Appetitive and impulsive: Examining alcohol use via the motivational and self-control systems

This study examines how trait differences in the appetitive and defensive systems and how automatic, impulsive and deliberate, reflective responses to alcohol cues predict overall alcohol use. By utilizing a measure of trait motivational activation and measures of implicit and explicit attitudes toward alcohol that indicate the self-control system - impulsive vs. reflective - that determines behavior, this research demonstrates that higher trait appetitive system activity, ASA, and positive impulsive/implicit alcohol attitudes independently predict alcohol use, while trait defensive system activation, DSA, and explicit attitudes toward alcohol did not independently predict use. (C) 2014 Western Social Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.