Menstrual cycle influences on regulatory control over drinking in young women

描述(由申请人提供)：酒精使用是一个严重的公共卫生问题，每年给社会造成近225亿美元的损失(Bouchery等人，2011年)。与适量饮酒的男性相比，适量饮酒(每周饮酒少于7杯，或每天饮酒3杯)的女性患上与健康相关的并发症(如肝病)的风险更高(NIAAA，2011)。然而，鉴于酒精文献中对男性的历史偏见，很少有研究调查参与女性饮酒的病因因素(SAMSHA，2011)。因此，本研究侧重于影响女性饮酒的脆弱性和保护性因素。在自由骑自行车的女性中，每个月都有与月经周期相关的荷尔蒙变化。特别是，月经周期的黄体期(月经前期)的特点是应激反应增强(Lustik等人，2010年)。考虑到压力和酒精使用之间的错综复杂的关系(Sinha，2008)，人们可能会认为黄体期与女性酒精使用的脆弱性增加有关。然而，到目前为止，关于周期阶段和酒精使用的小范围研究是混合的--可能是由于方法问题(Douglas等人，2013年)。因此，本研究旨在严格和系统地研究酒精使用中的周期阶段变化。其他监管系统和性情因素也可能影响女性饮酒。似乎大多数人类的决策受到两种监管制度的支配，这两种制度驱使人们选择更小、更直接的奖励(冲动系统)或更大、更延迟的奖励(行政控制；Bechara，2005)。因此，女性在黄体期使用酒精来应对压力和/或消极情绪的倾向可能受到冲动系统的调节，其中女性更有效地应对压力的能力可能由执行控制来管理。在决定女性是否会饮酒来应对时，一个重要的倾向性因素是专注力，即专注于当下的能力，即不加评判地专注于当下。正念与较少饮酒有关(Fernandez等人，2010年)，并被理论上认为可以增强执行控制(布鲁尔等人，2010年)和减少冲动系统(彼得斯等人，2011年)。因此，具有较高意志力的女性可能会更多地获得执行控制功能，这有助于在黄体期更健康地应对。因此，本研究使用冲动系统(例如延迟折扣)、执行控制(例如心脏迷走神经控制)和正念的混合客观和自我报告的方法来检查调节系统和处置因素对周期时相和饮酒之间关系的影响。这项拟议的研究将提供对女性和饮酒相关的病因因素研究不足的有价值的见解，并为有前途的年轻研究人员提供培训。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Alcohol use is of great public health concern, costing society nearly $225 billion a year (Bouchery et al., 2011). Women who drink moderately (less than 7 drinks a week, or 3 drinks a day) are at an increased risk for health related complications (e.g., liver disease) as compared to men who drink moderately (NIAAA, 2011). Yet, given the historical bias towards men in the alcohol literature, there is a dearth of research investigating the etiological factors that take part in alcohol use in women (SAMSHA, 2011). Thus, the present study focuses on vulnerability and protective factors that influence alcohol use in women. In freely-cycling women, every month is marked by hormonal variation associated with the menstrual cycle. In particular the luteal phase (pre- menstrual period) of the menstrual cycle is characterized by increased stress reactivity (Lustyk et al., 2010). Given the intricate relationship between stress and alcohol use (Sinha, 2008), one would expect that the luteal phase be associated with increased vulnerability for alcohol use in women. However, the small extent of research on cycle phase and alcohol use to date has been mixed- likely due to methodological issues (Douglas et al., 2013). Thus the present study aims to rigorously and systematically investigate cycle phase variation in alcohol use. Other regulatory systems and dispositional factors may also influence alcohol use in women. It appears that most human decision making is governed by two regulatory systems that drives the choice for smaller, more immediate rewards (impulsive system) or larger, more delayed rewards (executive control; Bechara, 2005). Thus, a woman's proclivity to use alcohol to cope with stress and/or negative emotionality during the luteal phase may be regulated by impulsive systems, where a woman's ability to cope with stress more effectively may be managed by executive control. One dispositional factor that is important to consider in determining whether a woman will drink to cope is mindfulness, or the ability to pay attention in the present moment, non-judgmentally. Mindfulness is associated with lower alcohol use (Fernandez et al., 2010) and is theorized to augment executive control (Brewer et al., 2010) and diminish impulsive systems (Peters et al., 2011). So, women with higher dispositional mindfulness may have more access to executive control function that facilitates healthier coping during the luteal phase. Therefore, the present study uses mixed objective and self-reported methodological measures of impulsive systems (e.g., delay discounting), executive control (e.g., cardiac vagal control), and mindfulness to examine the influence of regulatory systems and dispositional factors on the relation between cycle phase and alcohol use. The proposed study will provide valuable insight into the understudied arena of etiological factors involved in women and alcohol use and provide training to an up-and-coming young researcher.