Riley E. Hinson

Survey of subjective effects of smoking while drinking among college students

Prevalence of tobacco use among the college-aged population is approximately 30%; a significant percentage of students initiate use or transition to regular use during their college years. This study examined the relationship between drinking and smoking rates, subjective reactivity of concurrent effects of alcohol and tobacco use, and expectations of smoking while under the influence of alcohol in first-year college students. The sample consisted of ever-smokers (n=217), who had smoked at least once in the past year, with a mean age of 19.67 years. Weekly alcohol consumption was 18.53 standard drinks per week, with 2.95 drinking episodes per week. Of the sample, 54% were classified as smokers (smoked more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime) and 46% were classified as experimenters (smoked less than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime). Results demonstrated that 74% of all smoking episodes occurred while under the influence of alcohol. Smokers had higher levels of alcohol use and reported greater subjective effects from the simultaneous use of alcohol and tobacco. Smokers also were more likely to generate expectancies acknowledging an increase in smoking while drinking and for smoking to enhance reinforcement from alcohol. Experimenters were most likely to report positive reinforcement from smoking while under the influence of alcohol. Overall, smokers experienced stronger subjective effects of concurrent alcohol and tobacco use; however, results suggest that smoking while under the influence of alcohol is a positive experience even for relatively inexperienced smokers.

Effects of pentobarbital and cocaine in rats expecting pentobarbital

Rats received extensive exposure to pentobarbital in a distinctive environment, and were subsequently tested for tolerance to the sedative effects of pentobarbital either in the distinctive environment or in an environment previously associated only with saline. Rats tested when expecting pentobarbital (i.e., in the usual drug environment) were tolerant, but rats tested when not expecting the drug (i.e., in the saline environment) were not tolerant. These results extend demonstrations of conditional tolerance to the general behavioral arousal effects of a sedative hypnotic. Subsequently, the same rats were administered cocaine either when expecting pentobarbital or when not expecting pentobarbital. Rats administered cocaine when expecting pentobarbital exhibited more intense forms of cocaine-induced behavior than rats administered cocaine but not expecting pentobarbital. These results establish the phenomenon of conditional cross-potentiation between conditional drug states and unconditional drug-effects.

Nonpharmacological bases of drug tolerance and dependence.

Abstract Research demonstrating a role of nonpharmacological factors in drug tolerance is reviewed. Other research documenting a role of similar nonpharmacological factors in post-treatment relapse is reviewed, and it is suggested that there may be a common mechanism involved in nonpharmacological influences on tolerance and relapse. Such a common mechanism, involving Pavlovian conditioned drug-compensatory responses, is described. Evidence is summarized implicating such conditioned responses in tolerance and post-treatment relapse. The treatment implications of the Pavlovian conditioning analysis are discussed.

Experimenting and daily smokers: Episodic patterns of alcohol and cigarette use

Alcohol use may facilitate the development of nicotine dependence. Alcohol is often paired with cigarette smoking, particularly in those experimenting with smoking. However, little research has examined episodic patterns of alcohol and cigarette use. This study examined patterns of alcohol and cigarette use in a college-aged sample (n=237) designated as experimenters or smokers based on their smoking history. Participants reported their consumption of drinks and cigarettes by hour, for each hour, of a typical drinking and smoking episode. Self-reported pleasure and desire associated with smoking generally and while drinking was assessed. No group difference was observed in total number of drinks. However, experimenters delayed smoking until more drinks were consumed, suggesting they smoked after reaching binge levels of alcohol. By contrast, smokers smoked after fewer drinks. Both groups reported increased smoking while drinking and increased pleasure and desire when smoking while drinking. The increase was greater in experimenters. Concurrent alcohol and cigarette use may facilitate the development of tobacco dependence and interventions interrupting their pairing might impede the transition from experimenter to smoker.

Alcohol outcome expectancies and coping styles as predictors of alcohol use in young adults

This study was designed to examine the pattern and strength of relationships among coping styles and alcohol outcome expectancies with regard to drinking behavior in young adult social drinkers. Quantity and frequency of weekly consumption were used as criterion measures, and alcohol outcome expectancies/valences (CEOA: Fromme, Stroot & Kaplan, 1993) and coping styles (COPE: Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) were used as predictor variables. For males, the expectancy of risk and aggression, and the valence of cognitive and behavioral impairment, were predictive of drinking behavior. For females, sociability valence and the expectancy of negative self-evaluation positively predicted the alcohol-use measures. With regards to coping styles, alcohol and drug disengagement and suppression of competing activities uniquely predicted alcohol use in males, whereas alcohol and drug disengagement, turning to religion, and behavioral disengagement were predictive of female alcohol use. In general, coping styles were more predictive of the alcohol-use measures than were alcohol-outcome expectancies. Practical implications of these results are highlighted.

Effects of an implicit mood prime on the accessibility of smoking expectancies in college women.

This study examined whether an implicit mood prime would differentially affect the accessibility of self-generated smoking expectancies in women. One hundred nine ever-smokers were randomly assigned to receive either a positive or negative musical mood induction or a no-music control condition. Participants self-generated smoking expectancies, and the 1st responses were categorized as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, or negative consequence expectancies. Overall, participants generated mood-congruent smoking expectancies, suggesting that affect may act as a conditioned stimulus that elicits expectations of positive and negative reinforcement of smoking behavior. In addition, negative reinforcement expectancies were more frequently generated in current versus past smokers. Results are consistent with a situational-specificity hypothesis and memory-based models of affect and expectancies.

Pavlovian conditioning and addictive behavior: relapse to oral self-administration of morphine

The effect of conditional environmental stimuli on morphine consumption in rats was examined. Rats were first trained to consume a morphine solution (increased from 0.5 mg/ml to 1.2 mg/ml) by a forced drinking procedure spanning 235 days. Then, a period of abstinence of 81 days was given. They next received injections of morphine in one environment and injections of saline in a different environment (30 injections of morphine, dose increased from 5 mg/kg to 40 mg/kg). At the end of this phase, the effects of conditional environmental stimuli on tolerance to the analgesic effect of 40 mg/kg morphine were examined. Consistent with previous results, analgesic tolerance was most pronounced in the context of the cues previously associated with subcutaneous morphine injections. Finally, the effects of the different environments on consumption of morphine were determined in one-bottle and two-bottle tests. In a two-bottle test, there was almost no consumption of the morphine solution regardless of environment. In a one-bottle test, significantly more morphine was consumed in the drug environment than in the saline environment. The results are discussed in relation to theoretical views of the role of environmental stimuli in tolerance and drug dependence.

Place conditioning with d-amphetamine : the effect of the CS-UCS interval and evidence of a place avoidance

In Experiment 1, a dose-response study of place conditioning with amphetamine was conducted. Male Sprague-Dawley rats receiving 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 2.0, 5.0, 7.5, or 10.0 mg/kg of d-amphetamine underwent 104-day cycles of place conditioning. On alternate days, each rat was injected with its designated dose of amphetamine while confined to its originally nonpreferred end of a three-compartment, straight alley box. On intervening days, each rat was injected with saline while confined to its originally preferred compartment. Following each 4-day cycle, a choice test was administered in which each rat was allowed 20 min of access to the entire alley box. Doses of amphetamine (≥0.5 mg/kg) induced a significant avoidance of the compartment in which amphetamine had been administered. In Experiment 2, animals received 0.0, 0.5, 2.0, or 5.0 mg/kg of amphetamine and underwent place conditioning procedures identical to those for the animals in Experiment 1. Unlike in Experiment 1, the animals were given a single choice test following 104-day place conditioning cycles. All groups that received amphetamine exbibited-a-eonditioned place avoidance. In Experiment 3, the effect of various CS-UCS intervals on place conditioning with 2.0 mg/kg of amphetamine was examined. Animals that received amphetamine immediately following their removal from the chamber exhibited a conditioned place avoidance.

Pavlovian inhibitory conditioning and tolerance to pentobarbital induced hypothermia in rats

In this experiment we investigated inhibitory Pavlovian conditioning in the development of tolerance to pentobarbital-induced hypothermia. During an initial phase, one group of rats (discrimination group) received training in which, on alternate days, one conditional stimulus (CS+) was associated with administration of 30 mg/kg pentobarbital, and a different conditional stimulus (CS-) was associated with administration of physiological saline. During the phase, control groups received either exposure to both CSs but not the drug or to the drug but no CSs or to neither the CSs nor the drug. Subsequently, half the rats in each group received injections of pentobarbital in the presence of one of the CSs and the remaining half in the presence of the other CS. Rats from the discrimination group injected with pentobarbital in the presence of CS+ displayed the most tolerance (i.e., smallest drug effect), whereas rats from the discrimination group injected with pentobarbital in the presence of CS- displayed the least tolerance (i.e., greatest drug effect). The attenuation of tolerance seen in rats of the discrimination group injected in the presence of CS- provides evidence of inhibitory Pavlovian conditioning. Additional evidence of inhibitory conditioning was provided by the fact that CS2 enhanced the hypothermic effects of pentobarbital in the discrimination group, whereas CS1 attenuated these effects. Implications of the results for the nature of inhibitory conditioning are discussed.

Learning in tolerance to haloperidol-induced catalepsy.

Abstract 1. Adult male rats were injected with haloperidol (3 mg/kg) in one environment and on alternate days with saline in a different environment. A total of 28 haloperidol and 28 saline injections were administered in this manner. 2. Subsequently, all rats were tested for haloperidol-induced catalepsy with the barhanging procedure. Half were tested following injection of haloperidol in the usual haloperidol-injection environment, and half were tested following injection of haloperidol in the usual saline-injection environment. 3. Rats tested where they usually received haloperidol were tolerant. However, rats, with the identical pharmacological history but tested where they had only previously experienced saline were not tolerant. 4. These results indicate that Pavlovian conditioning contributed to haloperidol-induced catalepsy and suggest that factors other than the proliferation of postsynaptic dopaminergic receptor sites contributes to dopaminergic tolerance.