Self-regulation and alcohol use involvement: A latent class analysis

Abstract

Although alcohol use can be problematic, research suggests considerable heterogeneity in problems across various drinking classes; particularly among the heaviest drinking groups. Differences in self-regulation may differentiate drinking classes. The current study evaluated differences in emotional and behavioral self-regulation across four empirically derived drinking classes. Participants (n = 1895 college students) completed online measures of demographics, alcohol involvement, and self-regulation. Using latent class analysis (LCA), four drinking classes were empirically derived. Moderate drinkers were the largest class (38.1%) followed by light drinkers (37.4%), heavy drinkers (17.8%), and problem drinkers (6.8%). Each class was predicted by self-regulation indicators in the LCA. With the exception of urgency, behavioral self-regulation distinguished primarily between light drinkers and the other three classes. Emotional self-regulation and urgency were not associated with use, but did distinguish among the most problematic class. Specifically, emotional instability and urgency were higher in the problem use class than all other classes. Overall, the findings suggest important differences in behavioral and emotional self-regulation across drinking classes that differentially contribute to use and consequences. Further, the results highlight the importance of examining homogenous subpopulations of drinkers that may differ on indices other than consumption.

Alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences: associations with emotion regulation difficulties

“…The university IRB approved this study and all participants were treated in accordance with APA ethical guidelines. One previous manuscript has been published from this data (6).…”

“…Difficulties with impulse control during negative emotion, also frequently referred to as negative urgency in the literature, has been associated with alcohol use and alcoholrelated consequences across multiple studies (6,11,12,22,24). The current findings add to this literature and suggest that impulse control deficits may not be associated with an increased likelihood to drink, or an increased likelihood to experience problems; however, impulse control deficits appear to increase rates of use among those who drink and frequency of consequences for those who experience alcoholrelated consequences.…”

“…Although alcohol use is common among college students, not all college students go on to experience significant alcoholrelated problems. In fact, there is considerable heterogeneity in problems even among those who drink at comparable rates (1,6). Understanding factors that may be associated with alcohol-related consequences, above and beyond alcohol use, is an important area of research.…”

Dissociable Patterns in the Control of Emotional Interference in Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and in Adults with Alcohol Dependence

“…Importantly, emotional dysregulation has been negatively associated with social status and peer preference [14], [15], which underlines the relevance of these deficits for everyday life. Likewise, deficits in ER have been reported in alcohol-dependent subjects [19], [20] and have been linked with alcohol dependency severity [21], [22]. Because the severity of alcohol dependency has been related to inhibition deficits [23], a connection between deficient inhibitory capacities and impaired ER is suggested.…”

Profiles of College Drinkers Defined by Alcohol Behaviors at the Week Level: Replication Across Semesters and Prospective Associations With Hazardous Drinking and Dependence-Related Symptoms

“…based on dependence and consequences (Beseler et al, 2012;Kuvaas et al, 2014), use of multiple substances (Chiauzzi et al, 2013), and engagement in multiple behaviors (Kang et al, 2014). Drinker statuses have been identifi ed using (a) a priori decision rules or (b) person-centered approaches.…”