The role of negative affect in precipitating drug craving and relapse among young adults in recovery from substance use disorder (SUD) is well documented. However, most studies focus on negative affect as a trait-level congregate of multiple negative emotion states. The present study examined the associations between specific facets of negative affect, college stressors, and craving among young adult college students in SUD recovery. Data were drawn from a three-week daily diary study of 50 students participating in a collegiate recovery community at a U.S. university (M age = 21.42, 76% males). At the within-person level, craving was higher on days when young adults experienced higher than usual anger, fear, and sadness, but not guilt. At the between-person level, individuals higher in agitation reported greater levels of craving on average. Moderation analyses further showed that college stressors heightened the within-person association between anger and craving. Findings demonstrate that negative affect is not monolithic and that its different aspects are uniquely associated with craving at both between- and within-person levels. Findings from this study could guide collegiate SUD recovery programs that wish to provide greater support to their members by helping them identify both individual- and time-specific relapse risks, such as generally high levels of agitation or days when anger, fear, or sadness are higher than usual for a particular individual. Our findings also suggest that future research should consider distinct features and implications of affective structures at between- and within-person levels, and how these may be uniquely associated with craving.
Keywords: craving; daily diary; negative affect; recovery; stress; substance use.