Abstract
Drug-using peers are recognized as a leading factor influencing drug use among adolescents and young adults. One mechanism by which peers influence drug use is by providing social reinforcement for using drugs. Social reinforcement may be provided in multiple ways, including by making social contact contingent on drug use (i.e., an individual must use drugs to gain/maintain access to a peer). The purpose of this study was to develop a preclinical model in which intravenous cocaine self-administration was positively reinforced by access to a social partner. Young adult male rats were trained to self-administer cocaine in operant conditioning chambers with a guillotine door that could be opened to an adjacent compartment housing either a social partner or a non-social stimulus. Once cocaine self-administration was established, the guillotine door was activated, and cocaine intake was reinforced by brief access to either a social (age- and sex-matched peer) or non-social (black-and-white athletic sock) stimulus. Contingent access to a social partner rapidly increased cocaine self-administration. Total cocaine intake was 2- to 3-fold greater in rats assigned to the social versus non-social condition across a 100-fold dose range. Cocaine intake rapidly increased when rats in the original non-social group were later provided with social partners, whereas cocaine intake resisted change and remained elevated when rats in the original social group had their partners removed. These data indicate that contingent access to a social partner increases drug intake and suggest that social reinforcement may represent a vulnerability factor that is particularly resistant to psychosocial interventions.
Highlights
Epidemiological studies reveal that one of the most reliable predictors of whether an adolescent or young adult will use drugs is whether his or her friends use drugs (Wills and Cleary, 1999; Bahr et al, 2005; Simons-Morton and Chen, 2006; Tompsett et al, 2013; Barnett et al, 2014; Schuler et al, 2019)
Social Contact Reinforces Cocaine Intake approaches to explain the high concordance rate of drug use among peers have focused on the roles of (1) selection, in which an individual self-selects peers based on shared interests, and (2) social learning, in which peers establish and maintain drug use amongst one another via associative learning mechanisms
Cocaine intake was selectively impacted by the social stimulus when operant contingencies changed and responding resulted in opening the guillotine door (Figure 1: Sessions 1 to 10)
Summary
Epidemiological studies reveal that one of the most reliable predictors of whether an adolescent or young adult will use drugs is whether his or her friends use drugs (Wills and Cleary, 1999; Bahr et al, 2005; Simons-Morton and Chen, 2006; Tompsett et al, 2013; Barnett et al, 2014; Schuler et al, 2019). Social Contact Reinforces Cocaine Intake approaches to explain the high concordance rate of drug use among peers have focused on the roles of (1) selection, in which an individual self-selects peers based on shared interests (e.g., drug use), and (2) social learning, in which peers establish and maintain drug use amongst one another via associative learning mechanisms (see reviews by Kandel, 1986; Andrews and Hops, 2010; Pandina et al, 2010 further discussion of selection and socialization theories) These theoretical approaches are not mutually exclusive, only the latter lends itself to behavioral interventions that may reduce drug use among vulnerable populations. All sessions were 60 min in duration
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