Appetitive and impulsive: Examining alcohol use via the motivational and self-control systems

•Both trait levels of motivational system activation and the self-control system independently contribute to alcohol use.•High trait appetitive system activation and positive immediate, impulsive alcohol associations contribute to greater alcohol use.•High defensive system activation and explicit alcohol attitudes do not independently predict greater alcohol use.

This study examines how trait differences in the appetitive and defensive systems and how automatic, impulsive and deliberate, reflective responses to alcohol cues predict overall alcohol use. By utilizing a measure of trait motivational activation and measures of implicit and explicit attitudes toward alcohol that indicate the self-control system – impulsive vs. reflective – that determines behavior, this research demonstrates that higher trait appetitive system activity, ASA, and positive impulsive/implicit alcohol attitudes independently predict alcohol use, while trait defensive system activation, DSA, and explicit attitudes toward alcohol did not independently predict use.