Peer‐elicited alcohol craving in adolescents and emerging adults: Bridging the laboratory and natural environment
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Although peers figure prominently in developmental models of alcohol use, our understanding of the influence of peer social context in cue reactivity paradigms with adolescents and emerging adults in the human laboratory and the natural environment is limited. This study tested associations between alcohol craving among youth in the human laboratory using alcohol-related images, with and without peers, and in the natural environment using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). METHODS: Data for this preregistered secondary analysis were collected prior to randomization in two medication trials (N = 115). Participants completed an image cue exposure paradigm at the baseline laboratory session followed by approximately 7 days of EMA. RESULTS: In the laboratory, model-based mean comparisons from multilevel models (MLMs) showed that all drinking images elicited greater craving than neutral images. No differences were observed across the three image categories containing alcohol. Image category by age interactions demonstrated that, compared to older youth, younger youth displayed lower craving in response to neutral versus social drinking context with peers images and older, compared to younger, youth displayed higher craving in response to nonsocial drinking images versus social drinking contexts with peers images. In the natural environment, craving was greatest when youth were in the presence of alcohol-using peers and alcohol-related cues, regardless of age. Laboratory craving to alcohol images was positively associated with craving in the natural environment. CONCLUSIONS: For youth, peers are a salient social context associated with increased craving, particularly in the natural environment. Laboratory cue reactivity to alcohol images predicted real-world craving, further supporting the ecological validity of this paradigm in youth.
DOI: 10.1111/acer.15057
Institutions: Brown University, Bradley Hospital
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Mechanisms of Naltrexone Action on Drinking in Adolescents, G1922223897, G3527315952, G3868517562, Effects of Topiramate on Adolescent Alcohol Use: Efficacy and Mechanisms, Assessing Parenting at the Momentary Level to Understand Parenting Behaviors that Contribute to Improved Treatment Outcomes for Youth with Co-Occurring Disorders, G6465256713, Novel Approaches to Understanding How Alcohol Pathology Develops in Adolescents, G7343529066, G7634504364, G896893421, Leveraging Ecological Momentary Assessment to Examine Peer Affiliations as a Mechanism of Behavior Change in Youth Alcohol Use Treatment, Mentored Patient-Oriented Research on Adolescent Alcohol Misuse and Treatment, Adapting and evaluating an integrated intervention for adolescent substance use and pain during oral surgery, The Neural Mechanisms Associated With Alcohol and Cigarette Craving in Alcohol Use Disorder Smokers During Oxytocin Treatment
OpenAlex ID: W4379209597