Dietary restraint and disinhibition are associated with increased alcohol use behaviours and thoughts in young women social drinkers

Previous studies have identified a positive relationship between dietary restraint and alcohol use. However, it is unclear whether heavier drinking is associated with higher dietary restraint per se, or restraint combined with a tendency towards disinhibition. The aim of the present study was to examine alcohol use behaviours in women classified using both restraint and disinhibition scores. Forty-four young female social drinkers gave self-reported measures of their drinking behaviour, including frequency and quantity of alcohol consumed and frequency of drunkenness and binge drinking. Attentional bias for alcohol-related stimuli was also assessed using a dot probe detection task. Finally, the Temptation and Restraint Inventory was used to investigate whether preoccupation with drinking might underlie the relationship between dietary and drinking behaviours. Women classified as both highly restrained and disinhibited tended to report more episodes of drunkenness, showed an attentional bias for alcohol-related words, and had greater cognitive preoccupation with drinking compared to other dietary groups. These data suggest that a tendency towards overeating (disinhibition) combined with attempts at restriction is associated with increased alcohol use behaviours, perhaps due to a greater preoccupation with alcohol.