Examining within-person fluctuations and between-person differences in motivational and control processes associated with momentary and daily alcohol use

Background. Alcohol use may reflect both intentional processes and failures of self-regulation, yet their relative relevance to everyday drinking remains unclear. Therefore, we examined whether perceived control, planned use, craving, and inhibitory control were associated with alcohol use among regular drinkers at momentary and daily timescales. Methods. A total of 142 regular alcohol users (40 males, 102 females; M = 33.30 years, SD = 14.76) completed a four-day experience sampling method (ESM) study with three daily prompts assessing alcohol use, craving, perceived control, and planned use, directly followed by a mobile Go/No-Go task assessing inhibitory control. Bayesian multilevel models examined whether inhibition errors, planned use, craving, and perceived control were associated with drinking at momentary and daily timescales.Results. At the momentary level, evidence suggested credible between-person associations between planned use and perceived control and momentary alcohol consumption, and credible negative within-person associations for perceived control and craving. At the daily level, planned use and perceived control showed credible between-person associations with daily alcohol consumption, and females reported lower daily consumption than males. Within-person planned use and inhibition errors were not credible at either level, and no credible within-person associations were found for daily alcohol use.Conclusions. Perceived control emerged as the most consistent concurrent correlate of alcohol use among regular drinkers at momentary and daily timescales, with planned use emerging as a credible between-person correlate. In contrast, craving and inhibitory control were not robustly associated with drinking. Together, these findings highlight the relevance of perceived control and planned drinking for understanding everyday alcohol use, suggesting that drinking may not simply reflect momentary urges or failures of inhibitory control in regular drinkers. Future research should clarify the temporal and causal relationships among these processes and test whether moments of reduced perceived control represent useful targets for just-in-time interventions.