Expectations versus reality: Associations among anticipated, natural environment, and laboratory-derived alcohol stimulation, sedation, and reward.

Abstract

Subjective responses to alcohol (alcohol stimulation, sedation, liking, and wanting more) are important predictors of hazardous drinking. These are typically measured in real time via fixed-dose laboratory alcohol challenge or ecological momentary assessment (EMA), methods that can be prohibitively time- and resource-intensive. The present study examined the correspondence between self-report measures of anticipated alcohol responses and those same responses measured via the Biphasic Alcohol Effects Scale, Brief Biphasic Alcohol Effects Scale, and Drug Effects Questionnaire during a naturalistic drinking episode and a controlled laboratory alcohol challenge. Participants were 220 heavy-drinking adults (42% female; M_age = 26.3 years) who completed the anticipated Biphasic Alcohol Effects Scale and the anticipated Drug Effects Questionnaire and versions of these scales during a single high-resolution EMA of a naturalistic drinking episode. A subset of participants (n = 83) also completed versions of these scales during a fixed-dose laboratory alcohol challenge (0.8 g/kg alcohol). Anticipated stimulation, sedation, liking, and wanting more each significantly predicted their corresponding high-resolution EMA counterparts. Models predicting laboratory-derived subjective responses 30 and 60 min after beverage consumption found that alcohol stimulation and sedation were strong predictors of corresponding responses in the lab, but the same was not true for alcohol liking or wanting more. The present study extends prior work and suggests that heavy drinkers can predict their real-time subjective responses to alcohol with relative accuracy. Findings also provide further support for the use of self-report measures of anticipated alcohol responses, particularly stimulation and sedation, when real-time assessment methods (i.e., EMA or laboratory alcohol challenge) are not feasible. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).