Taken together, our results demonstrated differential importance of positive and negative reinforcement in influencing alcohol consumption and AD, as well as increasing salience of negative reinforcement associated with alcohol consumption in the presence of AD. Understanding how reasons for drinking differ across the addiction cycle could provide useful information for tailoring prevention and intervention efforts. For example, programs that target reducing alcohol consumption among adolescents who engage in moderate or heavy drinking but have not developed AD may be more effective by focusing on adolescents’ anticipated positive reinforcement of alcohol intake, for example, by providing alternative ways to gain similar positive reinforcement instead of alcohol consumption (Goldstein, Wall, Wekerie, & Krank, 2013). On the other hand, programs that target reducing alcohol consumption among alcohol-dependent individuals may need to target positive and negative reinforcement simultaneously in order to be effective, for example, by providing training and support on coping with emotional stress and physical tension that may trigger self-medication (Berking et al., 2011) in addition to providing alternative outlets for positive reinforcement (Goldstein et al., 2013). Understanding individuals’ positive and negative
