Research & Resources

Researchers examined potential factors affecting the relationship between how much a person enjoys non-substance rewards and their increased risk for substance misuse. They compared how a sample of college students responded to rewards and how they drank based on their family history of drinking behavior. They found strong links between family history and alcohol problems but not drinking behavior, and that women’s, but not men’s, drinking behavior was affected by how they responded to non-substance rewards. They also found that a negative family history with alcohol risk combined with less enjoyment of substance-free rewards, together created greater alcohol problems. The study, “Alcohol family history moderates the association between evening substance-free reinforcement and alcohol problems,” is published in Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology and was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.