About

Alexander W. Sokolovsky is an Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist at Brown University. He earned his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2017 and completed a postdoctoral training program at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University in 2019. His research primarily focuses on the etiology and consequences of substance use and dependence, with particular attention to poly-substance use such as the co-use of tobacco with marijuana and alcohol, as well as nuanced investigations of poly-tobacco use. His work involves applying experience sampling methods, including ecological momentary assessment (EMA), to model antecedent processes influencing behavior and to evaluate their impact. Sokolovsky's research aims to translate these findings into preventative interventions and treatments for substance use. His current programs include exploring the provision of e-cigarettes to adults with asthma who have difficulty quitting smoking, examining cross-conditioning of cigarette and e-cigarette craving in young adults, and investigating the relationship between cannabis use and depression through affective and sleep mechanisms. His contributions extend to understanding co-use behaviors, developing novel assessment tools, and informing public health strategies related to tobacco harm reduction and substance use.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Environmental health
• Clinical psychology
• Internal medicine
• Sociology
• Political Science
• Nursing
• Gender studies
• Chemistry
• Obstetrics
• Medical emergency
• Family medicine
• Demography

Selected publications

• Examination of social network members’ influence on daily drinking: A pilot study

  Addictive Behaviors Reports · 2026-02-21

  articleOpen access

  • Daily drinks increased with each additional network member who was drinking. • Being with a drinking network member increase daily use by nearly two drinks. • Network members who were frequent drinkers were influential. • Network members who participants expected to drink with were influential. Research on young adult alcohol use often overlooks the influence of specific social network members on daily alcohol use. This pilot study combined egocentric social network methods with a daily diary design to examine how network members influence drinking at the day level. Participants (N = 21) identified six social network members they frequently drank with and saw in person and then reported on these individuals in a 21-day study. Daily reports captured self-reported alcohol use and social network members presence and alcohol use from the previous day. Across 417 morning reports, participants drank on 77 days (18.5%), consuming an average of 2.36 drinks ( SD = 1.70) on those days. Linear mixed-effects models showed that being with a given network member who was drinking was associated with consuming 1.75 more drinks than the participant’s average. Network members who contributed to higher alcohol use were more likely to be people the participant intended to drink with in the future and who had frequently consumed alcohol in the past month, regardless of whether it was with the participant. The findings from this pilot study provide preliminary evidence that the drinking of and anticipating future drinking with certain network members contributes to greater alcohol use and suggests that interventions could use personalized feedback to help individuals recognize the network members who facilitate heavier drinking.

  PublisherDOI

• Heterogeneity of Within-Day Simultaneous Alcohol and Cannabis Use Behaviors Among Young Adults: A Multilevel Latent Class Analysis

  Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs · 2026-02-02

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: Simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use is prevalent among young adults and linked with heavy use and related harms. Days with simultaneous use have been linked with poorer proximal outcomes than days involving only alcohol/cannabis, but findings are mixed. Importantly, days with simultaneous use vary greatly with respect to level and timing of use, and other substance use. Thus, all simultaneous use days may not carry the same risks, partially explaining discrepancies. We aimed to characterize heterogeneity across simultaneous use days via an innovative statistical method applied to daily data - multilevel latent class analysis (MLCA) - and identify features of days most strongly linked to same-day harms and motives. METHOD: Participants were n=255 young adult college students (48% male) who completed ≤54 days of surveys on substance use behavior, yielding 1,527 person-days with simultaneous use. RESULTS: MLCA identified four day-level latent classes of simultaneous use occasions: Alcohol-Focused (43% of days), Cannabis-Focused (35%), Heavy Use (14%), and Early-Day Use (8%). Same-day harms were more likely on Heavy Use days than other types of days, and day-level classes varied significantly with respect to three same-day motivations for simultaneous use: to be social, because it was offered, and to have fun. CONCLUSIONS: Simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use days are highly varied. Heavy Use Days characterized by level of alcohol/cannabis use and engagement in other substance use were most strongly linked with harms, but timing of use in a day also distinguished patterns of use. Studies investigating the role of additional substances are warranted.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Longitudinal trends in the past 30-day co-use of nicotine/tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis among youth and adults in the PATH study

  Addictive Behaviors · 2026-02-04

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  INTRODUCTION: The co-use of substances confers risks above single-product use and has significant public health implications. This study investigated trends in past 30-day co-use of nicotine/tobacco products with alcohol and cannabis in the US using Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study data from Waves 4-6 (December 2016-November 2021). METHODS: All wave 4-6 PATH participants age 15+ were included in analyses. Changes across wave in past 30-day co-use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and other tobacco products (OTP; cigars, filtered cigars, smokeless, hookah, snus, and cigarillo) with alcohol and cannabis, moderated by age (15-17,18-24, 25-34,35-64, 65+), and controlling for demographics were investigated. RESULTS: Changes in co-use of tobacco products with cannabis and alcohol varied across age and product. Cigarette and alcohol co-use was most prevalent across all adult ages, with rates declining over time among young adults (18-24, 25-34) but stable in older adults (65+). Rates of e-cigarette and alcohol co-use increased among young adults, possibly supplanting alcohol and cigarette co-use. E-cigarette and alcohol co-use was the most popular pattern of co-use in youth, with initially increasing and then declining prevalence. Co-use of e-cigarette and cannabis increased at Wave 5 among those 15-17, 18-24, and 25-34, although this increase lessened in all groups except those age 25-34 at Wave 6. Cigarette and cannabis co-use rates, and co-use rates of OTP with both cannabis and alcohol were generally stable or decreasing. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the complex interplay between substance use patterns and developmental stages and the dynamic nature of co-use in ever-evolving tobacco and cannabis marketplaces.

  PublisherDOI

• The utility of bluetooth and smartphone technology to detect peer contact.

  Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology · 2026-02-09

  articleOpen access

  = 55; 40% women) completed a 3-week protocol, during which peers carried a small Bluetooth beacon that was detected by participant smartphones. Participants indicated the presence of peers on beacon signal-contingent ecological momentary assessment reports and three daily random reports. Feasibility of participant recruitment was low, primarily due to Android OS updates requiring app revisions that interrupted recruitment. However, feasibility of peer enrollment was high, occurring rapidly but at a lower-than-expected number. Response latencies to signal-contingent and random reports were similar, indicating good feasibility of the ecological momentary assessment report procedures. Acceptability, reflected in high retention for participants and peers, participant self-report ratings, and good ecological momentary assessment report response rates (76%-79%), was high. Functionality was moderate; problems with the app were reported by almost half of participants, and functionality ratings were lower than for acceptability. For validity, the beacon detection technology identified 61% of participant-reported encounters (true positives), with 5.6% false positives. False negatives (39%) were likely due to peer noncompliance or misreporting. Results support the initial utility of Bluetooth-based passive detection for identifying peer presence in real time, offering potential for use in just-in-time interventions targeting health-risk behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Alcohol quantity mediates the association between daily alcohol and cannabis co-use and alcohol consequences

  Drug and Alcohol Dependence · 2026-01-13

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Alcohol and cannabis are commonly used substances for young adults, and person-level co-use (i.e., concurrent or simultaneous use of both) is associated with increased likelihood of experiencing positive and negative alcohol-related consequences. However, findings regarding within-person effects (i.e.,day-level) co-use on consequences are mixed, possibly due to inconsistency in including alcohol quantity (i.e., total number of standard drinks consumed) when examining the association between co-use and consequences. In the present study, we examined whether the number of drinks mediates the association between co-use and positive or negative alcohol consequences at the day level. METHODS: Data from morning reports in a 28-day field-based study of young adults reporting frequent past 60-day alcohol and cannabis use (N = 115) were used to test multilevel mediation models. RESULTS: We found significant mediation for both positive and negative alcohol consequences; consuming more alcoholic drinks on co-use days, relative to alcohol-only days, was associated with a higher likelihood of experiencing negative consequences and a lower likelihood of positive consequences. These results suggest that daily number of drinks is a significant driver of the relationship between co-use and alcohol-related consequences at the day-level. CONCLUSIONS: In the context of increased cannabis use among young adults, this finding provides critical information for prevention and intervention efforts aimed at reducing the alcohol-related consequences associated with co-use days. Overall, reducing total alcohol consumption remains a prominent harm-reduction strategy among this population.

  PublisherDOI

• Joint Relations Among Cannabis, Sleep, and Affective Symptomatology: A Scoping Review

  Current Addiction Reports · 2026-04-16

  articleOpen access

  Purpose of Review: This scoping review used a five-stage framework to evaluate empirical studies positing anxiety and depression as mechanisms or moderators in associations between cannabis use and sleep. Applicable peer-reviewed studies were identified in Google Scholar and PubMed using relevant search terms (e.g., cannabis, sleep, depression, anxiety). Recent Findings: Of the 20 articles included, most examined cannabis effects on sleep using prospective designs with adults recruited based on anxiety and/or depression symptomatology. Fewer studies tested bidirectional associations between cannabis and sleep. Among adults reporting clinically significant symptoms of anxiety and depression at baseline, certain cannabis product formulations were associated with concurrent and prospective improvements in subjective sleep phenotypes. However, this pattern of findings was not evident among those without anxiety/depression, none of the designs were experimental, and only one study included objective sleep measures. Summary: Providers should be aware that cannabis' perceived sleep benefits are more pronounced among those with anxiety/depressive disorders. Experimental research with objective measures testing how and for whom sleep and cannabis are linked is needed.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Intentions matter: How planned and unplanned alcohol and cannabis use influences outcomes.

  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · 2025-08-11 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: An important antecedent of substance use among young adults is intentions for use (e.g., planned vs. unplanned use). In contrast to previous theories, emerging evidence suggests planned use, rather than unplanned use, is primarily related to consumption and sometimes consequences. As this has been most recently investigated with alcohol-only use, there remains a limited understanding of planned versus unplanned cannabis use, as well as how cannabis consumption influences planned versus unplanned alcohol events. METHOD: = 110) that frequently use alcohol and cannabis, we examined how planned versus unplanned alcohol and cannabis use influence consumption levels and consequences while controlling for the impact of each substance on the other. RESULTS: Alcohol models revealed that planned alcohol use was linked to greater alcohol consumption at the day level and higher likelihood of experiencing positive alcohol consequences at the person level. The use of cannabis on a drinking day was also positively associated with experiencing a positive alcohol consequence. There were no day-level associations between planned alcohol use and negative alcohol consequences. Cannabis models revealed planned use was associated with higher likelihood of experiencing a negative cannabis consequence at the day level but was not associated with cannabis consumption or positive consequences. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlighted differences in planned alcohol and cannabis use in predicting consumption and related consequences in young adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Examining the relationship between cannabis use and drinking levels on co‐use days

  Alcohol Clinical and Experimental Research · 2025-07-03

  article

  BACKGROUND: Co-use of alcohol and cannabis among young adults is often associated with more alcohol consumption than alcohol-only use, yet little work has examined cannabis use specifically during heavy drinking. Much of the work examining heavy drinking has focused on heavy episodic drinking (HED, 4+/5+ drinks/occasion for females/males); however, young adults report drinking levels that far exceed this, frequently reporting high-intensity drinking (HID; 8+/10+ drinks/occasion for females/males), double the HED threshold, which confers greater risk of acute negative consequences. This study examined whether day-level co-use (vs. alcohol-only use) was associated with greater odds of heavier drinking levels: HID vs. HED vs. moderate drinking (1-3/1-4 drinks/occasion for females/males). We explored whether within-person variations in cannabis use characteristics (frequency, form, and quantity) differentiated moderate drinking, HED, and HID on co-use days. METHODS: Young adults who reported simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use (N = 318) from three US universities completed five repeated daily surveys for 54 days reporting number of drinks and number of cannabis uses (i.e., frequency/events), forms, and quantity. RESULTS: Participants reported increased likelihood of HID and HED versus moderate drinking on co-use versus alcohol-only days. HID versus HED did not differ between co-use and alcohol-only days. On co-use days, heavier drinking was more likely on days with more cannabis use. The form of cannabis used and the use of multiple versus single forms of cannabis were not associated with drinking level. Yet, HID was more likely than HED and moderate drinking when more grams of flower were used and HID was also more likely than moderate drinking when more hits of concentrates were used. CONCLUSIONS: Findings show heavy drinking (HID, HED) was more likely than moderate drinking on co-use days and cannabis use characteristics may influence drinking levels. Co-use interventions may benefit from a focus on heavy drinking and cannabis use characteristics.

  PublisherDOI

• Rethinking E-Cigarette Flavor Policy: Can We Reduce Harm for Adults Without Inviting Youth Use?

  Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs · 2025-05-15

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Subjective menopausal hot flashes in sleep disturbance: does the timing of hot flashes matter?

  Menopause The Journal of The North American Menopause Society · 2025-12-16

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVES: Understanding the association between hot flashes and sleep disturbance is complicated, given that various dimensions of hot flashes (ie, occurrence, frequency, severity, timing) may have different associations with sleep. We evaluated the associations between various dimensions of momentary hot flashes and sleep disturbance (ie, sleep onset latency, sleep quality). We examined whether daytime, evening, and nocturnal hot flash frequency and/or severity predicted sleep disturbance. METHODS: Participants ( N =99) completed self-report measures of hot flashes and sleep for seven consecutive days. Participants retrospectively reported the number and severity of daytime (reported each morning and afternoon), evening (reported each evening), and nocturnal (reported each morning) hot flashes they had, and completed a sleep diary each morning. We conducted a series of linear mixed-effects models regressing both sleep outcomes onto daytime/evening hot flash frequency/severity, and regressing sleep quality onto nocturnal hot flash frequency/severity. RESULTS: Results indicated that within-person evening hot flash severity was associated with sleep onset latency (Est=5.60, SE=2.48, 95% CI [0.75-10.46], P <0.05), and that within-person nocturnal hot flash frequency was associated with sleep quality (Est=-0.46, SE=0.06, 95% CI [-0.58 to -0.34], P <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We found that more severe evening hot flashes predicted longer sleep onset latency that night, and that more frequent nocturnal hot flashes were associated with worse sleep quality that night. This may suggest that targeting hot flashes that occur at night-both in the evening before bed and nocturnally during sleep-may be useful in improving sleep in perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Administrative Core

  NIH · $34.9M · 2019–2029

• Dual Use of ENDS and Combustible Cigarettes: Shared, Distinct, and Cross-Conditioned Processes

  NIH · $976k · 2020–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Kristina M. Jackson

  Pacific Institute For Research and Evaluation

  100 shared

• Rachel L. Gunn

  Brown University

  46 shared

• Helene R. White

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  44 shared

• Jennifer W. Tidey

  Brown University

  33 shared

• Jasjit S. Ahluwalia

  Providence College

  29 shared

• Mollie A. Monnig

  John Brown University

  25 shared

• Angela K. Stevens

  Brown University

  25 shared

• Lauren Micalizzi

  John Brown University

  23 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Clinical Psychology

  University of Illinois at Chicago

  2017

• Other

  Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University

  2019