Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Pain-Induced Alcohol Urge and Intention to Drink: the Role of Dispositional Mindfulness

  • ORIGINAL PAPER
  • Published:
Mindfulness Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

Experimental findings have shown that pain increased alcohol urge and intention to use alcohol, and that this relation was mediated by pain-induced negative affect. We sought to extend this research by examining (a) whether dispositional mindfulness moderates the indirect effect of experimental pain induction on alcohol use proxies via negative affect and (b) whether the five mindfulness facets, tested independently, differentially moderate the mediation model.

Methods

Secondary data analysis of a repeated measures experimental study was conducted using moderated mediation analyses. Participants included 61 undergraduate students (Mage = 18.7, SD = 0.82; 50.8% male) who endorsed risky drinking.

Results

Results showed that the index of moderated mediation was significant for the mindfulness facets of observing, describing, and non-reactivity. Specifically, pain increased alcohol use proxies via increased negative affect for participants who were either low in non-reactivity or high in the observing or describing mindfulness facets. Conversely, negative affect was less important in the pain-alcohol relation for individuals high in non-reactivity or low in observing or describing mindfulness facets. There were no significant moderating effects of overall mindfulness or the awareness and non-judging facets.

Conclusions

The differential relations of mindfulness facets found in this study highlight the need to consider the multifaceted nature of mindfulness when exploring the physical pain and alcohol relation. Further research should confirm whether lower levels of non-reactivity and higher levels of observing or describing may be indicators that an individual suffering from pain-related alcohol use will benefit from pain treatment that targets pain-related negative affect.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by a Syracuse University Department of Psychology Master’s Thesis Award to Dezarie Moskal, and 2K05 AA16928 and R01 AA024844 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The funding sources had no role other than financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

DM: designed and executed the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper. MJD: assisted with analyzing data and writing part of the result and editing the final manuscript. SAM: collaborated with the design and writing of the study and editing the final manuscript. All authors contributed in a significant way to the manuscript and have read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dezarie Moskal.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in our study were approved by the Syracuse University Institutional Review Board at the participating university and in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the present study.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Moskal, D., De Vita, M.J. & Maisto, S.A. Pain-Induced Alcohol Urge and Intention to Drink: the Role of Dispositional Mindfulness. Mindfulness 11, 660–671 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01272-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01272-x

Keywords

Navigation