This review sought to synthesize the literature on the reliability and validity of behavioral‐economic measures of demand and discounting in human research, introduce behavioral‐economic research methodologies for studying addictive behaviors, discuss gaps in the current literature, and review areas for future research. A total of 34 studies was included in this review. The discounting literature showed similar responding regardless of whether hypothetical or actual outcomes were used, though people tended to discount the outcome presented first more steeply, suggesting order effects. Although delay‐discounting measures seem to show temporal stability, exceptions were found for probability‐ and experiential‐discounting tasks. The demand literature also demonstrated similar responding regardless of outcome type; however, some demand indices showed exceptions. Randomized price sequences tended to show modest increases in Omax and α and modestly higher rates of inconsistent or nonsystematic responses compared with sequential price sequences. Demand indices generally showed temporal stability, although the stability was weaker the larger the time interval between test sessions. Future studies would benefit by examining addictive commodities beyond alcohol, nicotine, and money; examining temporal stability over longer time intervals; using larger delays in discounting tasks; and using larger sample sizes.
While several studies have examined how class time and internship responsibilities impact demand for alcohol in undergraduate samples, no study has examined this question using more universally applicable responsibilities with a sample of community adults. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the impact of a range of next-day responsibilities on demand for alcohol among a crowdsourced sample of community adults using a hypothetical alcohol purchase task (APT). Community adults (n = 261; 79% White; 60% identified as men; 39% identified as women; and 1% identified as nonbinary) with a mean age of 38.42 recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk rank-ordered eight hypothetical next-day responsibilities across three categories (i.e., work, caregiving, and recreational). Participants first completed a standard APT with no explicit next-day responsibilities, followed by purchase tasks in the context of their two highest ranked responsibilities. All participants needed to pass several stages of attention and data quality checks to be included in the final sample. All observed demand indices (i.e., intensity, breakpoint, O max , and P max ) were significantly higher in the no responsibilities condition compared to both the firstand second-ranked responsibility condition ( ps < .001); however, there was no significant difference in any demand index between the firstand second-ranked responsibility ( p range .65-.91). These results extend prior work by demonstrating engagement with substance-free alternatives may reduce demand for alcohol among community adults. Public Health SignificanceThis study uses behavioral economics to document that community adults report they would drink less alcohol on nights before an important next-day responsibility, such as taking care of their kids or going to work. These results may have direct implications for clinicians by suggesting that working with their clients to plan personally relevant next-day activities could help them reduce their alcohol consumption and reduce the potential for adverse consequences.
Objective: This study examined risk perceptions related to driving after cannabis use (DACU) among Canadian and U.S. adults who used cannabis in the past six months. Method: Perceptions of danger, normative beliefs, perceived likelihood of negative consequences, and other driving-related variables were collected via online surveys in Canadian [n = 158; 50.0% female, 84.8% White, mean age = 32.73 (SD = 10.61)] and U.S. participants [n = 678; 50.9% female, 73.6% White, mean age = 33.85 (SD = 10.12)]. Results: The two samples did not significantly differ in self-reported level of cannabis use, lifetime quantity of DACU or the number of times they drove within 2 hours of cannabis use in the past 3 months (ps > .12). Compared to U.S. participants, Canadians perceived driving within 2 hours of cannabis use as more dangerous (p < .001, p2 = .013), and reported that more of their friends would disapprove of DACU (p = .03, p2 = .006). There were no differences in the number of friends who would refuse to ride with a driver who had used cannabis (p = .15) or the perceived likelihood of negative consequences (ps > .07). More favorable perceptions were significantly correlated with greater lifetime DACU and driving within 2 hours of use (rs = .14-.51, ps < .01). Conclusions: These findings reveal differences in distal risk factors for DACU between Canada and the U.S. and may inform prevention efforts focusing on perceptions of risk and social acceptance of DACU.
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