Exploring the Decision to Drink (More) Alcohol Following Manipulations of Stress and Social Context (DoraR00)

This preregistration documents an experiment examining the effects of acute stress and social context on alcohol-related decision-making. The study uses a 2x2 factorial design (stress vs. control × social vs. alone) with dyadic recruitment.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Psychological Stress; Social Interaction
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Stress; Other: Social Context

Detailed Description

Behavioral data:

Our first set of hypotheses tests whether the decision is influenced by stress and social context:

H1a: Stress affects the decision between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, so that participants in the stress conditions choose alcoholic over non-alcoholic drinks more often compared to participants in the no stress conditions.

H1b: Social context affects the decision between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, so that participants in the social conditions choose alcoholic over non-alcoholic drinks more often compared to participants in the alone conditions.

H1c: We test two competing predictions:

(I) The effect of stress on the decision between alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks is modulated by social context, so that the effect of stress is stronger for participants that are in the social condition.

(II) The effect of stress on the decision between alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks is modulated by social context, so that the effect of stress is weaker for participants that are in the social condition

Drift diffusion modeling:

Our second set of hypotheses test how the decision might be influenced by stress and social context:

H2a: Stress affects the bias (but not the drift rate or boundary) parameter of the drift diffusion model, so that the bias parameter is more positive for participants in the stress conditions.

H2b: Social context affects the bias (but not the drift rate or boundary) parameter of the drift diffusion model, so that the bias parameter is more positive for participants in the social conditions.

H2c: Stress and social context have an interactive effect on the bias (but not the drift rate or boundary) parameter of the drift diffusion model, so that the bias parameter is either more or less positive for stressed participants who are in the social condition (in line with H1c).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 160
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Jonas Dora; Phone Number: 2067416330; Email: jdora@uw.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Drinking alcohol at least once a week
• Consuming 4 (female) or 5 (male) drinks in one occasion at least once a month

Exclusion Criteria:

• Currently pregnant or trying to become pregnant
• Past or current treatment for alcohol use
• Past or current medical condition that contraindicates alcohol use
• Past or current reaction to alcohol that contraindicates alcohol use
• Past or current medication that contraindicates alcohol use

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Stress Alone; These participants will undergo a stress induction and will make decisions about consuming alcohol alone.	Other: Stress; Participants randomly assigned to the stress condition will undergo the standard protocol of the Trier Social Stress Test. Participants randomly assigned to the control condition will undergo a validated, non-stressful control procedure mirroring the TSST.
Experimental: Stress Social; These participants will undergo a stress induction and will make decisions about consuming alcohol with a known peer.	Other: Stress; Participants randomly assigned to the stress condition will undergo the standard protocol of the Trier Social Stress Test. Participants randomly assigned to the control condition will undergo a validated, non-stressful control procedure mirroring the TSST.; Other: Social Context; Participants randomly assigned to the social condition will make decisions about consuming alcohol with a known peer. Participants randomly assigned to the control condition will make decisions about consuming alcohol alone.
Experimental: Control Alone; These participants will undergo a control induction and will make decisions about consuming alcohol alone.	Other: Stress; Participants randomly assigned to the stress condition will undergo the standard protocol of the Trier Social Stress Test. Participants randomly assigned to the control condition will undergo a validated, non-stressful control procedure mirroring the TSST.; Other: Social Context; Participants randomly assigned to the social condition will make decisions about consuming alcohol with a known peer. Participants randomly assigned to the control condition will make decisions about consuming alcohol alone.
Experimental: Control Social; These participants will undergo a control induction and will make decisions about consuming alcohol with a known peer.	Other: Social Context; Participants randomly assigned to the social condition will make decisions about consuming alcohol with a known peer. Participants randomly assigned to the control condition will make decisions about consuming alcohol alone.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Proportion of choices for alcoholic over non-alcoholic drinks.	Each participant will complete a two alternative forced-choice task in which they make repeated decisions between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.	5 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Washington
• Collaborators: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jonas Dora, University of Washington

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): February 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 28, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 28, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): February 5, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 6, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 4, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: stress induction; value-based decision-making
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Stress, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00023737; R00AA030591 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Anonymized data needed to reproduce our analyses will be shared on the Open Science Framework once the study has been completed.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Once data collection has been finalized and indefinitely.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Everyone will be able to access the data, they will be public. All data we share are fully anonymized and not sensitive.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No