Problematic alcohol use has been associated with poorer performance on neurocognitive and social-cognitive tasks. Unfortunately, this has led to stereotypes such as “stupid,” “bad character,” or “abnormal” being placed on those who drink heavily. When such negative stereotypes are set, this can become self-threating and impair cognitive performance. Previous studies have found that stereotypes with aging-related decreases in cognition in older individuals lead to poorer performance. When these stereotypes are brought to a group’s attention, they can be damaging and cause self-doubt, even when inaccurate. This study “assesses whether eliciting drinking-related stereotypes contributes to memory or social cognition task performance.”
This study consisted of 237 undergraduate students, and of these students, 100 were randomly assigned to the stereotype threat (ST), and 103 were assigned to the neutral task condition. All students completed the Alcohol-Use Disorder Identification Test to assess any problematic drinking patterns. Demographics and lifetime reports of substance use were also measured. Participants were given a memory task where they were asked to type as many words as they could recall within 2 minutes after completing a test phase.
The results of the study showed that in the ST condition, those who reported alcohol consumption above the problematic drinking cutoff had lower recall performance related to nonproblematic drinkers. At the same time, those in the neutral conditions without ST induction showed no significant difference in recall performance between alcohol consumption groups. These results indicate that recall performance among college students with problematic drinking patterns may be influenced by stereotype threat and how detrimental stereotype threat on task performance is. Further research is needed to understand the extent to which stereotype threat relates to alcohol and drug use and its effects on task performance.
Takeaway: This study shows that recall performance among college students with problematic drinking patterns may be influenced by stereotype threat, and how detrimental stereotype threat can be on task performance.