Honors Theses

Stress, Saliva, and Spirits: The Effects of Acute Psychosocial Stress on Alcohol Craving, Motivation to Consume Alcohol, and Physiological Correlates

Advisor

Tracy Griggs, PhD

Department

Psychology

Publication Date

4-23-2025

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

Stress has been identified as an important risk factor for the onset and maintenance of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Accordingly, the present study seeks to explore the link between stress and alcohol- related measures, specifically by analyzing how fluctuations in subjective and biological measures of stress affect craving and choice for alcohol. The present study utilizes a variation of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) to acutely induce stress in participants. Saliva samples will be collected in order to assess fluctuations in the stress biomarker alpha amylase in response to the TSST. Participants will be asked to fill out a series of questionnaires pertaining to perceived levels of stress, anxiety, and affect before and after completing the TSST. Upon completion of the TSST, participants will complete a series of alcohol-related questionnaires that measure frequency of alcohol use, magnitude of alcohol craving, risk for developing AUD, anticipated effects of alcohol use, hypothetical alcohol choice behavior, occurrence of negative alcohol-related consequences, and level of engagement in non-drug related activities. These measures will allow us to identify factors that may influence the decision to consume alcohol. The results revealed that our variation of the TSST successfully induced a biological and subjective stress response. In turn, stress induced alcohol craving in non-risk participants. However, craving did not translate to higher demand for alcohol for said participants. Risk-status was otherwise a stronger predictor of alcohol craving. Risk-status also had a potent effect on measures of alcohol demand, adverse alcohol-related consequences, and specific alcohol expectancies. These findings highlight the prevalent need to develop preventative measures specifically geared towards those who are at-risk for developing AUD. Ultimately more research is needed to elucidate the complex interplay between stress, risk-status, alcohol craving, and choice for alcohol.

Permission Statement

This item is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) and may only be used for noncommercial, educational, and scholarly purposes.

Keywords

Undergraduate research

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