Chicago Social Drinking Project (CSDP)

April 3, 2026 updated by: University of Chicago

Individual Differences After Consumption of Alcohol and Other Common Substances and Long-Term Follow-Up of Social Drinking, Young Adults

This study attempts to elucidate the factors that contribute to escalation and maintenance of excessive ethanol drinking in young adults by:

  1. Examining subjective and objective response differences to alcohol and other common substances in a sample of adults with varying consumption patterns.
  2. Determining whether response to alcohol and other substances is predictive of future consumption patterns through longitudinal follow-up interviews.
  3. Examining the relationship between responses to alcohol and other substances at baseline and re-examination testing to evaluate if consumption patterns moderate this relationship.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

800

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60637
        • Clinical Addictions Research Laboratory

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

21 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 21-65
  • Weigh between 110-210 lbs
  • Drink alcohol at least once weekly with weekly "binge" drinking episodes
  • Available to complete in-person screening and 2, 4 hour experimental sessions at the University of Chicago
  • Available by phone, mail, or Internet for follow-up interviews for at least 2 years following sessions

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Current or past major medical or psychiatric disorders including alcohol and substance dependence

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Screening
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Beverage with Heavy Alcohol Dose
Beverage containing 0.8 g/kg alcohol
Drug: Ethanol
Beverage containing 0.8 g/kg ethanol, 0.4 g/kg ethanol
Other Names:
  • Kool-Aid
  • Splenda
  • Everclear
Experimental: Beverage with Low Alcohol Dose
Beverage containing 0.4 g/kg alcohol
Drug: Ethanol
Beverage containing 0.8 g/kg ethanol, 0.4 g/kg ethanol
Other Names:
  • Kool-Aid
  • Splenda
  • Everclear
Placebo Comparator: Beverage with No alcohol (Placebo)
Beverage containing 0.0 g/kg alcohol to act as placebo
Drug: Placebo
Beverage containing 0.0 g/kg alcohol to act as placebo
Experimental: Beverage with Diphenhydramine
Beverage containing 1.5 standard dose of Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
Drug: Diphenhydramine
Beverage containing dose equivalent to 1.5 standard doses of Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
Other Names:
  • Benadryl
Experimental: Beverage with Caffeine
Beverage containing the equivalent of 1.5 times participant's average caffeine consumption
Drug: Caffeine
Beverage containing the equivalent of 1.5 times the participant's daily caffeine intake
No Intervention: Beverage in Natural Environment
Participant consumes alcohol containing beverages or non-alcohol beverages in natural environment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Subjective response to alcohol and other common substances utilizing mood questionnaires in adult drinkers
Time Frame: Measured during 5 timepoints at each experimental session: 1) Pre-drink baseline, 2) +30 minutes, 3) +60 minutes, 4) +120 minutes, and 5) +180 minutes following the initiation of beverage consumption
Measured during 5 timepoints at each experimental session: 1) Pre-drink baseline, 2) +30 minutes, 3) +60 minutes, 4) +120 minutes, and 5) +180 minutes following the initiation of beverage consumption

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Substance Use Behavior Reported During Follow-Up Interviews
Time Frame: Measured at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months following the final experimental session
Measured at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months following the final experimental session

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Chicago

Collaborators

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Andrea C King, PhD, University of Chicago

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 1, 2004

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 11, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 18, 2009

First Posted (Estimated)

August 19, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 3, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 12119a
  • 5R01AA013746 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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