Estradiol Effects on Alcohol Across the Menstrual Cycle

This study will provide the first rigorous integrative test of the hypothesis that rapid rises in estradiol (a female hormone) increase the rewarding and disinhibiting effects of alcohol and that such increased sensitivity correlates with increased alcohol use. Identification of the behavioral mechanisms by which estradiol surges can increase alcohol use would provide a critical advancement of neurobiological theory of alcohol abuse in women, an understudied area, as well as provide new directions for personalization of alcohol abuse treatment in women. In this study, naturally-cycling women will be examined daily over their menstrual cycle using an integrative combination of daily ecological assessments of hormone fluctuations and alcohol use along with strategically-timed laboratory tests of their acute sensitivity to the rewarding and disinhibiting effects of a controlled dose of alcohol.