Difficulties Regulating Positive Emotions and Substance Misuse: The Influence of Sociodemographic Factors

Abstract

Background: Alcohol and drug misuse present significant public health concerns due to their high prevalence and deleterious outcomes. A growing body of research provides support for the role of difficulties regulating positive emotions in alcohol and drug misuse. However, research is needed to better understand for whom difficulties regulating positive emotions are most strongly associated with alcohol and drug misuse to inform assessment and treatment efforts. Objectives: The goal of the present study was to examine potential sociodemographic moderators (i.e. age, gender, ethnicity, race, income, and educational attainment) in the relations between difficulties regulating positive emotions and alcohol and drug misuse. Methods: Participants were 373 trauma-exposed adults (57.1% female, 75.8% White) recruited from the community. Results: Significant differences were identified across sociodemographic groups regarding difficulties regulating positive emotions (i.e. gender, ethnicity, race, and income) and alcohol use (i.e. gender). Moderation analyses revealed a significant interaction between difficulties regulating positive emotions and gender on drug misuse (b = 0.08, p < .001), such that the association was significant for females (b = 0.11, p < .001) but not males (b = .03, p = .05). Conclusions: Results suggest the importance of developing gender-sensitive recommendations for the assessment and treatment of substance misuse, and of incorporating techniques focused on addressing difficulties regulating positive emotions.

Keywords:

• Difficulties regulating positive emotions
• sociodemographic factors
• alcohol misuse
• drug misuse

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 To assess whether the interaction of difficulties regulating positive emotions and gender was associated with greater drug misuse among individuals who reported any drug misuse (rather than simply an artifact of any versus no drug misuse), we re-examined this interaction after excluding individuals who reported no drug misuse. A significant main effect remained for difficulties regulating positive emotions (b = 0.09, SE = 0.02, t = 5.79, p < .001, 95%CI [0.06, 0.12], but not for gender (b = 0.61, SE = 0.31, t = 1.96, p = .05, 95%CI [-0.004, 1.22]). The interaction between difficulties regulating positive emotions and gender remained significant (b = 0.07, SE = 0.03, t = 2.42, p = .02, 95%CI [0.01, 0.13]). Analysis of simple slopes revealed that the association between difficulties regulating positive emotions and drug misuse was stronger for female (b = 0.12, SE = 0.02, t = 5.78, p < .001, 95%CI [0.08, 0.16]) than for male (b = 0.05, SE = 0.02, t = 2.18, p = .03, 95%CI [0.004, 0.09]) participants.

Additional information

Funding

Work on this paper by the second author (NHW) was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse grant K23DA039327.