Depressed affect as a predictor of increased desire for alcohol in current drinkers of alcohol

Male drinkers (n = 45) were asked to rate their desire for a drink of alcohol when presented with the sight, smell and taste of their preferred alcoholic beverage and of a lemon cordial drink. The subjects' level of depressed affect on that day and their average daily consumption of alcohol over the last 30 days were measured prior to exposure to these cues. Both level of depressed affect and log of mean daily alcohol consumption predicted increased desire for alcohol when alcohol cues were present, accounting for 40% of the variance in desire. When presented with the lemon cordial cues only 14% of the variance in desire for alcohol was explained by these variables. Also, Spearman's rank order correlations were calculated between heavy drinkers' (n = 19) ratings of self-efficacy to resist drinking and desire for alcohol in the presence of the alcohol cues. There were significant negative correlations between desire for alcohol and self-efficacy ratings on the 'urges and temptations' and 'positive social situations' subscales of the Situational Confidence Questionnaire-39. Several alternative accounts of these findings are discussed.