Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Sequential Indirect Effect of Negative Urgency on Drinking Consequences Through Distress Intolerance and Drinking Motives: Initial Examination in College Students Reporting Past Month Alcohol Use

  • Brief Report
  • Published:
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Identification of cognitive and affective vulnerabilities among college drinkers may aid in developing focused interventions that promote a reduction in the prevalence of alcohol use. Negative urgency (NU) and distress intolerance (DI) evidence concurrent, unique, and synergistic relations with drinking motives and negative consequences of alcohol use. Utilizing a sequential multiple mediation framework to investigate a comprehensive model of these variables, we examined NU as a behavioral risk factor that potentiates the development of DI, thereby contributing to drinking motives that increase the risk of problematic use in young adults. A diverse sample of undergraduate students (N = 616; Mage = 19.1, SD = 1.4, range = 18–25; 50.6% female; 60.6% Caucasian; recruited between September 2015 and Spring 2017) reporting past month alcohol use completed an online questionnaire battery. The results suggested that NU may contribute to negative alcohol use outcomes via its relation to DI and the motivation to drink in order to cope with negative emotional states and conform to social pressure. These findings suggest that NU may be a primary intervention target in young adults.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Notes

  1. Responding “43” or “123” to items asking the years or age of onset of regular drinking

  2. In the current study, participants’ responses were rated on a 4-point scale (1, “never” to 4, “more than 5 times”) due to an error inputting the survey, as opposed to 5-point Likert scale (0, “never” to 4, “more than 10 times”).

References

  • Babor, T. F., Higgins-Biddle, J. C., Saunders, J. B., & Monteiro, M. G. (2001). AUDIT: The alcohol use disorders identification test: guidelines for use in primary care: Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence. World Health Organization.

  • Berking, M., & Wupperman, P. (2012). Emotion regulation and mental health: recent findings, current challenges, and future directions. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 25(2), 128–134.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berking, M., Margraf, M., Ebert, D., Wupperman, P., Hofmann, S. G., & Junghanns, K. (2011). Deficits in emotion-regulation skills predict alcohol use during and after cognitive–behavioral therapy for alcohol dependence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79(3), 307–318.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Borges, A. M., Dahne, R. J., Lim, A., & MacPherson, L. (2017). Negative affect mediates the relation between trait urgency and behavioral distress tolerance. Emotion, 17(4), 707–716.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bornovalova, M. A., Gratz, K. L., Daughters, S. B., Hunt, E. D., & Lejuez, C. W. (2012). Initial RCT of a distress tolerance treatment for individuals with substance use disorders. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 122(1), 70–76.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carey, K. B., & Correia, C. J. (1997). Drinking motives predict alcohol-related problems in college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 58(1), 100–105.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carretero, M., Ruiz, J., Delgado, J., & Gonzalez, C. (2016). Validation of the alcohol use disorders identification test in university students: AUDIT and AUDIT-C. Adicciones, 28(4), 194–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, B. P., Hampson, S., & Clarkin, J. (2014). Personality-informed interventions for healthy aging: conclusions from a National Institute on Aging work group. Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1426–1441.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, M. L. (1994). Motivations for alcohol use among adolescents: development and validation of a four-factor model. Psychological Assessment, 6(2), 117–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, M. L., Frone, M. R., Russell, M., & Mudar, P. (1995). Drinking to regulate positive and negative emotions: a motivational model of alcohol use. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(5), 990–1005.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coskunpinar, A., & Cyders, M. A. (2012). Mediation–moderation analysis of problematic alcohol use: the roles of urgency, drinking motives, and risk/benefit perception. Addictive Behaviors, 37(7), 880–883.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coskunpinar, A., Dir, A. L., & Cyders, M. A. (2013). Multidimensionality in impulsivity and alcohol use: a meta-analysis using the UPPS model of impulsivity. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 37(9), 1441–1450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cougle, J. R., Timpano, K. R., & Goetz, A. R. (2012). Exploring the unique and interactive roles of distress tolerance and negative urgency in obsessions. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(4), 515–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curcio, A. L., & George, A. M. (2011). Selected impulsivity facets with alcohol use/problems: the mediating role of drinking motives. Addictive Behaviors, 36, 959–964.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cyders, M. A., & Smith, G. T. (2008). Emotion-based dispositions to rash action: positive and negative urgency. Psychological Bulletin, 134(6), 807–828.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Cyders, M. A., Littlefield, A. K., Coffey, S., & Karyadi, K. A. (2014). Examination of a short English version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale. Addictive Behaviors, 39(9), 1372–1376.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dennhardt, A. A., & Murphy, J. G. (2011). Associations between depression, distress tolerance, delay discounting, and alcohol-related problems in European American and African American college students. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 25(4), 595–604.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dir, A. L., Karyadi, K., & Cyders, M. A. (2013). The uniqueness of negative urgency as a common risk factor for self-harm behaviors, alcohol consumption, and eating problems. Addictive Behaviors, 38(5), 2158–2162.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Filbey, F. M., Claus, E., Audette, A. R., Niculescu, M., Banich, M. T., Tanabe, J., et al. (2008). Exposure to the taste of alcohol elicits activation of the mesocorticolimbic neurocircuitry. Neuropsychopharmacology, 33(6), 1391–1401.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, M. S., Cox, M. G., & MacKinnon, D. P. (2015). Increasing statistical power in mediation models without increasing sample size. Evaluation & the Health Professions, 38(3), 343–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, L. P., Martindale, S. L., Fils-Aimé, L. R., & Dolan, S. L. (2016). Distress tolerance and impulsivity are associated with drug and alcohol use consequences in an online community sample. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 30(1), 50–59.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A. F. (2009). Beyond Baron and Kenny: statistical mediation analysis in the new millennium. Communication Monographs, 76(4), 408–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: a regression-based approach. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A. F., & Scharkow, M. (2013). The relative trustworthiness of inferential tests of the indirect effect in statistical mediation analysis does method really matter? Psychological Science, 24(10), 1918–1927.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hingson, R. W., & Zha, W. (2009). Age of drinking onset, alcohol use disorders, frequent heavy drinking, and unintentionally injuring oneself and others after drinking. Pediatrics, 123(6), 1477–1484.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hingson, R., Heeren, T., Winter, M., & Wechsler, H. (2005). Magnitude of alcohol-related mortality and morbidity among US college students ages 18–24: changes from 1998 to 2001. Public Health, 26, 259–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hingson, R. W., Zha, W., & Weitzman, E. R. (2009). Magnitude of and trends in alcohol-related mortality and morbidity among U.S. college students ages 18-24, 1998-2005. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Supplement, (16), 12–20.

  • Hingson, R. W., Heeren, T., Edwards, E. M., & Saitz, R. (2012). Young adults at risk for excess alcohol consumption are often not asked or counseled about drinking alcohol. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 27(2), 179–184.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holzhauer, C. G., Wemm, S., & Wulfert, E. (2017). Distress tolerance and physiological reactivity to stress predict women’s problematic alcohol use. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 25(3), 156–165.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Howell, A. N., Leyro, T. M., Hogan, J., Buckner, J. D., & Zvolensky, M. J. (2010). Anxiety sensitivity, distress tolerance, and discomfort intolerance in relation to coping and conformity motives for alcohol use and alcohol use problems among young adult drinkers. Addictive Behaviors, 35(12), 1144–1147.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kahler, C. W., Strong, D. R., & Read, J. P. (2005). Toward efficient and comprehensive measurement of the alcohol problems continuum in college students: the brief young adult alcohol consequences questionnaire. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, 29(7), 1180–1189.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, A. J., Milich, R., Lynam, D. R., & Charnigo, R. J. (2012). Negative urgency, distress tolerance, and substance abuse among college students. Addictive Behaviors, 37(10), 1075–1083.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Karyadi, K. A., & King, K. M. (2011). Urgency and negative emotions: evidence for moderation on negative alcohol consequences. Personality and Individual Differences, 51(5), 635–640.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, N. R., Cotter, E. W., & Mazzeo, S. E. (2014). Examining the role of distress tolerance and negative urgency in binge eating behavior among women. Eating Behaviors, 15(3), 483–489.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keough, M. T., Hines, S., Winslade, A., & O’Connor, R. M. (2015). Negative urgency and gender moderate the association between anxiety sensitivity and alcohol-related problems. Journal of Addiction and Prevention, 3(1), 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuntsche, E., Knibbe, R., Gmel, G., & Engels, R. (2005). Why do young people drink? A review of drinking motives. Clinical Psychology Review, 25, 841–861.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuntsche, E., Stewart, S. H., & Cooper, M. L. (2008). How stable is the motive-alcohol use link? A cross-national validation of the Drinking Motives Questionnaire Revised among adolescents from Switzerland, Canada, and the United States. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 69(3), 388–396.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuntsche, E., Rossow, I., Engels, R., & Kuntsche, S. (2016). Is “age at first drink” a useful concept in alcohol research and prevention? We doubt that. Addiction, 111(6), 957–965.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuvaas, N. J., Dvorak, R. D., Pearson, M. R., Lamis, D. A., & Sargent, E. M. (2014). Self-regulation and alcohol use involvement: a latent class analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 39(1), 146–152.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, A. M., & Zvolensky, M. J. (2015). Anxiety, depression, and cigarette smoking: a transdiagnostic vulnerability framework to understanding emotion-smoking comorbidity. Psychological Bulletin, 141(1), 176–212.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leyro, T. M., Zvolensky, M. J., & Bernstein, A. (2010). Distress tolerance and psychopathological symptoms and disorders: a review of the empirical literature among adults. Psychological Bulletin, 136(4), 576–600.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Littlefield, A. K., Sher, K. J., & Wood, P. K. (2010). Do changes in drinking motives mediate the relation between personality change and “maturing out” of problem drinking? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119(1), 93–105.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Magidson, J. F., Roberts, B. W., Collado-Rodriguez, A., & Lejuez, C. (2014). Theory-driven intervention for changing personality: expectancy value theory, behavioral activation, and conscientiousness. Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1442–1450.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall-Berenz, E. C., Vujanovic, A. A., & MacPherson, L. (2011). Impulsivity and alcohol use coping motives in a trauma-exposed sample: the mediating role of distress tolerance. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(5), 588–592.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • McHugh, R. K., & Otto, M. W. (2011). Domain-general and domain-specific strategies for the assessment of distress intolerance. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 25(4), 745–749.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • McHugh, R. K., & Otto, M. W. (2012). Refining the measurement of distress intolerance. Behavior Therapy, 43(3), 641–651.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Merrill, J. E., Wardell, J. D., & Read, J. P. (2014). Drinking motives in the prospective prediction of unique alcohol-related consequences in college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 75(1), 93–102.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, C., & MacKillop, J. (2012). Living in the here and now: interrelationships between impulsivity, mindfulness, and alcohol misuse. Psychopharmacology, 219(2), 527–536.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2015). College drinking fact sheet. Washington, DC: NIH Publication.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2003). Helping patients with alcohol problems: a health practitioner’s guide. Washington, DC: NIH Publication.

    Google Scholar 

  • Németh, Z., Kuntsche, E., Urbán, R., Farkas, J., & Demetrovics, Z. (2011). Why do festival goers drink? Assessment of drinking motives using the DMQ-R SF in a recreational setting. Drug and Alcohol Review, 30(1), 40–46.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C. M., Davis-Becker, K., & Fischer, S. (2014). Interactive role of depression, distress tolerance and negative urgency on non-suicidal self-injury. Personality and Mental Health, 8(2), 151–160.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36(4), 717–731.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008a). Contemporary approaches to assessing mediation in communication research. In A. F. Hayes, M. D. Slater, & L. B. Snyder (Eds.), The Sage sourcebook of advanced data analysis methods for communication research (pp. 13–54). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008b). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K. J., & Kelley, K. (2011). Effect size measures for mediation models: quantitative strategies for communicating indirect effects. Psychological Methods, 16(2), 93–115.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Read, J. P., Merrill, J., Kahler, C., & Strong, D. (2007). Predicting functional outcomes among college drinkers: reliability and predictive validity of the young adult alcohol consequences questionnaire. Addictive Behaviors, 32, 2597–2610.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rindfleisch, A., Malter, A. J., Ganesan, S., & Moorman, C. (2008). Cross-sectional versus longitudinal survey research: concepts, findings, and guidelines. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(3), 261–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, S. M., Sobell, L. C., Sobell, M. B., & Leo, G. I. (2014). Reliability of the timeline followback for cocaine, cannabis, and cigarette use. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 28(1), 154–162.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rumpf, H.-J., Hapke, U., Meyer, C., & John, U. (2002). Screening for alcohol use disorders and at-risk drinking in the general population: psychometric performance of three questionnaires. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 37(3), 261–268.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, J. B., Aasland, O. G., Babor, T. F., De la Fuente, J. R., & Grant, M. (1993). Development of the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT): WHO collaborative project on early detection of persons with harmful alcohol consumption-II. Addiction, 88(6), 791–804.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schaus, J. F., Sole, M. L., McCoy, T. P., Mullett, N., & O'Brien, M. C. (2009). Alcohol screening and brief intervention in a college student health center: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Supplement, (16), 131–142.

  • Shishido, H., Gaher, R. M., & Simons, J. S. (2013). I don’t know how I feel, therefore I act: alexithymia, urgency, and alcohol problems. Addictive Behaviors, 38(4), 2014–2017.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shrout, P. E., & Bolger, N. (2002). Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: new procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods, 7(4), 422–445.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sobell, L. C., & Sobell, M. B. (1992). Timeline follow-back. In R. Z. Litten & J. P. Allen (Eds.), Measuring alcohol consumption: psychosocial and biochemical methods (pp. 41–72). Totowa: Humana Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sobell, L. C., & Sobell, M. B. (1995). Alcohol timeline followback users’ manual. Toronto: Addiction Research Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sobell, L. C., Brown, J., Leo, G. I., & Sobell, M. B. (1996). The reliability of the alcohol timeline followback when administered by telephone and by computer. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 42(1), 49–54.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2013). National survey on drug use and health: detailed tables. Rockville: Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality.

    Google Scholar 

  • US Department of Health & Human Services. (2017). Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015–2020. New York: Skyhorse Publishing Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wardell, J., Quilty, L., & Hendershot, C. (2016). Impulsivity, working memory, and impaired control over alcohol: a latent variable analysis. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 30(5), 544–554.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, H., Lee, J. E., Kuo, M., Seibring, M., Nelson, T. F., & Lee, H. (2002). Trends in college binge drinking during a period of increased prevention efforts: findings from 4 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study surveys: 1993–2001. Journal of American College Health, 50(5), 203–217.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weitzman, E. R., Nelson, T. F., Lee, H., & Wechsler, H. (2004). Reducing drinking and related harms in college: evaluation of the “a matter of degree” program. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 27(3), 187–196.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • West, S. G., Finch, J. F., & Curran, P. J. (1995). Structural equation models with nonnormal variables: problems and remedies. In R. H. Hoyle (Ed.), Structural equation modeling: concepts, issues and applications (pp. 56–75). Newbery Park: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, A., & Hingson, R. (2014). The burden of alcohol use: excessive alcohol consumption and related consequences among college students. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 35(2), 201–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, H. R., & Labouvie, E. W. (1989). Towards the assessment of adolescent problem drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 50(1), 30–37.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was funded by a pre-doctoral National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (F31-DA043934) awarded to the second author.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers, Department of Psychology, The State University of New Jersey, Tillett Hall, 53 Avenue E., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA

    Min-Jeong Yang, Allison Borges & Teresa M. Leyro

Authors
  1. Min-Jeong Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Allison Borges
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Teresa M. Leyro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Min-Jeong Yang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yang, MJ., Borges, A. & Leyro, T.M. The Sequential Indirect Effect of Negative Urgency on Drinking Consequences Through Distress Intolerance and Drinking Motives: Initial Examination in College Students Reporting Past Month Alcohol Use. Int J Ment Health Addiction 17, 479–492 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-019-00068-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-019-00068-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation