Alcohol increases impulsivity and abuse liability in heavy drinking women.

Abstract

Heavy drinking has increased in recent years and has been linked to numerous health-related risks, particularly in women. A number of factors may play a role in exacerbating the risks linked to heavy drinking, such as impulsivity, which itself is related to a number of risky behaviors. The present study investigated the effects of alcohol (0, 0.5, 0.75 g/kg) on impulsivity in female heavy drinkers (n = 23) and female light drinkers (n = 23) using a double-blind, placebo-controlled outpatient design; all women were tested during follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. Each session, participants completed a range of tasks including subjective measures of abuse liability, cognitive performance tasks, three behavioral impulsivity tasks, and a risk-taking task. Alcohol increased impulsivity on the Immediate and Delayed Memory Task (IMT and DMT) and Delay Discounting task. Heavy drinkers scored higher on impulsivity self-reports and were more impulsive on the IMT and the GoStop task than light drinkers. The high dose of alcohol further increased impulsive performance on the IMT and DMT in heavy drinkers. There were no group differences or alcohol effects on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. Alcohol increased sedative-like effects more in light drinkers and increased stimulant-like effects and alcohol liking more in heavy drinkers. In summary, female heavy drinkers are less sensitive to the negative effects of alcohol, report more positive effects of alcohol, and are more impulsive than female light drinkers. Moreover, impulsive responding was exacerbated by alcohol drinking among female heavy drinkers, indicating that women who drink at this level are at increased risk for developing alcohol use disorders and engaging in other risky behaviors, particularly after drinking.

Impulsive Personality and Alcohol Use: Bidirectional Relations Over One Year

“…The observed impact of drinking on impulsivity may be reflective of the effect of rash behavior occurring while intoxicated on an individual's subsequent ratings of his or her typical personality. This would be consistent with the findings of previous studies where, when administered alcohol, social drinkers tended to behave impulsively on subsequent laboratory tasks (Dougherty et al, 2000(Dougherty et al, , 2008, and research indicating that heavy drinkers demonstrate an increase in impulsive behavior following a high dose of alcohol that light drinkers do not (Reed et al, 2012). Considering specifically the bidirectional relation of alcohol use and urgency, individuals high in the trait may find that, because of peer acceptance of heavy drinking, consuming alcohol is an acceptable way to act out while experiencing strong affect, and intoxication may in turn contribute to increases in intense emotion and impulsive behavior.…”

The influence of groups and alcohol consumption on individual risk-taking

“…However, it is important to note that to my knowledge, the impact of acute intoxication on the SLT has not been investigated to date. Moreover, although previous research has found intoxication effects on the BART , other null findings in this area could indicate that the BART may lack the sensitivity to detect any effects of acute alcohol consumption (Euser et al, 2011;Peacock et al, 2013; S. C. Reed et al, 2012). …”

“…On the one hand, a wealth a research finds heightened risk-taking following alcohol consumption (Bidwell et al, 2013;Gilman et al, 2012;Rose et al, 2014), which is further suggested to be linear; risk-taking increases in line rising alcohol dose (Lane et al, 2004). On the other hand, other studies have found no effect of alcohol on risk-taking behaviours (Farquhar, Lambert, Drummond, Tiplady, & Wright, 2002;Peacock et al, 2013;S. C. Reed et al, 2012).…”

“…Here, behavioural measurements have mostly implicated risk-taking as a consequence to alcohol consumption behaviour (Burian et al, 2002;Lane et al, 2004;Rose et al, 2014), whilst less research finds no influence of alcohol consumption on risky 7 One of the most commonly used self-report measures of impulsivity is the 30-item Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11; Patton, Stanford, & Barratt, 1995), which measures overall impulsivity, and three sub-traits of attentional (an inability to focus attention or concentrate), motor (acting without thinking), and non-planning impulsiveness (orientated in the present with a lack of future-thinking) (Stanford et al, 2009). behaviour (Euser et al, 2011;Peacock et al, 2013;S. C. Reed, Levin, & Evans, 2012).…”

Acute Effects of Moderate Alcohol on Psychomotor, Set Shifting, and Working Memory Function in Older and Younger Social Drinkers

“…However, the acute neurobehavioral effects of subintoxicating blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) associated with moderate drinking sessions (i.e., < .08 g/dl) have received relatively little attention. A limited literature suggests that top-down attentional control, visual perception, and inhibitory function may be vulnerable to impairment at low to moderate BACs (Breitmeier et al, 2007;de Wit et al, 2000;Dougherty et al, 2008;Fillmore, 2007;Friedman et al, 2011;Holloway, 1994;Oscar-Berman and Marinkovic;, 2007;Reed et al, 2012).…”