A paradigm for examining stress effects on alcohol-motivated behaviors in participants with alcohol use disorder
Open accessAbstract
Although epidemiological research has shown an increase in drinking following stressors and trauma, limited paradigms have been validated to study the relationship between stress and drinking in the human laboratory. The current study developed a progressive ratio (PR) operant procedure to examine the effects of psychosocial stress on alcohol craving and several alcohol-motivated behaviors in persons with alcohol use disorder. Current heavy, nontreatment-seeking drinkers (N = 30) were media-recruited and completed a comprehensive assessment of recent drinking, mood and health. Participants were admitted to the clinical research unit and underwent 4-day, physician-monitored alcohol abstinence. On days 4 and 5, participants underwent the Trier Social Stress Test or a neutral session in random order followed by the alcohol-motivated response (AMR) procedure in which subjects worked for money or alcohol under a PR operant procedure. Subjects received earned money vouchers or alcohol at the conclusion of the session. The Trier Social Stress Test increased alcohol craving and rate of responding and decreased the number of changeovers between alcohol versus money reinforcers on the PR schedule. There was a positive relationship between alcohol craving and drinks earned during the stress session. This novel paradigm provides an experimental platform to examine motivation to drink without confounding by actual alcohol ingestion during the work session, thereby setting the stage for future studies of alcohol interventions.
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Human studies have shown that stress exposure increases alcohol craving.
“Human studies have shown stress exposure increases alcohol craving [171].”
From Food Addiction and Psychosocial Adversity: Biological Embedding, Contextual Factors, and Public Health Implications (2020) · cites this paper as [171]
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- Authors
- McCaul, M. E., Wand, G. S., Weerts, E. M., & Xu, X.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- McCaul, Mary E.
- Venue
- Addiction Biology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-04-17
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 836-845
- ISSN
- 1355-6215 (ISSN-L)
- 1369-1600
- PMC
- PMC5645206
- OpenAlex
- W2606919107
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 1.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Addiction Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (K05AA020342)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1 TR 001079)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Keywords
- alcoholism, psychosocial stress, alcohol craving, Trier Social Stress Test, drinking motives
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Alcoholism, Behavior, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Motivation, Stress, Psychological, Young Adult, Craving
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