Stress-motivated Alcohol Use as a Value-based Decision-making Process

Summary

The goal of this experimental study is to improve our understanding of the effects of stress on the decision to consume (more) alcohol in regular drinkers. The main question\[s\] it aims to answer are:

* Does psychological stress affect the decision to consume (more) alcohol?
* How does psychological stress affect the decision to consume (more) alcohol? Participants will be randomly assigned to one of four conditions (stress alcohol, stress no alcohol, no stress alcohol, no stress no alcohol) and complete a value-based decision-making task twice (once before and once after the manipulations).

Conditions

• Psychological Stress
• Alcohol Intoxication

Interventions

OTHER

Stress

To manipulate stress, we follow the personalized imagery script procedure developed by Sinha and colleagues. Participants randomly assigned to the stress condition will be interviewed about one week prior to the lab session. They will share a detailed description of a stressful event from their life (last 12 months) with the interviewer. Based on this interview, the experimenter will write a script (\~500 words), that will then be audiotaped. Participants will listen to this personalized audiotape during the experiment, and will be asked to imagine this event as vividly as possible. Participants randomly assigned to the no stress condition will listen to a generic audiotape that describes a non-stressful event (\~500 words). They will not be interviewed. During the lab session, participants will first complete a 3-min color counting task. The participant will then listen to the audiotape (personalized stressful audiotape in stress condition, generic non-stressful audiotape in no stress c

OTHER

Alcohol

Intoxication: Participants randomly assigned to the alcohol condition will be administered 100-proof Vodka mixed with orange juice (1:3 ratio) to induce a BAC of .06% (based on Widmark's formula). They will be breathalyzed every 5 minutes until they reach peak BAC, at which point they will continue with the experiment. Participants randomly assigned to the no alcohol condition will be administered water mixed with orange juice (1:3 ratio). Each participant in the no alcohol condition will be yoked to a participant in the alcohol condition and will complete the same number of breath tests. Once participants in the alcohol condition reach peak BAC and participants in the no alcohol condition performed the same number of breath tests as the participant they are yoked to, participants will continue to the stress induction.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Washington

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kevin M King, PhD · University of Washington

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Max Age

50 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-02-01

Primary Completion

2024-08-31

Completion

2024-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations