Citation

Howe LK, Copeland S, Fisher L, Farmer E, Nemes L, Finn PR. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/acer.14746

PMID

34806196

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Research on decision-making (DM) biases in persons with alcohol use disorder (AUD) have largely relied on behavioral economic DM tasks, which do not assess the dynamic multitude of factors associated with real-world decisions about drinking. The current study extends the literature on DM and alcohol use by using a mobile daily diary approach to investigate if, and how, real-world incentives and disincentives are associated with actual drinking decisions in college students.

METHODS: Current drinking and lifetime alcohol problems were assessed in 104 young adults (61.5% female, 84.5% White) who used a mobile daily diary to respond to questions about drinking decisions from the day prior for a 14-day period. Mobile prompts assessed daily data on the timing of drinking decisions, alcohol quantity initially decided to drink, quantity actually decided to drink, and the incentives that influenced drinking decisions.

RESULTS: Users of the app reported high usability, high compliance rates were observed, and incentive responses were reduced to three subtypes: alcohol, social/party, and mood. Daily mobile measures of drinking quantity were strongly correlated with self-reported drinking 2-weeks prior to the daily assessment. Lifetime alcohol problems were positively related to the average quantity decided to drink per event, drinking more than initially decided, and higher levels of self-reported drinking-decision incentives. "Alcohol" and "social/party" incentives were positively related to the quantity the participant decided to drink at drinking events. Mood incentives and disincentives showed little to no significant relationships with drinking decisions.

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that mobile data collection can be useful for assessing aspects of real-world drinking decisions and the influence of multiple drinking decision incentives.

Language: en

Keywords

alcohol use; alcohol problems; daily diary; decision making; ecological momentary assessment