Individuals who consume alcohol may be distinguished by their drinking motives. Enhancement motives involve drinking to enhance positive moods. Research on the moderating effect of enhancement motives on the within-person relation between daily positive mood and drinking has not differentiated between high- (e.g. hyper) and low-arousal (e.g. cheerful) positive moods. The present study addressed this limitation. We hypothesised that enhancement motives would positively moderate the relationship between mid-afternoon high-arousal positive mood and evening drinking.
Using a palm pilot-based experience sampling design, 143 undergraduate drinkers answered daily surveys assessing positive mood (mid-afternoon) and drinks (evening) for 22 consecutive days.
As hypothesised, enhancement motives strengthened the relation between high-arousal positive moods and drinking. Upon closer examination, the mood-drinking slope for those high in enhancement motives was unexpectedly flat, whereas the mood-drinking slope for those low in enhancement motives was negative.
We demonstrated that high enhancement-motivated drinkers exhibit a high, stable drinking level, regardless of the intensity of their high-arousal positive mood. In contrast, low enhancement-motivated drinkers decrease their drinking when in a high-arousal positive mood state. Clinicians may be able to help reduce heavy alcohol consumption in enhancement-motivated drinkers by teaching them to reduce their drinking when in a high-arousal positive mood state. [Gautreau C, Sherry S, Battista S, Goldstein A, Stewart S. Enhancement motives moderate the relationship between high-arousal positive moods and drinking quantity: Evidence from a 22-day experience sampling study. Drug Alcohol Rev 2015].
© 2015 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.