University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Research shows that heavy drinking patterns are linked to many harmful consequences including death, sexual assault, risky sexual behavior, and drug use. Given such harmful consequences, it is important to identify the risk-factors for heavy "in-the-moment" drinking. This study examines a potent, socially motivated trigger to problem drinking-namely, social rejection. In the present study, we employ a between-subjects experimental design with a sample of young adults (N=152; aged 21-25 years; 50% female) to examine how social rejection experiences are associated with drinking behavior as a function of attachment anxiety, changes in pain experience, and self-control.
Excessive alcohol use is a common but tragically destructive behavioral pattern, accounting for roughly 178,000 deaths per year in the United States in 2020 and 2021 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). This staggering estimate represents a 29% increase in the number of deaths due to drinking that was observed just a few years ago (between 2016 and 2017; Esser et al., 2024). Moreover, nearly a third of these alcohol-related deaths were due to "in-the-moment" binge drinking (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). Clearly, more work is needed to identify the contextual…
Inclusion Criteria: * Individuals must be 21-25 years of age; * Individuals are not pregnant; * Individuals have no history, or current diagnoses, of alcohol, drug, or psychiatric problems; * Individuals have no medical conditions, current or chronic, contraindicating alcohol use in the study; * Must be a regular drinker who is willing to taste a vodka-based beverage as part of the study. Exclusion Criteria: * Individuals who are pregnant; * Individuals who have any medical or psychiatric problems that contraindicate the tasting of alcohol; * Individuals taking any medication or other subst…
Those assigned to the social rejection condition will receive the following feedback: "Unfortunately, no one chose to work with you on the next task, so you will be engaging in the next task alone."
For those assigned to the social acceptance condition, they will receive the following feedback: "Unfortunately, as I was organizing the group materials, I noticed that we have run too many group conditions for the day. So even though everyone chose to work with you for the next portion, we won't be forming a group, and everyone will instead be working on their own."
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