Objective: Drinking for emotion regulation may be a concern for college students who have experienced childhood maltreatment, due to high levels of shame and guilt. The present cross-sectional survey study tested how trait shame-proneness, trait guilt-proneness, and trauma-related guilt are differently related to drinking motives and how these…

Objective: Research indicates that coping styles mediate self-control and health outcomes. Emotion- and problem-focused coping strategies (eg, getting advice or planning) are used to address stressors. In contrast, avoidance-focused strategies (eg, substance use) are used to escape distress and are associated with greater alcohol problems. The…

Objective: Drinking more and drinking to cope increase undergraduates' likelihood of experiencing alcohol-related problems (ARP; e.g., driving intoxicated). In accordance with stress-coping models of addiction, anxiety about COVID-19 may motivate undergraduates to drink to cope, leading them to experience more ARP. However, this hypothesis has not…

Objective: The secondhand effects of alcohol use (SEA) are adverse consequences caused by another's drinking. This study explored the relationship among the experience of SEAs, alcohol use, and alcohol related consequences (ARC). In addition, we examined whether coping (i.e., adaptive, maladaptive, substance use coping, maladaptive coping without…

Studies have shown that those high in anxiety were at increased risk for alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tension reduction theory points to anxiety sensitivity (AS) as a potential risk factor. Drinking to cope may further increase this risk. During the pandemic, those high in AS may have experienced increased stress and drank to cope,…

Objective: We examined the relationships between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and measures of mental health, academic achievement, and consequences of alcohol use, and moderators of these associations. We hypothesized that most students with high (3+) ACEs scores would be resilient on at least one measure but that few would be resilient on…

The association between restrained eating and alcohol use remains poorly understood among undergraduates. Consistent with tension reduction theory, individuals with disordered eating may be motivated to drink alcohol to cope with negative emotionality. Perhaps what pushes them to drink despite restriction goals is impulsivity. The combined impact…

Objective: Substance use is a public health concern and cross-sectional studies have found that impulsivity and drinking motives influence substance use in emerging adults. Despite these findings, longitudinal studies with nuanced measures of impulsivity and drinking motives are needed. Participants: The current study investigated the three-year…

Objective: Undergraduate students show high rates of harmful alcohol consumption, and coping-motivated use has been consistently shown to be the most problematic. The present study examines associations between mindfulness facets, self-compassion, and coping-motivated use, and how these associations differ by gender. Participants and Methods:…

Objective: Food service employment is associated with substance use, risk of substance use disorders and various negative consequences. Previous research has not examined the substance use patterns of students employed in food service positions. Method: During Fall of 2018, 276 undergraduates completed an anonymous online survey regarding current…

Objective: This study examined the associations between COVID-19-related financial strain and the stress, mental health, physical health symptoms, and health behaviors of American university students. Participants: Online data were collected from 485 participants between May 2020 and March 2021. Participants were majority female and majority…

Introduction: This study examined the relationship between stress and pre-gaming (i.e., drinking prior to going out to an event) in female college students. Methods: Thirty-four female college students were grouped as pre-gamers or non-pre-gamers based on self-reported drinking patterns. They completed surveys about alcohol use and mental health…

Objective: The current study examined the mediating role of distress tolerance on the association between pain-related disability and addiction to opioids, past-month opioid use, and risky opioid use among an ethno-racially diverse sample of young adults with current pain. Methods: Participants were 141 undergraduate college students (78.7%…

High intensity (HI) binge drinking has emerged as a high-risk drinking phenotype in young adult drinkers, yet few studies have evaluated clinically meaningful correlates of HI binge drinking among young adults at risk for co-occurring psychopathologies, such as interpersonal trauma-exposed drinkers. The present study compared three groups (i.e.,…

Objectives: Observational studies suggest emotion regulation (ER) as a potential treatment target for problematic college drinking. The primary aim of this laboratory study was to determine whether trait ER strategies would moderate the impact of negative affect induction on alcohol craving in college drinkers. Methods: Participants were randomly…