The development of a restrained drinking scale: a test of the abstinence violation effect among alcohol users

This article reports the development of a Restrained Drinking Scale (RDS) and tests of the "abstinence violation" (AV) hypothesis. Study 1, a psychometic evaluation of the RDS, found that the scale exhibited substantial internal reliability (.81) and scores conformed closely to a normal distribution. Study 2 compared the alcohol consumption of restrained and unrestrained drinkers in a wine tasting test, with half of each group receiving an alcohol preload. Contrary to the AV hypothesis, the preload did not influence drinking. Instead, restrained drinkers drank more than unrestrained drinkers. Since tasting wines at school may have represented a violation of restraint in itself, and led restrained drinkers to overindulge, study 3 was done to test the abstinence violation hypothesis in a paradigm not requiring alcohol consumption. Restrained and unrestrained drinkers chose between rating wines or sodas, with half receiving an alcohol preload. Restrained drinkers chose wine less often after the preload than without it. Unrestrained drinkers' choices were not effected by the preload. A "slip" in control in itself, does not appear sufficient to elicit binge-drinking.