Social/Party Incentives Increase the Risk of Heavier Alcohol Use in Impulsive Individuals

Impulsivity is associated with excessive drinking and negative alcohol-related consequences. However, studies have not used an in-vivo approach (i.e., daily diary) to examine how the effect of impulsivity on excessive alcohol use could be moderated by context-specific mechanisms, such as incentives.

The study recruited a sample of young adults (n = 102, 61.8% females), who, for two weeks, responded to questions about their total number of drinks and the incentives (alcohol incentives and social/party incentives) that influenced their decisions to drink. At baseline, participants completed a questionnaire assessing trait impulsivity.

The findings indicated a significant main effect of social/party incentives and alcohol incentives on the total number of drinks consumed, such that individuals decided to drink more alcohol on days when they reported higher levels of either incentive dimension. The results also revealed that only social/party incentives interacted with impulsivity, such that highly impulsive individuals decided to drink more at events with more social/party incentives.

Findings highlight that highly impulsive individuals appear to be more responsive to social/party incentives at drinking events. Future research could benefit from continued exploration of social rewards as potential precursors to heavy drinking in highly impulsive individuals.