Distraction Reduces Alcohol Craving: A Replication and Extension Exploring Trait Absorption and Mindfulness

Problematic alcohol use is often driven by powerful cravings elicited when individuals encounter alcohol-related cues. This cue-reactivity is a major factor in relapse and in difficulty maintaining reduced drinking.

This study replicates and extends previous cue-reactivity research using a milk-based distraction task, by evaluating whether trait absorption can moderate the effect of distraction on alcohol craving. The paradigm involved exposing regular social drinkers to an alcohol-related stimulus and recording craving responses, while also assessing the influence of personality traits including absorption and mindfulness. Trait absorption and mindfulness were selected as absorption may amplify attentional focus on cues, and mindfulness supports non-reactive awareness-both factors that could moderate craving intensity and the effectiveness of distraction techniques.

Seventy-nine social drinkers were recruited through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to either a control group (standard cue-reactivity paradigm) or an experimental group (cue-reactivity with a milk-based distraction task). Participants self-reported their alcohol cravings using the Visual Analogue Scale. Additionally, personality traits including trait absorption and trait mindfulness were measured to determine their predictive power on craving levels. A 3 × 2 mixed design ANOVA was used to analyse differences between groups, while hierarchical regressions assessed the role of personality traits.

A significant interaction between time and condition was found, indicating that participants in the distraction (experimental) group reported significantly lower alcohol cravings compared to the control group. However, the hierarchical regression analyses showed no significant effect of trait absorption or trait mindfulness in predicting changes in alcohol craving.

Cognitive distraction (milk) significantly reduced alcohol cravings in the experimental group compared to the control group, suggesting that distractions such as those involving milk might effectively manage alcohol cravings. While personality traits including absorption and mindfulness might be less impactful in alcohol craving responses.