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The Motivation for Alcohol Reward: Predictors of Progressive-Ratio Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration in Humans
Published on: April 28, 2022
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Alcohol-induced blackouts, subjective intoxication, and motivation to decrease drinking: Prospective examination of
1The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Psychology, 108 E. Dean Keeton - A8000, Austin, TX 78712, United States.
Addictive Behaviors
|January 26, 2018
Summary
Feeling drunk increases the risk of alcohol-induced blackouts. While blackouts can motivate drinkers to reduce alcohol consumption, this motivation does not lead to lasting behavior change.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Public Health
Background:
- Alcohol-induced blackouts are a significant concern among young adults.
- Understanding predictors of blackouts and subsequent behavior change is crucial for intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if subjective intoxication predicts alcohol-induced blackouts.
- To examine if subjective intoxication and blackouts predict motivation to decrease drinking.
- To determine if motivation to change drinking behavior leads to future reductions in alcohol use.
Main Methods:
- A 6-year longitudinal study of 1854 college students (62.1% female, 53.2% Caucasian, mean age 21.8).
- Annual assessments of self-reported motivation to decrease drinking, blackout frequency, alcohol quantity, and subjective intoxication.
- Cross-lagged panel models were used to analyze prospective relationships.
Main Results:
- Subjective intoxication prospectively predicted experiencing blackouts (p<0.001).
- Blackouts at Year 4 predicted increased motivation to decrease drinking at Year 5 (p<0.01).
- This motivation to change did not predict reduced alcohol quantity by Year 6 (p=0.076).
Conclusions:
- Subjective intoxication is a strong predictor of alcohol-induced blackouts.
- Blackouts are modest, developmentally-limited predictors of motivation to change drinking behavior.
- Blackouts and subsequent motivation do not reliably predict future reductions in alcohol consumption.
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