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INTRODUCTION Substance use disorder (SUD) is among the most prevalent mental health disorders in the United States and in general clinical practice, with 7% of the U.S. population age 12 [...]

INTRODUCTION Alcohol use is associated with tremendous social and economic costs and contributes to 5% of the global disease burden. (1) Most of the costs are due to excessive drinking [...]

Natural health information sources used by African-American emerging adults were investigated to identify sources associated with high and low substance-related risk. Participants (110 males, 234 females; M age = 18.9 years) were recruited using respondent-driven sampling, and structured interviews assessed substance use, sources of health information, and preferences for help. Friends and social network sites were associated with higher risk, whereas teachers/schools were associated with lower risk (ps < 0.025). Despite risks associated with friends, more participants preferred receiving help from friends than the other sources. The findings inform targeted prevention messages that are sensitive to contextual and audience characteristics.

Data were pooled from 3 studies of recently resolved community-dwelling problem drinkers to determine whether a behavioral economic index of the value of rewards available over different time horizons distinguished among moderation (n = 30), abstinent (n = 95), and unresolved (n = 77) outcomes. Moderation over 1- to 2-year prospective follow-up intervals was hypothesized to involve longer term behavior regulation processes than abstinence or relapse and to be predicted by more balanced preresolution monetary allocations between short-term and longer term objectives (i.e., drinking and saving for the future). Standardized odds ratios (ORs) based on changes in standard deviation units from a multinomial logistic regression indicated that increases on this "Alcohol-Savings Discretionary Expenditure" index predicted higher rates of abstinence (OR = 1.93, p = 0.004) and relapse (OR = 2.89, p less than 0.0001) compared with moderation outcomes. The index had incremental utility in predicting moderation in complex models that included other established predictors. The study adds to evidence supporting a behavioral economic analysis of drinking resolutions and shows that a systematic analysis of preresolution spending patterns aids in predicting moderation. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

This study investigated whether a behavioral economic index of the value of rewards available over different time horizons improved prediction of drinking outcomes beyond established biopsychosocial predictors. Preferences for immediate drinking versus more delayed rewards made possible by saving money were determined from expenditures prior to resolution attempts by problem drinkers with different help-seeking experiences (N = 144). As hypothesized, stable resolutions over a 2-year follow-up were associated with proportionally more pre-resolution discretionary expenditures on savings and less on alcohol compared with unstable resolutions. The relationship held regardless of help-seeking history, and pre-resolution drinking practices, problems, and income were similar across outcomes. The findings extend experimental work on behavioral economics and indicate that measuring monetary allocation improves prediction of outcomes.

Objectives: Behavioral economic (BE) theory posits that harmful alcohol use is a joint product of elevated alcohol demand and preference for immediate over delayed rewards. Despite cross-sectional research support, whether expected bidirectional relations exist between BE indicators and drinking during recovery attempts is unknown. Therefore, this prospective research investigated quarter-by-quarter cross-lagged associations between BE simulation tasks and drinking following a natural recovery attempt. Higher demand and discounting in a given quarter should predict subsequent drinking. Conversely, drinking in a given quarter should predict subsequent higher demand and discounting. Method: Community-dwelling problem drinkers were enrolled shortly after stopping heavy drinking without treatment (N = 191). Drinking practices, problems, delay discounting, and alcohol demand (intensity, Omax, Pmax, elasticity) were assessed at baseline and 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month follow-ups. Longitudinal cross-lagged models related each BE indicator in the previous quarter to drinking status in the next quarter, and vice versa. Results: Higher demand intensity (consumption when drinks are free) at Quarter 1 distinguished participants who drank heavily in Quarter 2 from those who abstained. In turn, heavy drinking participants in Quarter 2 had higher intensity at Quarter 3 than abstainers and moderate drinkers in Quarter 2, and higher intensity at Quarter 3 distinguished heavy drinkers in Quarter 4 from moderate drinkers (ps < .05). Hypothesized associations for other BE indices were inconsistent or partially supported. Conclusions: Alcohol purchase task metrics showed some hypothesized prospective associations with drinking during a natural recovery attempt, which supports their ecological validity as relapse risk indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Howard Rachlin and his contemporaries pioneered basic behavioral science innovations that have been usefully applied to advance understanding of human substance use disorder and related health behaviors. We briefly summarize the innovations of molar behaviorism (the matching law), behavioral economics, and teleological behaviorism. Behavioral economics and teleological behaviorism's focus on final causes are especially illuminating for these applied fields. Translational and applied research are summarized for laboratory studies of temporal discounting and economic demand, cohort studies of alcohol and other drug use in the natural environment, and experimental behavioral economic modeling of health behavior‐related public health policies. We argue that the teleological behavioral perspective on health behavior is conducive to and merges seamlessly with the contemporary socioecological model of health behavior, which broadens the contextual influences (e.g., community, economic, infrastructure, health care access and policy) of individuals' substance use and other health risk behaviors. Basic‐to‐applied translations to date have been successful and bode well for continued applications of basic science areas pioneered by Howard Rachlin and his contemporaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 40 years, the alcohol research field has made great strides in developing evidence-based treatments for alcohol problems (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA] 2005). Nevertheless, [...]