Influences Among Affect Based Risk Factors and Problem Drinking in College Students
Year: 2020
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Broad negative affect has been consistently shown to predict problematic alcohol use. More specific affect-based constructs, though, have been shown to predict problem drinking above and beyond broad negative affectivity. The current study aims to investigate transactions among and predictive roles of broad negative affectivity and specific affective-based factors in relation to problem drinking among a sample of 358 students assessed twice during their first year of college. Participants were assessed for negative urgency (the tendency to act rashly when highly emotional), affective lability (the tendency to experience rapid and intense shifts in mood), negative affectivity, and problem drinking via self-report measures completed online. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Negative urgency and affective lability predicted problem drinking above and beyond broad negative affect, and broad negative affect had no incremental predictive power. When considered together, negative urgency and affective lability significantly predicted problem drinking in a model in which their predictive pathways were constrained to be equal. Additionally, affective lability predicted increases in negative urgency, but the opposite was not true. Continued work toward the development of comprehensive affect-based risk models for problem drinking is needed.
Author: Atkinson, Emily
Institution: University of Kentucky
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3029198014