Alcohol and common ground: The effects of intoxication on linguistic markers of shared understanding during social exchange.

OBJECTIVE: Most alcohol consumption takes place in social contexts, and the belief that alcohol enhances social interactions has been identified as among the more robust predictors of alcohol use disorder (AUD) development. Yet, we know little of how alcohol affects mental representations of others-what we share and do not share-nor the extent to which intoxication might impact the development of shared understanding (i.e., common ground) between interaction partners. Employing a randomized experimental design and objective linguistic outcome measures, we present two studies examining the impact of alcohol consumption on the development and use of common ground. METHOD: In Study 1, groups of strangers or friends were administered either alcohol (target Breath Alcohol Content = .08%) or a control beverage, following which they completed a task requiring them to develop a shared language to describe ambiguous images and then describe those images to either a knowledgeable or a naïve partner. The same procedures were completed in Study 2 using a within-subjects alcohol administration design and all-stranger groups. RESULTS: Study 1 findings did not reach significance but suggested that alcohol may facilitate common ground development selectively among stranger groups. This effect emerged as significant in the context of the within-subjects design of Study 2, b = -0.19, p = .007, with participants demonstrating greater facility in establishing common ground during alcohol versus control sessions. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that alcohol facilitates the development of shared linguistic understanding in novel social spaces, indicating common ground as one potential mechanism to consider in our broader examination of alcohol reinforcement and AUD etiology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Where to Look? Alcohol, Affect, and Gaze Behavior During a Virtual Social Interaction.

COVID-19 forced social interactions to move online. Yet researchers have little understanding of the mental health consequences of this shift. Given pandemic-related surges in emotional disorders and problematic drinking, it becomes imperative to understand the cognitive and affective processes involved in virtual interactions and the impact of alcohol in virtual social spaces. Participants (N=246) engaged in an online video call while their gaze behavior was tracked. Prior to the interaction, participants were randomly assigned to receive an alcoholic or control beverage. Participants' affect was repeatedly assessed. Results indicated that a proportionally larger amount of time spent gazing at oneself (vs. one's interaction partner) predicted significantly higher negative affect after the exchange. Further, alcohol independently increased self-directed attention, failing to demonstrate its typically potent social-affective enhancement in this virtual context. Results carry potential implications for understanding factors that increase risk for hazardous drinking and negative affect in our increasingly virtual world.

Examining new-generation transdermal alcohol biosensor performance across laboratory and field contexts.

BACKGROUND: Wrist-worn transdermal alcohol sensors have the potential to change how alcohol consumption is measured. However, hardware and data analytic challenges associated with transdermal sensor data have kept these devices from widespread use. Given recent technological and analytic advances, this study provides an updated account of the performance of a new-generation wrist-worn transdermal sensor in both laboratory and field settings. METHODS: This work leverages machine learning models to convert transdermal alcohol concentration data into estimates of Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC) in a large-scale laboratory sample (N = 256, study 1) and a pilot field sample (N = 27, study 2). Specifically, in both studies, the accuracy of the translation is evaluated by comparing BAC estimates yielded by BACtrack Skyn to real-time breathalyzer measurements collected in the laboratory and in the field. RESULTS: The newest version of the Skyn device demonstrates a substantially lower error rate than older hand-assembled prototypes (0% to 7% vs. 29% to 53%, respectively). On average, real-time estimates of BrAC yielded by these transdermal sensors are within 0.007 of true BAC readings in the laboratory context and within 0.019 of true BrAC readings in the field. In both contexts, the distance between true and estimated BrAC was larger when only alcohol episodes were examined (laboratory = 0.017; field = 0.041). Finally, results of power-law-curve projections indicate that, given their accuracy, transdermal BrAC estimates in real-world contexts have the potential to improve markedly (>25%) with adequately sized datasets for model training. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study indicate that the latest version of the transdermal wrist sensor holds promise for the accurate assessment of alcohol consumption in field contexts. A great deal of additional work is needed to provide a full picture of the utility of these devices, including research with large participant samples in field contexts.

The effect of significant other involvement in treatment for substance use disorders: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Substantial research has accrued in support of a key role for social processes in substance use disorders (SUD). Researchers have developed a range of interventions that capitalize on these social processes to bolster treatment outcomes by involving significant others (e.g., romantic partners, family, friends) in SUD treatment. Yet dissemination of these treatments to many contexts has been slow, and information on their broad efficacy is lacking. This meta-analysis aims to quantify the effect of significant other involvement in SUD treatments above and beyond individually-based therapies. METHOD: A total of 4,901 records were screened for randomized controlled trials examining the effect of Significant Other Involved SUD Treatments (SOIT) versus individually-based active comparator treatments. Our search yielded 77 effect sizes based on data from 2,115 individuals enrolled in 16 independent trials. RESULTS: Findings indicated a significant effect of SOIT above and beyond individually-based active comparator treatments for reducing substance use and substance-related problems, d = 0.242, 95% CI [0.148, 0.336], I² = 10.596, Q(15) = 16.778. This effect was consistent across SOIT treatment types and endured 12-18 months after the end of treatment. Analyses of raw mean differences indicated that this effect translates to a 5.7% reduction in substance use frequency-the equivalent of approximately 3 fewer weeks a year of drinking/drug use. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate a significant advantage for SOIT in SUD treatment, and hold interesting conceptual implications for theories of SUD maintenance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

A meta-analysis of the effect of substance use interventions on emotion outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: Emotional distress has been posited as a key underlying mechanism in the development and maintenance of substance use disorder (SUD), and patients seeking SUD treatment are often experiencing high levels of negative emotion and/or low levels of positive emotion. But the extent to which SUD interventions impact emotional outcomes among general SUD populations is yet unquantified. The current meta-analysis aims to fill this gap. METHOD: A total of 11,754 records were screened for randomized, controlled trials examining the effect of behavioral SUD interventions on emotion outcomes. Our search yielded a total of 138 effect sizes calculated based on data from 5,146 individuals enrolled in 30 independent clinical trials. Random-effects meta-analysis was used to calculate pooled effect sizes, and metaregression analyses examined study-level moderators (e.g., intervention type). RESULTS: Findings indicated a small but significant effect of SUD interventions on emotion outcomes, d = 0.157, 95% CI [0.052, 0.262] (k = 30). The effect size for negative emotion was nominally bigger, d = 0.162, 95% CI [0.056, 0.269] (k = 30), whereas the effect for positive emotion did not reach statistical significance, d = 0.062, 95% CI [-0.089, 0.213] (k = 7). Studies featuring SUD interventions designed to specifically target emotions (i.e., affect-regulation, mindfulness-based treatments) produced larger reductions in negative emotion compared with studies featuring interventions that did not contain specific emotion modules (e.g., contingency management). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that SUD interventions-especially mindfulness-based and affect-regulation treatments-indeed significantly reduce negative emotion, although relatively small effect sizes indicate potential room for improvement. Conclusions regarding positive emotion should be considered preliminary because of the limited numbers of samples assessing these outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

A multimodal investigation of contextual effects on alcohol's emotional rewards.

Regular alcohol consumption in unfamiliar social settings has been linked to problematic drinking. A large body of indirect evidence has accumulated to suggest that alcohol's rewarding emotional effects-both negative-mood relieving and positive-mood enhancing-will be magnified when alcohol is consumed within unfamiliar versus familiar social contexts. But empirical research has never directly examined links between contextual familiarity and alcohol reward. In the current study, we mobilized novel ambulatory technology to examine the effect of social familiarity on alcohol reward in everyday drinking contexts while also examining how alcohol reward observed in these field contexts corresponds to reward observed in the laboratory. Heavy social drinking participants (N = 48, 50% male) engaged in an intensive week of ambulatory assessment. Participants wore transdermal alcohol sensors while they reported on their mood and took photographs of their social contexts in response to random prompts. Participants also attended 2 laboratory beverage-administration sessions, during which their emotional responses were assessed and transdermal sensors were calibrated to estimate breathalyzer readings (eBrACs). Results indicated a significant interaction between social familiarity and alcohol episode in everyday drinking settings, with alcohol enhancing mood to a greater extent in relatively unfamiliar versus familiar social contexts. Findings also indicated that drinking in relatively unfamiliar social settings was associated with higher eBrACs. Finally, results indicated a correspondence between some mood effects of alcohol experienced inside and outside the laboratory. This study presents a novel methodology for examining alcohol reward and indicates social familiarity as a promising direction for research seeking to explain problematic drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record

A meta-analysis of longitudinal associations between substance use and interpersonal attachment security.

Substance use has long been associated with close relationship distress. Although the direction of influence for this association has not been established, it has often been assumed that substance use is the causal agent and that close relationship distress is the effect. But research seeking to establish temporal precedence in this link has produced mixed findings. Further, theoretical models of substance use and close relationship processes present the plausibility of the inverse pathway-that insecure close relationships may serve as a vulnerability factor for the development of later substance problems. The current review applies an attachment-theoretical framework to the association between close social bonds and substance use and substance-related problems. Targeting longitudinal studies of attachment and substance use, we examined 665 effect sizes drawn from 34 samples (total N = 56,721) spanning time frames ranging from 1 month to 20 years (M = 3.8 years). Results revealed a significant prospective correlation between earlier attachment and later substance use (r = -.11, 95% CI [-.14, -0.08]). Further, cross-lagged coefficients were calculated which parsed auto-regressive effects, indicating that lower attachment security temporally preceded increases in substance use (r = -.05, 95% CI [-.06, -.04]). Analyses further indicated that the pathway from earlier attachment to later substance use was significantly stronger than that from earlier substance use to later attachment. Results also revealed several moderators of the attachment-substance use link. These findings suggest that insecure attachment may be a vulnerability factor for substance use, and indicate close relationship quality as a promising line of inquiry in research on substance use disorder risk. (PsycINFO Database Record