Self-control, implicit alcohol associations, and the (lack of) prediction of consumption in an alcohol taste test with college student heavy episodic drinkers

The high levels of problematic drinking in college students make clear the need for improvement in the prediction of problematic drinking. We conducted a laboratory-based experiment that investigated whether implicit measures of alcohol-related associations, self-control, and their interaction predicted drinking. Although a few studies have evaluated self-control as a moderator of the relationship between implicit measures of alcohol-related associations and drinking, this study extended that work by using a previously-validated manipulation that included a more (vs. less) cognitively demanding task and incentive to restrain drinking and by evaluating multiple validated measures of alcohol-related associations. Experimental condition was expected to moderate the relationship between implicit measures of alcohol-related associations and drinking, with a more positive relationship between alcohol-related associations and drinking among participants who completed the more (vs. less) cognitive demanding task. Secondary aims were to evaluate how individual differences in control factors (implicit theories about willpower and working memory capacity) might further moderate those relationships. One hundred and five U.S. undergraduate heavy episodic drinkers completed baseline measures of: drinking patterns, three Implicit Association Tests (evaluating drinking identity, alcohol excite, alcohol approach associations) and their explicit measure counterparts, implicit theories about willpower, and working memory capacity. Participants were randomized to complete a task that was more (vs. less) cognitively demanding and were given an incentive to restrain their drinking. They then completed an alcohol taste test. Results were not consistent with expectations. Despite using a previously validated manipulation, there was no evidence that one condition was more demanding than the other, and none of the predicted interactions reached statistical significance. The findings raise questions about the relation between self-control, implicit measures of alcohol-related associations, and drinking, as well as the conditions under which implicit measures of alcohol-related associations predict alcohol consumption in the laboratory.