ABSTRACT

Background

Psychological distress is an important predictor of heavy drinking, especially among lower-income drinkers. The mechanisms underlying this effect are not well understood. One possibility is that distressed individuals are more vulnerable to obsessive and compulsive thoughts about drinking. We hypothesized that: 1) distress would predict obsessive and compulsive thoughts about alcohol, which in turn would predict drinking and 2) effects would be particularly pronounced among lower-income drinkers.

Methods

Young adults (n = 105) were recruited from an urban university and completed the Brief Symptoms Index (BSI), the Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS), and a 90-day timeline follow-back (TLFB) drinking interview.

Results

Consistent with the hypotheses, drinkers with higher distress (BSI) exhibited greater obsessive and compulsive drinking-related thoughts, which in turn predicted drinking over the past 90 days (p < .0001). Path analyses revealed that the BSI had a significant indirect effect on drinking outcomes through increased OCDS. Furthermore, conditional process analyses revealed that effects were particularly pronounced among drinkers with lower household incomes.

Conclusions

Findings highlight the importance of psychological distress as a predictor of obsessive and compulsive thoughts about alcohol, as well as drinking behavior, and underscore the critical need to address psychological functioning among lower-income drinkers in particular.

中文翻译：

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青年饮酒者的心理困扰、饮酒强迫观念和饮酒

摘要

背景

心理困扰是大量饮酒的重要预测指标，尤其是在低收入饮酒者中。这种影响的潜在机制尚不清楚。一种可能性是，苦恼的人更容易受到关于饮酒的强迫和强迫性想法的影响。我们假设：1) 痛苦预示着对酒精的强迫性和强迫性想法，这反过来又预示着饮酒；2) 影响在低收入饮酒者中尤为明显。

方法

从城市大学招募年轻成年人 (n = 105) 并完成简要症状指数 (BSI)、强迫性饮酒量表 (OCDS) 和 90 天时间线回访 (TLFB) 饮酒访谈。

结果

与假设一致，高痛苦 (BSI) 的饮酒者表现出更大的强迫性和强迫性饮酒相关想法，这反过来又预测了过去 90 天的饮酒情况 (p < .0001)。路径分析表明，BSI 通过增加 OCDS 对饮酒结果产生显着的间接影响。此外，条件过程分析显示，这种影响在家庭收入较低的饮酒者中尤为明显。

结论

研究结果强调了心理困扰作为对酒精的强迫性和强迫性想法以及饮酒行为的预测指标的重要性，并强调了特别是解决低收入饮酒者心理功能问题的迫切需要。