TY - JOUR
T1 - Anxiety, Anxiety Sensitivity, and Perceived Stress as Predictors of Recent Drinking, Alcohol Craving, and Social Stress Response in Heavy Drinkers
AU - McCaul, Mary E.
AU - Hutton, Heidi E.
AU - Stephens, Mary Ann C.
AU - Xu, Xiaoqiang
AU - Wand, Gary S.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by NIH grants U01-AA020890 (Co-PIs: Wand and McCaul), The Kenneth Lattman Foundation, and K05AA020342 (PI: Wand). This publication also was made possible by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) which is funded in part by Grant Number UL1 TR 001079 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the Johns Hopkins ICTR, NCATS, or NIH. Authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Research Society on Alcoholism.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Background: Stress and anxiety are widely considered to be causally related to alcohol craving and consumption, as well as development and maintenance of alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, numerous preclinical and human studies examining effects of stress or anxiety on alcohol use and alcohol-related problems have been equivocal. This study examined relationships between scores on self-report anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and stress measures and frequency and intensity of recent drinking, alcohol craving during early withdrawal, as well as laboratory measures of alcohol craving and stress reactivity among heavy drinkers with AUD. Methods: Media-recruited, heavy drinkers with AUD (N = 87) were assessed for recent alcohol consumption. Anxiety and stress levels were characterized using paper-and-pencil measures, including the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Eligible subjects (N = 30) underwent alcohol abstinence on the Clinical Research Unit; twice daily measures of alcohol craving were collected. On day 4, subjects participated in the Trier Social Stress Test; measures of cortisol and alcohol craving were collected. Results: In multivariate analyses, higher BAI scores were associated with lower drinking frequency and reduced drinks/drinking day; in contrast, higher ASI-3 scores were associated with higher drinking frequency. BAI anxiety symptom and ASI-3 scores also were positively related to Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test total scores and AUD symptom and problem subscale measures. Higher BAI and ASI-3 scores but not PSS scores were related to greater self-reported alcohol craving during early alcohol abstinence. Finally, BAI scores were positively related to laboratory stress-induced cortisol and alcohol craving. In contrast, the PSS showed no relationship with most measures of alcohol craving or stress reactivity. Conclusions: Overall, clinically oriented measures of anxiety compared with perceived stress were more strongly associated with a variety of alcohol-related measures in current heavy drinkers with AUD.
AB - Background: Stress and anxiety are widely considered to be causally related to alcohol craving and consumption, as well as development and maintenance of alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, numerous preclinical and human studies examining effects of stress or anxiety on alcohol use and alcohol-related problems have been equivocal. This study examined relationships between scores on self-report anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and stress measures and frequency and intensity of recent drinking, alcohol craving during early withdrawal, as well as laboratory measures of alcohol craving and stress reactivity among heavy drinkers with AUD. Methods: Media-recruited, heavy drinkers with AUD (N = 87) were assessed for recent alcohol consumption. Anxiety and stress levels were characterized using paper-and-pencil measures, including the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Eligible subjects (N = 30) underwent alcohol abstinence on the Clinical Research Unit; twice daily measures of alcohol craving were collected. On day 4, subjects participated in the Trier Social Stress Test; measures of cortisol and alcohol craving were collected. Results: In multivariate analyses, higher BAI scores were associated with lower drinking frequency and reduced drinks/drinking day; in contrast, higher ASI-3 scores were associated with higher drinking frequency. BAI anxiety symptom and ASI-3 scores also were positively related to Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test total scores and AUD symptom and problem subscale measures. Higher BAI and ASI-3 scores but not PSS scores were related to greater self-reported alcohol craving during early alcohol abstinence. Finally, BAI scores were positively related to laboratory stress-induced cortisol and alcohol craving. In contrast, the PSS showed no relationship with most measures of alcohol craving or stress reactivity. Conclusions: Overall, clinically oriented measures of anxiety compared with perceived stress were more strongly associated with a variety of alcohol-related measures in current heavy drinkers with AUD.
KW - Alcohol Craving
KW - Alcohol Use Disorder
KW - Anxiety Sensitivity
KW - Cortisol
KW - Trier Social Stress Test
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U2 - 10.1111/acer.13350
DO - 10.1111/acer.13350
M3 - Article
C2 - 28281290
AN - SCOPUS:85014774773
SN - 0145-6008
VL - 41
SP - 836
EP - 845
JO - Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
JF - Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
IS - 4
ER -