# Characterizing the Role of Avoidant Coping in the Development of Drinking to Cope with Negative Emotions

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $35,356

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) affect nearly 3 in 10 Americans in their lifetimes, and impact individuals in a
variety of arenas, including work, personal relationships, and via heightened risk for other health issues. Much
research and theory on the development of AUDs from adolescence into adulthood has focused on broad
environmental and psychological risk factors; less research has focused on developmental pathways of risk.
Enhanced understanding of the processes by which risky alcohol use develops and of the individuals most at-
risk for later AUDs will be critical to honing interventions to target the psychological factors most likely to
reduce risk. Research has shown that an emotional and impulsive temperament may predispose a person to
later risky drinking, and further that much of this risk is due to an increased likelihood of learning that alcohol is
an effective means of reducing negative emotions. The Acquired Preparedness (AP) model formalizes this
idea into a testable mediational model. However, just how temperament may bias this learning of drinking to
cope (DTC) as an emotion regulation strategy is not well-understood. We propose that temperament may
make learning DTC more likely by predisposing individuals to more general avoidant coping, which in turn
generalizes to drinking behavior. Avoidant coping is related to emotionality and impulsivity, and to broad
internalizing and externalizing problems. Moreover, avoidant coping behavior has intuitive appeal in explaining
the behavior of drinking alcohol for the purpose of avoiding negative emotions, and precedes regular alcohol
use. Still, avoidant coping has not yet been tested as a mechanism by which teens with an emotional,
impulsive temperament develop maladaptive beliefs about alcohol use. The present study integrates coping
research into a current model of AUD etiology, with the goal of better articulating the development of AUDs. By
analyzing longitudinal data following adolescents into their 30s, the proposed project will provide an important
test of the longitudinal mechanisms by which early-appearing temperament characteristics convey risk for
outcomes in adulthood. A second goal of the proposed project is to understand who is most likely to develop
DTC; we hypothesize that individuals who have the most opportunities to learn the affect regulation function of
alcohol – through their own drinking and through seeing peers drink – will have the strongest link between
avoidant coping and DTC. The current project has the potential to clarify mechanisms of risk and identify
targets for treatment and primary prevention efforts.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9988318
- **Project number:** 5F31AA027118-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Max A Halvorson
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $35,356
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-16 → 2021-06-15

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9988318

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9988318, Characterizing the Role of Avoidant Coping in the Development of Drinking to Cope with Negative Emotions (5F31AA027118-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9988318. Licensed CC0.

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