This research examined the relationships between drinking behavior control and goal conflict, which is one of the factors of self-control process in three drinker groups (social drinkers, problem drinkers, and alcohol dependents). Three studies were c...
This research examined the relationships between drinking behavior control and goal conflict, which is one of the factors of self-control process in three drinker groups (social drinkers, problem drinkers, and alcohol dependents). Three studies were conducted. In study 1, 2, and 3, social and problem drinkers were classified in terms of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test(AUDIT) scores (Social drinkers = lower than 12, Problem drinkers = higher than 12). Alcohol dependents were selected in terms of several criteria, such as the history of alcohol use treatment, the experience of tolerance to the alcohol, and withdrawal symptom.
Study 1 was performed to identify whether self-control would be the dynamic process of goal conflict resolution and to investigate the mediating effects of drinking restraint in the relations between goal conflict and drinking behaviors (drinking quantity and/or drinking frequency) by using three drinker groups. From 548 participants (225 social drinkers, 237 problem drinkers, and 86 alcohol dependents), the goal conflict measure to the alcohol, scores on the Temptation and Restraint Inventory (TRI), as well as frequency and quantity measures of self-reported drinking were obtained. Correlations between goal conflict, drinking restraint, and drinking behaviors were analyzed and the three-step mediated regression analysis was conducted to compare three drinker groups. The results indicated that drinking restraint mediated between goal conflict and drinking behaviors. A social drinker group exhibited that drinking restraint partially mediated between goal conflict and drinking quantity among drinking behaviors. That is, social drinkers who scored high on goal conflict showed higher scores on drinking restraint, and higher scores on drinking restraint were also related to heavier quantity of drinking. For a problem drinker group, goal conflict score did not predict both drinking restraint level and drinking quantity. However, problem drinkers who scored high on drinking restraint exhibited higher level of drinking quantity. In contrast, an alcohol dependents group did not exhibit any relations among goal conflict, drinking restraint, and drinking behaviors.
In study 2, both implicit and explicit drinking attitudes (e.g., goal conflict) of three drinker groups were measured by using the Single-Target Implicit Association Test (ST-IAT), and it was investigated whether implicit and explicit drinking attitudes would be identical. From 104 participants (35 social drinkers, 33 problem drinkers, and 36 alcohol dependents), the explicit attitude measures to the alcohol (e.g., the explicit goal conflict measure, TRI, the Drinking refusal self-efficacy Questionnaire, etc.), the implicit attitude measures to the alcohol (e.g., the implicit goal conflict measure, ST-IAT, etc.), as well as frequency and quantity measures of self-reported drinking were obtained. Two-way within-subjects ANOVA was conducted to compare the distinction of explicit and implicit attitudes to the alcohol by three drinker groups. For both social and problem drinkers groups who did not experience alcohol addiction (tolerance or withdrawal symptom), the more positively the drinkers had with the implicit attitudes to the alcohol, the more positively had with the explicit attitudes to the drinking and the more highly reveled drinking behavior.
Conversely, the more negatively the drinkers had with the implicit attitudes to the alcohol, the more negatively had with the explicit attitudes to the drinking and the less reveled drinking behavior.
Alcohol dependents who were experienced alcohol addiction were negative in both the implicit and explicit attitudes to the drinking, and they excessively revealed uncontrolled drinking behaviors.
In study 3, the effect of intervention to the goal conflict on drinkers' drinking behavior control was examined. In other words, study 3 examined whether the primed informations would be effective on drinking behavior control, when different types of drinkers group were implicitly primed by either a positive or negative information about drinking. From 139 participants (48 social drinkers, 50 problem drinkers, and 41 alcohol dependents), scores on the alcohol outcome expectancy inventory, frequency
and quantity measures of self-reported drinking were obtained. In addition, they performed the priming task. Two-way within-subjects ANOVA was conducted to compare the response time (ms) of targets (goal, temptation, and neural words) and priming types (drinking positive priming vs. drinking negative priming) by three drinker groups.
The results showed that the response time(ms) on the lexical decision task of a alcohol dependents group was slower than those of social and problem drinkers groups. For goal words (e.g., abstinence etc.), all three drinkers groups exhibited faster response time on a positive drinking priming condition than a negative drinking priming condition. For temptation words (e.g., soju etc.), however, all three groups showed slower response time on a negative drinking priming condition than a positive drinking priming condition.
The results have several implications. First, the drinking self-control may be the dynamic process of goal conflict resolution. That is, when drinkers facing in drinking temptation acknowledge drinking self-control conflict (goal conflict) and they employ unsuccessful self-control strategies (e.g., drinking restraint) to resolve the goal conflict, they may fail to exercise self-control and excessively drink. Second, alcohol addiction is irrelevant to the implicit and explicit drinking attitudes. Therefore, intervention would need to emphasize the effective coping strategies in high-risk drinking situations in order to change drinker's drink behaviors. Third, only presenting the brief information about alcohol or drinking can be effective as a way of intervention to successfully control the drinking behaviors.
In summary, the results suggest that different intervention strategies for drinking behaviors control should be applied to different drinkers groups. Based on the results, it is also suggested that in order to control drinker's alcohol consumption for himself/herself in drinking temptation situation, drinkers has to learn effective coping strategies to overcome the transient drinking temptation. Researchers should share a common interest in development of techniques and methods to enhance drinking behaviors control.