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A comprehensive understanding of the relationship between stress and alcohol use is important for understanding the risks of developing alcohol problems and subsequent relapse. Although the relationship is complex, substantial [...]

Background and Objectives: Although research indicates that social anxiety (SA) is associated with problematic drinking, few studies have examined these relations among adolescents, and all alcohol-related assessments have been retrospective. Socially anxious youth may be at risk to drink in an effort to manage negative affectivity, and a proclivity toward disengagement coping (e.g. avoidance of aversive stimuli) may enhance the desire to drink and learning of coping-related use.Design: Adding to research addressing adolescent SA and alcohol use, the current study examined (1) proportional drinking motives (subscale scores divided by the sum of all subscales), (2) current desire to drink in a socially relevant environment (introduction to research laboratory), and (3) the indirect effect of retrospectively reported disengagement in social stress contexts on proportional coping motives and desire to drink.Method: Participants were 70 community-recruited adolescents who reported recent alcohol use. Level of SA, disengagement coping, drinking motives, and desire to drink following laboratory introduction were assessed.Results: Proclivity toward disengagement in prior socially stressful contexts accounted for significant variance in the positive relations between SA and both proportional coping motives and current desire to drink.Conclusions: These data complement existing work. Continued efforts in building developmentally sensitive models of alcohol use are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though social anxiety disorder and alcohol use disorders commonly co-occur, the mechanisms involved in social anxiety and hazardous drinking among college students are not well understood. The current study contributes to the emerging literature on social anxiety and college drinking as the first known study to test howpositive(e.g. “I would feel at ease in social situations”) andnegative(e.g. “I would make a fool out of myself”) alcohol outcome expectancies (AOE)specific to social situations(social AOE) impact the association between social anxiety and hazardous alcohol use among 718 undergraduates (61% women;Mage = 19.50, SD = 1.45; 85% White). Results supported the mediation, but not the moderation models. There were positive indirect effects of social anxiety through positive social AOE and negative indirect effects of social anxiety through negative social AOE on both hazardous drinking outcomes (i.e. alcohol consumption and alcohol problems). Findings suggest that there could be competing pathways for increasing (positive social AOE) and decreasing (negative AOE) risk for hazardous alcohol use in socially anxious college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the biologic systems that underlie the relationship between stress and alcohol consumption may lead to better prevention efforts and more effective treatments for alcoholism. Clinical laboratory studies offer a unique opportunity to examine these relationships by using a controlled environment to study how an acute stressor affects alcohol drinking and alcohol craving, how individuals in recovery or those at risk for alcoholism may respond differently to stressors relative to control subjects, and how alcohol differentially affects stress reactivity in these groups. This article reviews some of the most common physical, psychological, and pharmacological stressors used in stress-induction studies designed to reveal details about the relationship between stress reactivity and alcohol use and abuse.