Abstract
Alcohol and other drug (AOD) misuse is highly prevalent among young adults and creates myriad long-term problematic social, economic, and health consequences. Current treatments aimed at preventing or alleviating AOD misuse have demonstrated fairly inconsistent and weak effectiveness and, thus, are far from a complete solution. In this review, we describe the current state of AOD interventions for young adults and present an alternative emotion regulation framework for understanding AOD use/misuse. We then describe implications of this framework for interventions to promote healthier emotion regulation to successfully reduce AOD use/misuse. In particular, we assert that mind–body approaches, such as meditation, distress tolerance, and yoga, may promote emotion regulation skills that allow young adults to manage their stressful experiences and distressing emotions without AOD use. We review the available literature on mind–body interventions targeting AOD use/misuse in young adults and offer suggestions for future intervention development and research.
Highlights
Alcohol and other drug (AOD) misuse is highly prevalent among young adults and creates myriad long-term problematic social, economic, and health consequences
Problematic alcohol use in young adults is associated with myriad negative consequences, including fatal and nonfatal injuries [3], physical violence against others [4], sexual assault victimization and perpetration (e.g., [5,6,7]), being bullied [8], increased risky sexual behavior (e.g., [9,10]), mental health problems, and decreased odds of post-graduation employment—post-graduate employment is typically a goal of undergraduate college students [13]
Emotion regulation (ER) and AOD use in young adults [33,34] suggests that attending to their individual resources and coping skills may be critical for effective interventions to prevent escalating substance misuse
Summary
Alcohol and other drug (AOD) misuse is highly prevalent among young adults and creates myriad long-term problematic social, economic, and health consequences. We assert that promoting more effective coping skills to regulate negative emotions might be a useful intervention approach for reducing use and misuse of AOD. Learning ER skills, the management of distress, holds significant promise in preventing the escalation of AOD misuse to SUDs in young adulthood.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
