title: Emotion dysregulation explains associations between anxiety sensitivity and hazardous drinking and drinking motives among adult treatment-seeking smokers.
abstract: Smoking and drinking frequently co-occur. For example, alcohol use is associated with smoking lapses during quit attempts. However, little is known regarding psychological factors explaining drinking among smokers. Anxiety sensitivity is a risk factor associated with hazardous drinking and drinking to cope and/or conform, although little is known about mechanisms underlying such associations. One potential explanatory factor is emotion dysregulation. The current study examined emotion dysregulation as an explanatory factor underlying Anxiety Sensitivity and 5 alcohol-related outcomes: hazardous drinking, alcohol consumption, alcohol problems, coping-oriented drinking, and drinking to conform. Participants for this study were 467 treatment-seeking adult, daily smokers (48.2% women; Mage = 36.7 years, SD = 13.6) who reported smoking an average of 16.5 cigarettes per day. Results indicate significant indirect effects of Anxiety Sensitivity on hazardous drinking via emotion dysregulation, alcohol consumption, alcohol problems, drinking to cope, and drinking to conform. Effects were medium in size. Alternative models testing indirect effects of emotion dysregulation through Anxiety Sensitivity on outcomes, and Anxiety Sensitivity through outcomes on emotion dysregulation were nonsignificant and all had small effect sizes. Follow-up tests examined the path of effects from Anxiety Sensitivity through specific emotion-dysregulation subfactors. Thus, among treatment-seeking smokers, emotion dysregulation may explain the associations of Anxiety Sensitivity with alcohol-related outcomes. This pattern of findings highlights the potential importance of interventions targeting emotion dysregulation among hazardous-drinking smokers. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8799-4372
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Paulus
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Jaclyn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Valadka
authors.affiliation: Health Sciences Center, University of Oklahoma.
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9038-2238
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Businelle
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Gallagher
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Andres G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Viana
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida State University.
authors.forename: Norman B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zvolensky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D000068356:Self-Control; D012907:Smoking / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult