Cognitive-motivational predictors of excessive drinkers’ success in changing

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify cognitive (alcohol attentional bias, AAB) and motivational (motivational structure, MS; readiness to change, RTC) predictors of changes in excessive drinking. One hundred fifty-eight excessive drinkers not in treatment were administered a test battery and were re-tested 3 and 6 months later. The tests included the alcohol timeline followback, readiness to change questionnaire, alcohol Stroop (to measure AAB), personal concerns inventory (to measure MS), and a measure of family history of alcohol problems (FHAP). High RTC predicted short-term but not long-term reductions in drinking; both low AAB and high FHAP predicted long-term reductions. MS interacted with both AAB and RTC so that the greatest long-term drinking reductions occurred among participants with adaptive MS and low AAB and among those with adaptive MS and high RTC. It was concluded that (a) both cognitive and motivational factors affect the likelihood of drinking reductions and (b) a complete understanding of drinking problems should be formulated in terms of both cognitive and motivational variables.