Studies show strong association between

anger & drinking but to date, there is no

laboratory support for this hypothesis

30 participants were randomly assigned,

aged 21-30 on one of two conditions.

› 1. Provocation group

› 2. Non-Provocation group

Purpose

› The purpose of the present study was to

examine the effect of “female specific”

anger provocation on alcohol consumption

by young adult women.

Anger management is considered a key

component of alcohol treatment

There is evidence that the association

between anger and drinking is stronger

for women than men

Women are more likely than men to

report the use of alcohol to relieve

several emotional states, including anger

Related Studies

› Only one prior lab study that specifically tests

the effects of anger on alcohol consumption

Participants

› 30 women from southeastern USA city

› Avg. age: 22.5 years

› 2 participants excluded

One detected the deception

The other because she qualified for alcohol

dependence diagnosis through self-report

Materials

› Self assessment of drinking in the past 90

days with an average of 21 drinking days

› Used the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist

– Revised to assess emotion

Uses 130 adjectives to assess hostility, anxiety,

depression, and positive affect

› Used 7 point feeling thermometer given

during initial info gathering and after

experimental manipulation

Following the taste task, participants also

took a 120 Alcohol Expectancy

questionnaire, which is a widely used

and empirically validated measure of

alcohol expectancies

Recruitment › Advertisements in local businesses, the

newspaper, and flyers around campus were used to recruit the participants.

› A chance at a $250 prize was given to the participants for volunteering to be in the study.

› The participants were all over 21 years of age, in good health, and not pregnant.

› Participants had to be drug free for 24 hours before the study, abstain from tobacco for 30 minutes before, and had to have no alcohol in their system either.

Initial Data Collection

› When the participants arrived at the study, a

confederate arrived pretending to be a

second subject in the study

› The participant and confederate were

seated in a room across from each other

with the experimenter behind a one-way

window.

› All entering participants had answered the

MAACL-R and feeling thermometer and had

a BAC of zero before the experiment had

started.

Anger Provocation Manipulation

› Provocation (15 participants) vs. Non

Provocation (15 participants)

› Must solve anagrams within a given time frame of 8 minutes

› Participants motivated by an attractive award (in this case the chance to win $250)

› Anger was induced through frustration

Non Provocation

› Participants given simple solvable anagrams

› Confederate take entire 8 minutes to finish

› No loud timer

› No deliberate distractions

› Participants solved most or all of their

anagrams

Drinking Behavior

› Participant received 4 chilled beverages: 2

labeled “beer” & 2 labeled “ginger ale”

› Asked to rate each beverage based on a list

of adjectives

› After rating, they were told they could “finish

any or all of the beverages you would like”

› After 20 minutes, experimenter returned and

collected what was left in cups

Debriefing

› All were surprised they were drinking non-

alcoholic beer

› Research coordinator explained the purpose

and goals of the study to each participant

› Participants agreed to keep logistics of study

confidential

› Research coordinator made sure

participants were free of anger and

emotional distress before leaving

› All participants were then entered to win the

chance at $250

Provocation

› Participants unknowingly received

unsolvable anagrams

› Confederate in room finished quickly within

first 4 minutes and with ease

› Confederate made tapping sounds and

other distracting noises

› Confederate made comments about their

own fast progress

› Loud kitchen timer ticked next to participant

› Participants showed visible anger and

emotional distress after 8 minutes

Verification of Anger Provocation › methods of measurement - i.e. feelings

thermometer & subscales of MAACL-R were subjected to sample t-tests to ensure anger (and only anger was provoked)

› t-test helps compare whether two groups have different average scores

› note: no other significant difference in other subscales was detected

Provocation Group Non-Provocation

Hostility scores m=3.14 sd=2.88 m=0.36 sd=0.63

Anger scores m=3.07 sd=1.98 m=1.50 sd=0.76

next analyzed amounts of each beverage consumed to "equate groups on all forms of negative baseline effect" -> ensured effects

of anger manipulation were truly being tested

› univariate analysis of covariance (similar to

ANOVA) used to control for the influence of

outlying variable by including them in the model

› helps researchers see the effect of the

independent variable after effect of covariate

condition = fixed factor

dependent var. = amt. of placebo beer consumed

covariates = emotional scales

provocation group consumed significantly more placebo beer, but not more ginger ale

significant positive correlation between assertiveness and placebo beer consumed by provocation group when associations between expectancies & grouping were compared (bivariate correlations conducted) › consumed more beer if she believed it would make

her more assertive

› not seen in non-provocation group

Provocation Group Non-Provocation

Placebo beer m=170.0mL sd=81.34 m=120.07mL sd=78.38

Ginger ale m=181.79mL sd=112.36 m=199.5mL sd=151.71

Strengths

› Anger increase without anxiety increase

› “Beer” consumption increase

› Little other research on this topic (Marlatt et

al. 1975)

› Expectations

Limitations

› Non-alcoholic

› Expectancies

› Limited demographic

› Numerous variables

Future decisions

› Mechanism that connects anger to drinking,

still unclear

› Larger, more diverse sample

› Anger specific to women?

› Expectations gender specific?

› Actual alcohol relationship with anger