Associations of Sensitivity to Reward and Punishment with Alcohol Use Severity in a Trauma-Exposed Community Sample
The Role of Drinking Motives
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21646275 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kayla E Hall (0000-0002-2198-6951, Texas A&M University, corresponding author), Savannah J Woller (0000-0002-1378-7696, Texas A&M University), Darya Vitus (0000-0003-2470-8794, Texas A&M University), Fiorela Ruiz (0009-0002-2976-4218, Texas A&M University), Shelby J McGrew (0000-0003-0490-5619, Texas A&M University), Anka A Vujanovic (0000-0002-6099-3046, Texas A&M University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 850-857 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Substance Use & Misuse (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1082-6084 • E-ISSN: 1532-2491 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10826084.2025.2580510 |
| PMID | 41175079 |
| OpenAlex | W4415765225 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 39 |
Background: Sensitivity to reward (SR), or the likelihood of engagement in positively reinforcing experiences, and sensitivity to punishment (SP), or the tendency to avoid behaviors associated with negative outcomes, are risk and maintenance factors for problematic alcohol use, particularly when proximal motivations for drinking are present. Trauma-exposed adults are at increased risk of engaging in problematic alcohol use, particularly if they are using alcohol to cope with negative emotions. Present Study: Thus, the present study examined, among trauma-exposed community adults, the indirect effects of SP and SR on alcohol use severity through drinking motives. Using two parallel mediation models, we hypothesized that coping motives and enhancement motives, would statistically mediate the associations between: a) SR and alcohol use severity and b) SP and alcohol use severity. We predicted that higher SP and SR would be associated with higher coping motives and enhancement motives, and in turn higher alcohol use severity. Method: Participants with histories of experiencing at least one DSM-5 PTSD Criterion A traumatic event (N = 284, Mage = 38.15, SDage = 12.67, 63.0% men, 72.5% White) were recruited through Prolific and completed an online questionnaire battery. Results: Results revealed significant indirect effects of: a) SR on alcohol use severity through coping motives (b = 0.11, 95% CI [0.04, 0.18]) and b) SP on alcohol use severity through coping motives (b = 0.11, 95% CI [0.05, 0.17]). Conclusions: Findings suggest that drinking to cope may better explain the associations between SP and SR on alcohol use severity, compared to drinking for enhancement, in trauma-exposed samples
Alcohol · Alcohol dependence · Injury prevention · Mediation · Poison control · Suicide prevention · Young adult · Child Abuse and Trauma · Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research · Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
Measuring bias in self-reported data
Why do young people drink? A review of drinking motives
Motivations for alcohol use among adolescents
The Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ) as a measure of Gray's anxiety and impulsivity dimensions
Epidemiology of DSM-5 Alcohol Use Disorder
Reinforcement sensitivity theory and personality
The “Why” of Drinking Matters
The Self-Medication Hypothesis of Substance Use Disorders
Prolific.ac—A subject pool for online experiments
The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM‐5 (PCL‐5)
Determining Power and Sample Size for Simple and Complex Mediation Models
Pathways of personality and learning risk for addictive behaviors
Alexithymia, reward sensitivity and risky drinking
Alexithymia and alcohol
Examining the Association between Punishment and Reward Sensitivity and Response Inhibition to Previously-Incentivized Cues across Development
Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (Audit)
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |