Who is most likely to experience 'hangxiety?'
New research has found that very shy people are more likely to have anxiety, possibly at debilitating levels, during a hangover. The findings also suggest that for these people, "hangxiety" might signal a higher risk of alcohol dependence.
Alcohol use disorder (AUD), a chronic condition, is characterized by a person's inability to "stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences."
AUB reportedly affects around 15 million adults in the United States and over 620,000 adolescents aged 12–17.
Its symptoms may be either mild or severe, and there are several factors that raise the risk of AUD. These include family history, social pressure, and stress.
New research suggests that experiencing anxiety during a hangover might also indicate whether a person is more likely to develop AUD — at least if that person is an introvert.
Beth Marsh — currently a research assistant in the Department of Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology at University College London in the United Kingdom — is the first author of the study, which now appears in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
Is 'hangxiety' a marker of AUD risk?
Using a naturalistic study setup, Marsh and colleagues spoke to 97 participants, asking half of them to continue to drink alcohol normally and half of them to stay sober. The researchers tested the participants' alcohol levels at home.
Marsh and her team also measured the participants' shyness levels, their levels of social phobia, and their symptoms of AUD.
