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Updated: Dec 29, 2025
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Published on: January 5, 2018
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Experiential avoidance and negative affect as predictors of daily drinking
Jason B Luoma1, Benjamin Pierce2, Michael E Levin2
1Portland Psychotherapy Clinic, Research, & Training Center.
Summary
Experiential avoidance, the tendency to suppress unwanted experiences, exacerbates alcohol consumption, especially for individuals with high negative affect. This pattern primarily impacts solitary drinking behaviors.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Addiction Research
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Negative affect often drives alcohol consumption as a coping mechanism.
- Experiential avoidance, the suppression of unwanted inner experiences, may link negative affect to increased alcohol use.
- Previous research used trait-level measures, limiting understanding of situational influences on experiential avoidance and drinking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interplay between trait and daily variations in experiential avoidance and negative affect on solitary and social drinking.
- To determine if experiential avoidance predicts problematic alcohol consumption patterns.
- To explore how negative affect influences the relationship between experiential avoidance and drinking.
Main Methods:
- A 21-day daily diary study with 206 adult drinkers.
- Assessed trait and daily fluctuations in experiential avoidance and negative affect.
- Examined predictions of solitary and social drinking behaviors.
Main Results:
- Higher trait experiential avoidance correlated with more frequent solitary drinking.
- Higher trait negative affect correlated with greater alcohol quantity when drinking alone.
- Daily experiential avoidance interacted with trait negative affect: for high negative affect individuals, daily avoidance predicted increased quantity; for low negative affect individuals, daily avoidance predicted more frequent solitary drinking but lower quantity.
Conclusions:
- Negative affect creates a context where experiential avoidance is linked to harmful solitary drinking patterns.
- Experiential avoidance does not appear to influence social drinking.
- Understanding the interaction between negative affect and experiential avoidance is crucial for addressing problematic alcohol consumption.
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