Our data indicate that alcohol modifies the perceptual threshold for facial expressions of sadness. Unlike our previous report, we did not observe evidence of sex differences in these effects. Most importantly, we did not observe any evidence that these effects were due to expectancy effects associated with alcohol consumption.