The effect of alcohol expectancies on postural sway in college students during an alcohol advertisement prime.

摘要

Alcohol expectancies are of particular interest because of their relationship to alcohol use and the possibility that they might predict potential alcohol-related problems, such as risk for alcoholism. Posturography, a technique that can be used to quantify adaptive mechanisms involved in posture and balance, was used in evaluating expectancy effects on postural sway because it is sensitive to cognitive processing demands. Drawing from the cognitive-processing approach of alcohol expectancy, this study investigates how expectations of alcohol implicitly influence psychomotor movement while viewing an alcohol advertisement prime. At session one, 251 male and female undergraduates were assessed using the Brief Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire---Social/Physical and Pleasurable scales [AEQ (Brown, Goldman, Inn, & Anderson, 1980)] and a variety of other self-report instruments. At session two, participants were randomly assigned to an advertisement condition. Participants in the experimental condition were exposed to either alcohol-related print advertisements depicting people drinking in social situations or ads containing the alcohol product alone. The control condition viewed nonalcohol-related advertisements. Participants viewed the advertisements on a large screen TV as they stood relaxed on a force plate, after which their craving levels were assessed through self-report. The results showed no significant relationship between alcohol expectancies and postural sway. However, ANOVAs performed on measures of sway showed a significant difference in the amount of anterior-posterior (AP) sway variability among the three advertisement groups F(2,101)=4.92, p<.05. Post hoc analyses among advertisement groups revealed that participants who saw the advertisements depicting social drinking displayed more AP movement than those who viewed the nonalcohol-related advertisements. This study demonstrates the utility of posturography in examining the cognitive and physiological effects of alcohol expectations. The findings suggest that alcohol advertisements have a physiological affect on an individual regardless of their alcohol expectations and that they can be influenced outside of their own awareness by alcohol advertisements. From a clinical perspective, the results may affect substance abuse patients especially with regard to identifying triggers and changing their surroundings.