Aversive Self-Focus and Alcohol Consumption Behavior in Women with Sexual Identity-Uncertainty: Changes in Salivary Cortisol Stress Response Among Those who Drink-to-Cope

Abstract

Individuals who report sexual identity-uncertainty are at-risk for heavy alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder symptomology. The current study examined the impact of states of aversive self-focus on subsequent consumption of ostensibly alcohol-containing beverages among a sample of women in early adulthood with varying levels of sexual identity-uncertainty.

Amelia Talley, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Psychological Sciences | Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Research in the S.H.A.R.C. lab is generally concerned with examining how threats to one’s self-concept and stigmatization influence self-regulation strategies and, in turn, the affective and physical health of marginalized group members.

Breanna Harris, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

I am a behavioral endocrinologist studying how organisms physiologically and behaviorally respond to and cope with challenges (stressors).

Zachary Hohman, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Psychological Sciences

The goal of my research is to integrate basic cognitive processes into social interactive processes, societal processes, individual process, and internal processes that explain individual health behavior.