Internalized Stress in Relation to Alcohol Consumption

• Status: Recruiting
• Trial end date: 2025-07-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

The proposed study uses an experimental design to establish causal support for the role of internalized stress, pertaining to uncertainty with regard to one's sexual orientation, in contributing to heavy drinking behavior. Following exposure to internalized sexual stigma, physiological and psychological stress responses are expected to increase alcohol consumption in adults who are uncertain about their sexual orientation, especially among females, and following consumption, the physiological effects of ethanol and beliefs about the effects of alcohol are expected to alter relations between exposure to sexual stigma and the alleviation of psychological distress. Showing that physiological stress responses, whether driven by the pharmacological effects of ethanol or expectancies regarding its effects, can account for known alcohol-use disparities, particularly in bisexual/bi+ communities, would contribute a great deal to knowledge on the biology of addiction and inform subsequent interventions that seek to regulate stress reactivity.

• Phase: Early Phase 1
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Texas Tech University
• Treatments: Ethanol

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Cisgender

• Age 21-29

• Sexual Identity Uncertainty (SIU; non-zero scores on a published measure). Among those with a zero level of SIU, only those who report sexual attractions and/or behaviors to both female and male partners (i.e., bisexual/bi+) will be invited to lab sessions.

• Scores on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) that indicate mild or moderate risk for potential alcohol use disorder

Exclusion Criteria:

• Alcohol naive persons (i.e., those without a history of alcohol use in their lifetime ).

• Female persons who are currently pregnant (established with urine pregnancy test) or actively trying to get pregnant (self-report in the screening survey).

• Persons who are currently in treatment or who have ever been in treatment for a substance use disorder.

• Persons who have essential medications that disallow the consumption of alcohol.

• Persons with scores on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) that indicate high risk for potential alcohol use disorder; National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) standard drink equivalencies will be provided in the survey,