Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Graham, Steven

Keywords

Psychology, Priming, Attachment, Alcohol, Anxiety

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Comorbid anxiety and alcohol use disorders are a serious problem with a number of serious negative consequences, but are not totally well understood. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a documented risk factor for Alcohol Use Disorders (Schmidt, Buckner, & Keough, 2007) and an incremental predictor of later anxiety symptoms (Schmidt, Mitchell, & Richey, 2008). Previous findings suggest that coping drinking motives are associated with anxiety disorders and alcohol use disorders (Buckner & Heimberg, 2010). There is little understood of how these risk factors (AS and drinking motives) develop. Both of these risk factors have been shown empirically to relate to attachment insecurity, which has led scholars to suggest a possible causal relationship (Weems, Berman, Silverman, & Rodriguez, 2002; Molnar, Sadava, DeCourville, & Perrier, 2010). The present research studied the relationship between attachment schemas, AS, and coping drinking motives experimentally. Participants were randomly assigned to attachment prime conditions: secure, insecure, and control. They then completed the Anxiety Sensitivity Index and the Modified Drinking Motive Questionnaire �Revised. The primes did not produce differences in anxiety sensitivity or drinking motives across condition. These findings are discussed in light of the relevant research.

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