Planned versus unplanned drinking and cannabis use: Do facets of trait impulsivity influence daily risk?

Abstract

Objective: Planned and unplanned substance use have been examined as predictors of heavier alcohol and cannabis use and problems at the between-person level. However, it remains unclear whether planned versus unplanned use is riskiest at the day-level, and for whom. The present study tested whether day-level planned versus unplanned alcohol and cannabis use were associated with higher alcohol and cannabis consumption and negative consequences that day and whether two impulsive traits, lack of premeditation and positive urgency, moderated associations. Method: Young adults (N = 409; 50.9% female) completed five bursts of daily surveys, each consisting of a morning and afternoon report across 14 consecutive days. During a baseline session, participants reported their impulsivity (UPPS-P). During afternoon surveys, participants reported their plans to use alcohol/cannabis that night. During morning surveys, participants reported number of drinks consumed/hours spent high yesterday and negative consequences experienced. Results: Planned drinking days were associated with a greater number of drinks and negative consequences, whereas planned cannabis use days were associated with more hours spent high but not negative consequences. In the drinking quantity model, there was a significant interaction for planned versus unplanned drinking by positive urgency. Planned drinking was associated with heavier alcohol consumption across levels of positive urgency; however, unplanned drinking was associated with heavier consumption for individuals with higher (vs. lower) levels of positive urgency. Conclusions: Day-level planned drinking and cannabis use are important factors to target in just-in-time interventions. However, interventions focused on planned and unplanned drinking may be particularly effective for individuals with higher levels of positive urgency. Public Health Significance StatementThe present study found that planned (vs. unplanned) drinking was associated with heavier drinking and negative alcohol consequences and that planned (vs. unplanned) cannabis use was associated with heavier cannabis consumption. However, individuals with higher levels of positive urgency reported consuming more drinks on unplanned drinking days compared to individuals at lower levels of positive urgency. Findings inform event-level theories of risk for negative outcomes and may have implications for just-in-time interventions.

Substance Use Motives as Mediators of the Associations between Self-Control Constructs and Negative Substance Use Consequences: A Cross-Cultural Examination

“…Previous literature has focused on examining the association of distal variables (i.e., dispositional, affective and cognitive) with substance use consequences in young people. Pertinent to the present study, research has found that poor emotion regulation (e.g., lower use of cognitive reappraisal, Blanchard et al, 2019), lower self-regulation (Dvorak et al, 2014;Hustad et al, 2009), and higher positive/negative urgency (Tran et al, 2018;Waddell et al, 2022;Wilson et al, 2018) have all been linked to negative alcohol and marijuana consequences among young adults.…”

Pregaming potentiates risk between UPPS-P impulsivity and day-level drinking behavior: A test of person–environment transactions theory.

“…Findings indicated that, on pregaming days, individuals with higher levels of positive urgency were more likely to experience negative alcohol consequences, irrespective of how much they drink that day. Prior work has demonstrated that positive urgency and negative consequences are closely linked (e.g., Coskunpinar et al, 2013), and recent studies have shown that positive urgency potentiates negative outcomes in the context of other event-level risk, such as couse and planned drinking days (Waddell, Gunn, et al, 2021; Waddell, Fairlie, et al, 2023). Thus, the present study adds to a growing literature demonstrating that the tendency to act rashly when positive affect is high confers additional risk across multiple high-risk substance use events.…”

“…However, heightened acute risk may be linked to specific impulsive traits. Individuals with higher levels of positive urgency are particularly suspectable to risky behavior in highly stimulating contexts (Waddell et al, 2022), report negative outcomes on other high-risk days (i.e., couse days, planned drinking days; Waddell, Fairlie, et al, 2023; Waddell, Gunn, et al, 2021), and lack control when drinking (e.g., McCarty et al, 2017; Wardell et al, 2016). Therefore, individuals with higher levels of positive urgency may be particularly susceptible to risky behavior (i.e., heavier drinking and negative consequences) on pregaming days.…”