Recruiting

Social Rejection

Sponsor:

University of North Carolina, Wilmington

Code:

NCT07905430

Conditions

Social Rejection

Attachement Style

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 21 - 25

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Social Rejection Feedback

Social Acceptance

Study Details

Brief summary:

Research shows that heavy drinking patterns are linked to many harmful consequences including death, sexual assault, risky sexual behavior, and drug use. Given such harmful consequences, it is important to identify the risk-factors for heavy "in-the-moment" drinking. This study examines a potent, socially motivated trigger to problem drinking-namely, social rejection. In the present study, we employ a between-subjects experimental design with a sample of young adults (N=152; aged 21-25 years; 50% female) to examine how social rejection experiences are associated with drinking behavior as a function of attachment anxiety, changes in pain experience, and self-control.

Conditions

Social Rejection

Attachement Style

Study ID

NCT07905430

Start date

Oct 5, 2026

Status verified date

Oct, 2026

Completion date

Aug 23, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Aug 23, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 21 - 25

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals must be 21-25 years of age;
  • Individuals are not pregnant;
  • Individuals have no history, or current diagnoses, of alcohol, drug, or psychiatric problems;
  • Individuals have no medical conditions, current or chronic, contraindicating alcohol use in the study;
  • Must be a regular drinker who is willing to taste a vodka-based beverage as part of the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals who are pregnant;
  • Individuals who have any medical or psychiatric problems that contraindicate the tasting of alcohol;
  • Individuals taking any medication or other substance that may interact negatively with the effects of alcohol;
  • Individuals who have substance abuse problems, or think they might have a substance abuse problem.

Study Design

Enrollment

152 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Social Rejection

active comparator: Social Acceptance

Interventions

Social Rejection Feedback

Those assigned to the social rejection condition will receive the following feedback:

"Unfortunately, no one chose to work with you on the next task, so you will be engaging in the next task alone."

Social Acceptance

For those assigned to the social acceptance condition, they will receive the following feedback:

"Unfortunately, as I was organizing the group materials, I noticed that we have run too many group conditions for the day. So even though everyone chose to work with you for the next portion, we won't be forming a group, and everyone will instead be working on their own."

Primary outcome measure

  • Alcohol Consumption [ Time Frame: 20 minutes ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Richard S Pond, Ph.D.

910-962-3372pondr@uncw.edu

Locations

University of North Carolina Wilmington

Recruiting

Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, 28403

More Information

Sponsor

University of North Carolina, Wilmington

Last update posted

Oct 29, 2026

Last verified

Oct, 2026

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-10-30. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of North Carolina, Wilmington on 2026-10-29. Recruitment status is synced daily from ClinicalTrials.gov and may not reflect the sponsor's current status. Confirm during your call.