Study to Look at Young Adults as They Move from Being Social Drinkers to Developing Drinking Problems

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Researchers with the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) have been awarded a four-year, $1,569,584 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to study the development of drinking problems by young adults.

R. Lorraine Collins, Ph.D., lead investigator on the study who is a senior research scientist at RIA, said the study involving young adults between the ages of 21 and 30 who drink alcohol will examine the role of affect and mood in alcohol use.

The study will extend previous research by Collins, a research professor in the Department of Psychology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences, on the drinking behavior of young adults as they move from being social drinkers to developing drinking problems.

"This grant involves three studies that focus on young adults," Collins explained. "In the first study, we will examine mood, restraint and other psychosocial variables involved in alcohol use. In the second, we will conduct a laboratory study in which we induce mood and examine the effects on drinking. In the third, we will conduct an intervention study in which we examine whether changing individuals' moods influences their drinking behavior over time."

Collins' co-investigators are Kurt H. Dermen, Ph.D. and Tenko Raykov, Ph.D., RIA senior research scientists. Dermen specializes in motivational interviewing and treatment evaluation, primarily among adolescents and young adults. Raykov is a mathematical psychologist and statistician.

The Research Institute on Addictions has been a leader in the study of addictions since 1970 and a research center of the University at Buffalo since 1999.