Research has shown alcohol use reaches its peak during ages 18-25 years. Social anxiety (SA) is a variable that has been shown to relate to drinking habits among emerging adults. The current study is a four-wave longitudinal study examining if trait impulsivity moderated the impact of SA on maturing out in emerging adults in university.
297 undergraduate students were included in the study with 90% being White-Caucasian and 34% in their first year. Social phobia scale measured SA by having students rate items such as “I fear I may blush when I am with others.” The substance use risk profile scale-impulsivity subscale measured impulsivity as it related to acting without premeditation. Alcohol problems were assessed by asking students frequency of certain behaviors such as “got into fights” or “acted bad.” Finally, alcohol use was measured by having participants rate the frequency and quantity of drinking during a week throughout the previous month. These reports were completed every 6 months over an 18 month period which provided the four waves of data.
Results showed weekly alcohol use did not seem to change over the 19-month study period. It was also found that the interaction between SA and impulsivity was completely unrelated to the level of alcohol use among students. Alcohol problems were found to decrease over the four waves of data collected. Major patterns showed participants with high impulsivity mature out of alcohol problems faster when SA is low and those with high SA mature out of problems slower when impulsivity is high. These findings indicate the need for more research on how impulsivity is related to the SA pathway to problem drinking and the need for interventions for socially anxious students that assesses and targets impulsivity.
Take Away: The current study is a four-wave longitudinal study examining if trait impulsivity moderated the impact of social anxiety (SA) on maturing out in emerging adults in university. 297 undergraduate students were included in the study and measures included SA, impulsivity, alcohol problems, and alcohol use. These reports were completed every 6 months over an 18 month period which provided the four waves of data. Results showed weekly alcohol use did not seem to change over the 19-month study period. The interaction between SA and impulsivity was found to be unrelated to the level of alcohol use among students. Major patterns showed participants with high impulsivity mature out of alcohol problems faster when SA is low and those with high SA mature out of problems slower when impulsivity is high. These findings indicate the need for more research on how impulsivity is related to the SA pathway to problem drinking and the need for interventions for socially anxious students that assesses and targets impulsivity.
Bilevicius, E., Van Landeghem, C., Stewart, S. H., Sherry, S. B., & Keough, M. T. (2020). Trait Impulsivity Impedes Maturing Out of Problem Drinking Among Socially Anxious Undergraduates. Alcohol and Alcoholism, N/A. https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agaa109