How Bad Could It Be? Alcohol Dampens Stress Responses to Threat of Uncertain Intensity
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Abstract
Stress response dampening is an important motive for alcohol use. However, stress reduction via alcohol (alcohol SRD) is observed inconsistently in the laboratory, and this has raised questions about the precise mechanisms and boundary conditions for these effects. Emerging evidence indicates that alcohol SRD may be observed selectively during uncertain but not certain threats. In a final sample of 89 participants, we measured stress response via potentiation of defensive startle reflex in response to threat of shock in blocks with certain (low and high) and uncertain shock intensity. Our alcohol-administration procedure produced blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) across a broad range (0.00%–0.12%) across participants. Increasing BACs were associated with linearly decreasing startle potentiation and self-reported anxiety. This SRD effect was greater during uncertain than certain threat. More broadly, these results suggest that distinct mechanisms are involved in response to threats of uncertain intensity and threats of certain intensity.
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Laboratory studies show that alcohol selectively dampens stress responses to unpredictable threat.
“Laboratory studies show that alcohol selectively dampens stress responses to unpredictable threat (Moberg And Curtin 2009; Hefner And Curtin 2012; Bradford et al. 2013).”
From Decoding the bidirectional links between alcohol misuse and aggression: toward a unified translational framework (2026) · cites this paper as Bradford et al. 2013
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- Authors
- Bradford, D. E., Shapiro, B. L., & Curtin, J. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-10-21
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2541-2549
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- PMC
- PMC3951286
- OpenAlex
- W2126308274
- Cited by
- 86
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 6
- FWCI
- 4.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01AA015384)
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH018931)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA033809)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- uncertainty, threat intensity, electric shock, blood alcohol concentration, anxiety, drinking motives, boundary conditions
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Ethanol, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Random Allocation, Reflex, Startle, Stress, Psychological, Uncertainty, Young Adult
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