Depressive symptoms and the implicit evaluation of alcohol: the moderating role of coping motives.

BACKGROUND: Depressive symptoms in college students have been associated with a number of indices of hazardous drinking. Investigators have utilized a variety of experimental paradigms to better understand the cognitive-motivational mechanisms that may underlie this association. Implicit cognition studies have provided increasing support for the view that coping motives may moderate the association between negative affect and the incentive value of alcohol. However, less is known about how symptoms of depression may be linked with implicit evaluative responses to alcohol. The current research sought to investigate the association between depressive symptoms and implicit evaluations of alcohol stimuli as measured by an evaluative priming task.
METHODS: Eighty-two current drinkers completed assessments of depressive symptoms, alcohol use, and drinking motives before engaging in a computerized alcohol evaluative priming task.
RESULTS: Analyses showed that the association between depressive symptoms and the positive implicit evaluation of alcohol was moderated by drinking motives, such that the positive association between depression and alcohol evaluation was stronger for students who had higher coping motives.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings add to our understanding of how depressive symptoms may influence responses to alcohol and provide further support for the view that individual differences in coping motives may be a critical moderator of the association between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related cognitive motivational processes.