Drinking with awareness: mindfulness moderates the relationship between drinking and alcohol-related problems

Introduction: Alcohol use is associated with alcohol-related problems (ARP) with the potential to negatively impact various domains of functioning. Dispositional mindfulness has been shown to act as a protective factor against both alcohol use and ARP. In the current study, we examined the moderating impact of dispositional mindfulness on the relationship between alcohol use and ARP. Methods: Participants (N = 410) were a diverse sample of United States adults. Participants were recruited from a Qualtrics (Provo, UT) participant panel. Results: Results suggest that the dispositional mindfulness facet, Acting with Awareness, moderates the relationship between alcohol use and ARP. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that greater awareness of internal experiences mitigates the impact of alcohol use on external behaviors. Therefore, dispositional mindfulness may mitigate the impact of alcohol use on ARP through strengthened awareness, whereby acting more thoughtfully and purposefully (as opposed to on “autopilot”) may reduce ARP, even when an individual has consumed alcohol, and especially when consuming at an increasing rate. Future studies should examine whether interventions targeting Acting with Awareness may prove effective in reducing ARP in the general population.