Investigating if negative mood influences preferences to drink alone versus with others

What is it about?

This project sought to explore a causal relationship between solitary drinking and the desire to mitigate negative mood. Participants with a history of drinking alone were randomly assigned to one of three mood manipulation conditions (i.e., negative mood, positive mood, or a control condition) based on false feedback regarding their performance on a perceived cognitive task. Although condition did not influence solitary drinking preference, self-reported negative mood was positively associated with solitary drinking preference over social drinking.

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Photo by Zachary Kadolph on Unsplash

Photo by Zachary Kadolph on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study is the first to experimentally test if solitary drinking is driven by negative mood. While findings did not support a causal relationship between negative mood and solitary drinking, results did provide further evidence that negative mood plays at least some role in this risky pattern of drinking.