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Updated: Jun 11, 2025

A Prediction Error-driven Retrieval Procedure for Destabilizing and Rewriting Maladaptive Reward Memories in Hazardous Drinkers
Published on: January 5, 2018
Drinker's own drinking, experience of alcohol-related harms, and concern for drinking predict drinker's attitudes
Christopher Cheers1,2, Amy Pennay1, Xochitl De la Piedad Garcia2
1Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
Objective:
While the stigma experienced by non-drinkers is well-documented, little is known about the factors that influence it. This study aims to test a sequential mediation model in which the amount of alcohol consumed by a drinker, predicts their experienced alcohol-related harm, which in turn predicts the concern they have for drinking and their negative attitudes towards non-drinkers.
Methods:
A sample of 787 Australian drinkers (Mage = 38.4 years, SD = 11.4) completed online measures of alcohol consumption, alcohol-related harms, concern for drinking and the Cheers Attitudes towards Non-drinker Scale (CANS): a scale that measures the negative attitudes toward non-drinkers via three threats non-drinkers are perceived to pose to drinkers (Threat to Fun, Connection, and Self).
Results:
The model was shown to be a good fit and demonstrated a sequential mediation with significant indirect effects from alcohol consumption via experienced alcohol-related harms and concern, to each CANS subscale: Threat to Self (β = 0.402, p < 0.001), Fun (β = 0.096, p = 0.006) and Connection (β = 0.165, p < 0.001).
Conclusion:
The findings suggest that the stigma directed at non-drinkers may be enacted as a defence against an unwanted self-reflection from a drinker's concern for their own drinking.
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