Sensation seeking in long-term abstinent alcoholics, treatment-naïve active alcoholics, and nonalcoholic controls

Abstract

Background: Elevated sensation seeking is associated with the development of alcohol dependence; however, it has not been studied in long-term abstinent alcoholics. In the current study, we examine sensation seeking in middle-aged long-term abstinent alcoholics (LTAA) and in younger actively drinking treatment-naïve alcoholics (TxN).

Methods: A modified version of the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) was administered to 52 middle-aged LTAA (average age = 46.6 years) and 86 younger TxN (average age = 31.2 years), each study with its own age and gender comparable nonalcoholic controls (NAC). The SSS was modified to remove items specifically associated with alcohol or drug use. The associations between the SSS and alcohol use and deviance proneness were examined.

Results: The 2 NAC samples did not differ on the SSS, allowing the 2 NAC samples to be combined into a single control group (NAC = 118), and the LTAA and TxN samples to be directly compared without concern for cohort effects. LTAA did not differ from NAC on the SSS; however, the TxN group had higher SSS scores compared with NAC on all subscales except Boredom Susceptibility. Sensation seeking was comparably associated with lower socialization in each group.

Conclusions: The results suggest that either sensation seeking normalizes with long-term abstinence or that relatively normal levels of sensation seeking predict the ability to achieve long-term abstinence. In either case, the results have important implications for our understanding of long-term abstinence.

Figure 1

This figure shows the modified SS Score for all subjects in both the LTAA and TxN studies. The combined NAC group (from both the LTAA and TxN studies) is presented here. The horizontal lines show the mean SS Score for each subgroup. This figure shows that SS scores are lower in women than men, higher in TxN compared to both NAC and LTAA, and do not differ between LTAA and NAC. Although these group findings appear to be of different magnitude in men and women, the differences are not significant (i.e., there are no significant group by gender interactions).