Alcohol and Sober Mood State in Female Social Drinkers

Abstract

The relationship between alcohol consumption in 93 female social drinkers and their cognitive functioning and mood in the sober state was measured, and the possible causal effects of alcohol consumption on these variables was investigated. In the 1st test session, a limited relationship was seen between previous alcohol consumption and sober cognitive performance. A strong relationship was found between alcohol consumption and self-reported depression and anger in the sober state. Either a prolonged reduction in alcohol consumption or a prolonged maintenance of alcohol consumption was undertaken by random subsets of the original sample. In the 2nd test session 6 wk later, women who were randomly selected to reduce their alcohol intake showed decreases in depression, anger and mental confusion when they were sober, relative to women who maintained or increased their alcohol consumption over the same period of time. No changes in cognitive performance were found in these groups. Apparently, relatively low levels of alcohol consumption produce substantial increases in depression and anger in the sober state in female social drinkers. The value of considering alcohol consumption as a continuous variable rather than a dichotomous variable with safe and unsafe zones was discussed.