title: Alcohol-related image priming and aggression in adolescents aged 11-14.
abstract: In adults, alcohol-related stimuli prime aggressive responding without ingestion or belief of ingestion. This represents either experiential or socially-and culturally-mediated learning. Using a laboratory-based competitive aggression paradigm, we replicated adult findings in 103 11-14 year old adolescents below the legal UK drinking age. Using a two-independent group design, priming with alcohol-related imagery led participants to deliver louder noise punishments in a competition task than priming with beverage-related images. This effect was stronger in participants scoring low on an internalization measure. Priming effects in relatively alcohol-naïve participants could constitute evidence of socio-cultural transmission of scripts linking alcohol use and aggression. The enhanced effect in lower internalization scorers suggests that alcohol priming might undermine behavioral inhibition processes in otherwise stable adolescents.
authors.affiliation: School of Dental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. slbrown@liverpool.ac.uk
authors.forename: Stephen L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Sarah M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Coyne
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barlow
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Qualter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003463:Cues; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol