Excessive alcohol use is associated with health repercussions (Rehm, 2011) and immense economic burden (Manthey et al., 2021), highlighting the need to better understand risk factors for alcohol misuse. Low Distress Tolerance (DT), or difficulties withstanding negative emotional states (Simons and Gaher, 2005), is associated with maladaptive responses to distress (Zvolensky et al., 2010) including alcohol misuse (Leyro et al., 2010). This is consistent with the motivational model of alcohol use (Cooper et al., 1995), which posits that high coping motives (i.e., drinking to cope with negative affect) are associated with alcohol-related problems (Holzhauer et al., 2017, Khan et al., 2018). Although DT is hypothesized to vary over time and context (Lass et al., 2023), little work has examined effects of state-level DT on alcohol use. Therefore, the present studies examined the roles of trait and state DT and coping motives in alcohol craving and consumption to better understand mechanisms underlying the association between DT and alcohol use.

DT and coping motives are prominent drivers of alcohol use and appear closely related (Kassel et al., 2000, Martens et al., 2008). Avoidance of negative emotional states is a hallmark of low DT and accords with conceptualizations of coping motives as a tendency for using alcohol to accomplish such emotional avoidance (Cooper et al., 1995, Cox and Klinger, 1988, Kuntsche et al., 2005). Coping motives appear prevalent among individuals with low DT and alcohol-related problems (Khan et al., 2018, Vujanovic et al., 2011, Wahesh et al., 2020), suggesting individuals with low DT may be more likely to use alcohol to cope with negative affect. Collectively, research supports the notion that lower trait DT may impact coping motives, which are associated with more drinking and alcohol-related problems.

Little research has explored state DT and coping motives related to alcohol use. State DT refers to momentary fluctuations in ability to tolerate distress, whereas trait DT refers to overall or aggregated ability to tolerate distress. Momentary distress intolerance (or low state DT) is related to trait DT (Veilleux et al., 2018), but may be a more proximal predictor of in-the-moment behaviors like drinking. Over time, repeated avoidance behaviors related to low state DT, such as drinking to cope with negative affect, are theorized to lead to lower trait DT (Veilleux, 2023). Reduced trait DT may increase susceptibility to coping-motivated drinking overall and may also lead to reduced state DT when distress occurs and/or alcohol is present. Furthermore, momentary fluctuations in DT could exacerbate alcohol misuse in the moment and over time.

Alcohol craving is a precursor for drinking and a risk factor for alcohol misuse (Griffin et al., 2021, McHugh et al., 2016). Research examining trait DT and craving for substances suggests lower DT is associated with increased cigarette craving (Veilleux, 2019) and drug craving (Shorey et al., 2017). Unfortunately, research investigating the relationship between state DT and alcohol craving or drinking in response to negative affect is lacking.

Collectively, trait DT appears important for predicting alcohol craving and use, and coping motives may exacerbate these effects; however, there is little research exploring in-the-moment constructs related to DT and drinking. Therefore, we conducted a pair of experiments to examine the role of DT (state and trait) in alcohol-related responses to negative affect, and the moderating role of coping motives.