Affect relative to day-level drinking initiation: Analyzing ecological momentary assessment data with multilevel...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Science
• Addiction Research

Background:

• Affect regulation models propose that emotional states influence alcohol consumption.
• Understanding the interplay between affect and drinking patterns is crucial for intervention development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if affect levels and their change rates differ between drinking and non-drinking days.
• To examine affect dynamics in relation to varying intensities of alcohol consumption.

Main Methods:

• Ecological momentary assessments (EMA) were conducted over 3 weeks with 404 regular drinkers (aged 18-70).
• Participants reported positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) levels and alcohol consumption.
• Multilevel spline models analyzed affect patterns across drinking and non-drinking days, and across heavy vs. moderate drinking days.

Main Results:

• On drinking days, PA was elevated and NA was reduced compared to non-drinking days, both before and after drinking.
• Heavy drinking days showed higher PA and lower NA compared to moderate drinking days.
• Accelerating increases in PA and decreases in NA preceded drinking. Affect changes were more pronounced on heavy drinking days.

Conclusions:

• Findings support affect regulation models of alcohol use, highlighting the role of emotional states in motivation and reinforcement.
• Accelerating changes in affect may signal imminent heavy drinking, offering potential for timely interventions.
• Affect dynamics provide nuanced insights into drinking behavior across different consumption levels.