The Effects of Anxiety Sensitivity, Executive Function, and Expectancy on Substance Use

The present study sought to examine the relationship between dysregulation, expectancy, and substance use. Anxiety sensitivity was measured to evaluate affective dysregulation. Cognitive dysregulation was measured by executive function and how it relates to regulating behavior. It was hypothesized that anxiety sensitivity was significantly related to alcohol use, and that this relationship was mediated by executive function. Both affective hypersensitivity and substance dependence involve a hedonic dysregulation, and it was believed that affective dysregulation that leads to substance use is mediated by the ability to control and inhibit behavior (i.e., executive function). Furthermore, it was proposed that expectancy moderated the relationship between executive function and alcohol use. Expectancy was defined two ways: the expectancy that alcohol could be used to relax and/or reduce tension and by the expectancy of being able to regulate a negative mood. Thus, two moderated meditational models were evaluated. Data were obtained from a sample that included both a college and a general population (N = 55). The population samples were split evenly (general = 51%) and a majority of the participants were female (64%). Bootstrapping was used to test the hypotheses. The total model that included alcohol expectancies accounted for almost half of the variance of alcohol use, F(3, 51) = 14.46, p < .01, R2 = .46, adjusted R 2 = .43. It also established a significant relationship between anxiety sensitivity and alcohol use, DeltaR2 = .09, F(1, 53) = 4.96, p < .05. When testing mediation, executive function was supported in one of the two models and alcohol expectancies were supported in its model. For moderated mediation, alcohol expectancies had a significant interaction with executive function on alcohol use, indicating that when alcohol expectancies are low, lower executive function leads to greater alcohol consumption, t(52) = -3.11, p < .01. When alcohol expectancies were high, alcohol use was relatively high and constant across all levels of executive function. Future research can be done to further examine how affective and cognitive dysregulation may interact with expectancies and affect substance use behavior.