Negative urgency and alcohol-related problems: indirect links with alcohol expectancies and drinking motives

Abstract

Background

Negative Urgency (NU), the tendency to act rashly during negative emotional states, is associated with alcohol misuse through various alcohol cognitions; however, these relationships are often examined in isolation and exclude certain alcohol cognitions. Objective: This study simultaneously modeled NU’s association with alcohol-related problems through (a) beliefs about the likelihood of experiencing positive or negative effects from alcohol (i.e., expectancies), (b) desirability of alcohol’s positive or negative effects (i.e., valuations), and (c) reasons for consuming alcohol (i.e., drinking motives). Methods: Participants (N = 565) completed measures of NU, expectancies, valuations, drinking motives, and alcohol problems online. Results: NU was indirectly associated with alcohol-related problems through coping motives, positive expectancies, and enhancement motives. Despite a positive association between NU and negative valuations, NU was not associated with alcohol-related problems through valuations. Conclusions: These results further researchers’ understanding of how NU is associated with modifiable alcohol cognitions, with clear implications for informing treatment and future research.

Keywords:

• Negative Urgency
• alcohol expectancies
• drinking motives
• alcohol valuations
• alcohol-related problems

Author note

Portions of the analyzed data were presented at the 52nd annual meeting for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Washington, DC.

Data statement

Please email the corresponding author for requests to access the data used for this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

Dr. Jessica K. Perrotte was supported during the early phases of this project (i.e., analyses and drafting) by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Number F31AA026477. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.