Emotional differentiation was the variable of interest for researchers at George Mason, and SUNY Buffalo and Albany (Kashdan, Ferssizidis, Collins, & Muraven, 2010) . They found that underage drinkers differ on how well they label their emotions; some make fine-grain distinctions (like anxious, angry or sad), while others tend to lump all the negatives into one category. Further, it turns out that at times when the drinkers were feeling low, subjects who differentiated between sour moods drank less than those who did not.

Of course, it’s hard to make causal inferences from such research, but their findings fit the theory that some drinking occurs in order to cope with negative emotions; and further, those who are skilled at differentiating between types of emotions will have more nondrinking coping tools and would therefore drink less.

Knowing this may help broaden the perspective of the AOD prevention professionals on campus. It speaks to the idea that global prevention strategies may have a place in an educational environment. Given that a university generally seeks to foster graduates who are best equipped to adapt and cope with a changing world, focusing a bit on their emotional management fits within the educational goals of the university. But it may also fit our prevention objectives.

There are other examples of prevention efforts that benefit from broader academic objectives. For instance, Residential Learning Communities are being used at many campuses throughout the nation. They are generally thought of as a way to better foster student’s academic engagement. But research suggests they may also have an AOD preventive effect (Cranford et al., 2009).

So this means that those in the AOD prevention office need to remain open to supporting efforts that foster more general academic and personal growth, since research is emerging that those efforts may indeed be an important component to AOD prevention itself.

References

Cranford, J. A., McCabe, S. E., Boyd, C. J., Lange, J. E., Reed, M. B., & Scott, M. S. (2009). Effects of residential learning communities on drinking trajectories during the first two years of college. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Supplement, (16), 86-95.

Kashdan, T. B., Ferssizidis, P., Collins, R. L., & Muraven, M. (2010). Emotion Differentiation as Resilience Against Excessive Alcohol Use. Psychological Science, Psychological Science OnlineFirst, published on August 9, 2010, -. doi:10.1177/0956797610379863