Self-control may be vital when individuals cut back or cease drinking. To regulate their alcohol consumption, individuals must resist temptation and restrain their desire to drink. Resisting the temptation to drink should require self-control. Recent research suggests that the exertion of self-control is costly, as it requires and consumes a limited resource (self- control strength) that may be critical to the success of self-control. Individuals who previously exerted self-control may have less self-control strength and therefore perform more poorly on tests of self-control than individuals who did not exert self- control. Self-control strength may be particularly important when individuals are regulating their alcohol intake.
Specific Aim 1 will help establish whether self-control strength is consumed when heavy drinkers resist the temptation to drink. After sniffing alcohol in a cue exposure paradigm, heavy drinkers should perform more poorly on subsequent tests of self-control as compared with their performance after sniffing water when contrasted with the performance of light drinkers. Negative mood, frustration, or arousal should not mediate the decline in self-control Performance after sniffing alcohol. In addition, resisting a temptation should not influence performance on a task that does not require self-control. Comparisons between light and heavy drinkers after sniffing alcohol and water will help establish whether self-control strength is required for, and consumed in the process of resisting the temptation to drink.
Specific Aim 2 will explore whether proximal and distal risk factors related to self-control may influence the risk of violating alcohol consumption limits. Any factor that reduces self-control capacity may increase the likelihood of drinking limit violation. To test the relationship between limit violations and self-control demands, heavy drinking participants who were tested in the cue exposure paradigm will call an interactive voice response (IVR) system daily for 3 months to report on their drinking behavior, self-control demands, and self-control strength. Participants who experience an increase in self-control demands or a reduction in self-control strength may be more likely to violate their drinking limit. Survival and multilevel analyses will be used to determine whether excessive drinking is related to changes in day-to-day levels of self-control strength, effort exerted to resist the temptation to drink during experimental chase of the study, and individual differences in trait self-control. The present study has the potential to elucidate the self-control processes needed to enhance the maintenance of limits on alcohol intake.
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