Informed by the multistage model of addiction (Koob & Volkow, 2010), the present study examined the role of positive and negative reinforcement in alcohol consumption and AD. Our results based on longitudinal data suggest that positive reinforcement is associated with alcohol consumption regardless of the status of AD, whereas negative reinforcement becomes increasingly important in the presence of AD. These findings demonstrate the utility of positive and negative reinforcement in understanding individuals’ risk of developing AD and suggest that positive and negative reinforcement may be important targets for effective intervention and prevention efforts. In future studies, models for more complicated paths from positive and negative reinforcement to AD can be built upon the results of our study. For example, the changes in positive and negative reinforcement in associating with alcohol use may be mediated or moderated by other factors, such as major depression (Armeli et al., 2014) or traumatic experiences (Berenz et al. 2015; Jester et al., 2015), and our model can be expanded to incorporate those mediating and moderating factors.
