Behavioral Alcohol Research for Clinical Advancement (Corbin)

The Behavioral Alcohol Research for Clinical Advancement lab (BARCA) conducts laboratory and survey research on processes involved in alcohol-related problems, including alcohol use disorders. Laboratory-based studies are conducted in a simulated bar on the Arizona State University campus, the BARCA Lounge. Participants are administered alcohol and then observed in this quasi-naturalistic setting. Survey studies are designed to track drinking and other risky behaviors longitudinally to identify risk and protective factors for the development of related problems. The goal of both types of studies is to better inform prevention and intervention efforts. The BARCA lab will continue to apply the knowledge gained through experimental and longitudinal studies to the prevention and treatment of addictive behaviors.

The focus of BARCA's research is on factors that contribute to the development of alcohol related problems in adolescents and young adults. Substance use disorders are now the third most common psychiatric diagnosis, trailing only mood and anxiety disorders in prevalence in the general population. In addition, heavy alcohol use contributes to a host of high-risk behaviors with their own associated costs. Examples include unprotected sexual behavior that increases risk for HIV/AIDS, other drug use, problem gambling, and driving under the influence, which is responsible for a large proportion of traffic-related fatalities. The goals of Dr. Corbin's research are to improve our understanding of factors that lead to the development of alcohol related problems; and to develop effective programs for reducing alcohol-related harm in adolescents and young adults. The first research aim is met through a combination of a) longitudinal survey research on risk factors for heavy drinking and engagement in other risk behaviors (e.g. high risk sexual behavior, gambling), b) laboratory-based research on the relation between subjective response to alcohol and risk for alcohol-related problems, and c) laboratory-based research on the effects of alcohol on basic cognitive processes, decision making, and risk-taking. The second aim is met through prevention outcome studies targeting alcohol use and associated risk behaviors.

Current Projects

Reducing Alcohol-Related Sexual Risk Behavior (R34 with Dr. Thresa Treat). This study aims to target the interface of alcohol and sexual behavior with an integrated combination of cognitive training and motivational strategies. It involves examination of the effects of a prevention program and longitudinal tracking of subsequent real-world behavior.

Opioid Project.. This project aims to assess the effect of initial dosing on medication-assisted treatment outcomes for individuals with opioid use disorder. Findings will inform the best procedures to improve retention and medication stability. This project works with a community treatment provider focused on medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder.  

Acute Stress and Drinking in Middle-aged adults (IMHR). This study aims to examine relations between stress, drinking context, and alcohol consumption in middle-aged adults. It involves the use of ecological momentary assessment data to assess stress and alcohol-related problems in an understudied population.

Moderators and Mediators of Within-Person Risk for Contact and Non-Contact Sexual Aggression in College Men. Our newly funded grant project will use four survey bursts every six months and 28 days of EMA data at each burst to examine links between both alcohol use and bar/party attendance as daily predictors of both non-contact and contact sexual aggression. We will also examine potential moderators (new vs. existing partner), cannabis use and cognitive processing deficits and mediators (sexual arousal and use of protective behavioral strategies of these relations). Finally we will examine non-contact sexual aggression as a prospective predictor of contact sexual aggression in a large sample (n = 300) of college men. The findings have the potential to inform targets of both traditional prevention programs and ecological momentary interventions delivered in real-time to reduce momentary risk for negative outcomes of sexual behavior.

Alcohol and Emotion Study. This study aims to comprehensively test competing models of affective relief in both experimental and daily life contexts, connect individual differences in affective relief across these contexts, and test their prospective associations with alcohol use and AUD. This study capitalizes on the strengths of both lab-based alcohol administration and EMA paradigms. Lab-based paradigms are well-suited to capturing high-intensity negative affect immediately following the induction of acute negative affect and comprehensively characterizing negative affect across the full BAC curve. These advantages allow us to observe how alcohol relieves intense negative affect that may be infrequently observed in real-world settings, but may be highly reinforcing. EMA, on the other hand, allows us to examine affective relief in response to more frequent but less intense negative affect.

Past Projects 

Contextual Influences on Alcohol Response and its Relation to Drinking Outcomes (NIAAA R01). This project is designed to comprehensively assess alcohol response across multiple settings, including those that are more representative of real-world drinking contexts. Findings will facilitate the development of prevention programs that target unique patterns of response to alcohol across contexts.

Promotive and Protective Factors for Alcohol Use and Problems in Emerging Adults (NIAAA R21; September 2013 - August 2016). This project involves secondary data analyses to identify major classes of promotive/protective factors against heavy drinking and related problems in emerging adults. The results of these analyses will be used to develop a novel prevention program to bolster promotive/protective influences in incoming college students. We are currently evaluating the efficacy of this new program for students enrolled in PSY 191 at Arizona State University.

Genetic Mechanisms of Change in Trajectories of Drinking and Other Deviant Behaviors (with Dr. Kim Fromme; NIAAA R01; September 2012 - June 2019). The goals of this project are to collect survey and DNA data from an existing longitudinal sample to test the genetic mechanisms underlying different trajectories of drinking and other behavioral risks. Specifically, we are testing generalized deviance and subjective response to alcohol as distinct mechanisms through which genetic factors operate.

ASU Support for Success Initiative for Students in Transition to College (ASSIST-C) (with Drs. Leah Doane, Thao Ha, and the Office of Educational Outreach and Student Services). In collaboration with ASU professional staff, the ASU research faculty formulated a strengths-based curriculum for youth and parents that was offered to a random subset of incoming 2015 ASU students and their families. The program included modules on goal setting, academic engagement, peer relationships, romantic relationships, health behaviors, and emotional health. Data collection is now complete and we are currently evaluating the outcomes of the program.

Trait and state ECF deficits under alcohol: Developmental paths to alcohol misuse (submitted to NIAAA for review; with Drs. Laurie Chassin and Madeline Meier). This project examines both state and trait executive cognitive functions (ECF) and acute tolerance alcohol effects as potential mechanisms through which a family history of alcoholism contributes to risk for alcohol-related problems. The project brings together a rich three-generation longitudinal study of family history, an alcohol challenge, and retinal imaging to address this important research question.

Anxiety and Subjective Response to Alcohol: Moderating Effects of Drinking Context and Mediation by Cortisol Response to Alcohol. This study aims to understand the nature of relations among anxiety symptoms, physiological response to alcohol (specifically, changes in salivary cortisol levels in response to alcohol) and subjective response to alcohol. Analyses will also address the extent to which drinking context impacts relations among these variables. 

Multidimensional Assessment of Self-Control (MASC) measurement development. Several studies sought to create a new brief survey measure of top-down self-control that differentiates between self-control perceived capacity, internal motivation, and external motivation. The three subscales uniquely related to various self-reported behavioral outcomes and accounted for additional variance beyond that accounted for by a widely used measure of self-control (BSCS; Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004). Future studies are needed to establish the stability of multiple dimensions of self-control, their ability to prospectively predict health risk and protective behavior, and to develop state-like and domain-specific measures of self-control. Currently, we are conducting a laboratory-based study of this measure as it relates to executive cognitive function (ECF) and behavior.

Survey of Local Substance Use Treatment Centers. This study aims to create a database of local substance use treatment centers for the community. The goal is for this database to contain information about the types of treatments that are available so that those seeking treatment can easily access important information about available resources to facilitate their decision-making.

Development of a novel retrospective measure of early alcohol exposure. This project seeks to validate a comprehensive alcohol consumption measure that gathers detailed early drinking information. This measure has the potential to yield a variety of different alcohol consumption indices along with drinking trajectories across adolescence and young adulthood. Preliminary studies suggest this measure predicts concurrent and future alcohol-related problems over and above other common alcohol consumption measures.