Project V: Some people use drugs and alcohol to cope with emotional distress. Some find that alcohol and drugs exacerbate their emotional problems and/or that an emotional problem, when combined with drugs and alcohol, leads to damaging consequences. Angry people drink more, get drunk more often, and use tobacco and other drugs more frequently. Drugs and anger are dangerous partners; the angry person who is high is more likely to engage in aggression, violence, risky driving, vandalism, and inappropriate sex,, and/or to suffer personally, becoming victims of violence, sexual abuse, and damaged relationships. Anger can be treated successfully by the most empirically validated intervention to date, a combination of cognitive and relaxation coping skills (CRCS) The proposed research will select high trait angry, binge drinking college students. These students have high levels of both alcohol and drug abuse and suffer and cause serious adverse consequence.. The high anger, binge drinking students will be randomly assigned to an experimental treatment (CRCS) or a non treatment control. Anger, anger expression and consequences, drug and alcohol use and consequences, anxiety and depression will be assessed at five points in time (pre-treatment, post- treatment, and one, six, and 24 month follow-ups), using self-report and key informant methodologies. Grades, academic attrition, and university disciplinary actions will be retrieved from archival records. The primary research question is whether treatment of angry, treatment of anger reduce the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs to cope with anger-produced emotional distress? (2) Does treatment reduce the frequency and intensity of anger if alcohol and drugs are abused? (3) Does treatment reduce the violence and victimization that result from combining anger and alcohol/drug abuse? (4) Does treatment have ancillary effects, reducing other emotional issues, improving college grades, or reducing college attrition? (5) Are there either short or long term differences in the effects of treatment by gender or ethnicity on these outcomes?
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