Chia-Lin Tsai

Increased behavioral economic demand and craving for alcohol following a laboratory alcohol challenge.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Although increases in subjective alcohol craving have been observed following moderate doses of alcohol (e.g. priming effects), the effects of alcohol consumption on behavioral economic demand for alcohol are largely unstudied. This study examined the effects of alcohol intoxication on alcohol demand and craving. DESIGN A between-subjects design in which participants were randomly assigned to either an alcohol (n = 31), placebo (n = 29) or control (n = 25) condition. SETTING A laboratory setting at the University of Missouri, USA. PARTICIPANTS Eighty-five young adult moderate drinkers were recruited from the University of Missouri and surrounding community. MEASUREMENTS Change in demand for alcohol across time was measured using three single items: alcohol consumption at no cost (i.e. intensity), maximum price paid for a single drink (i.e. breakpoint) and total amount spent on alcohol (i.e. Omax). Alcohol demand at baseline was also assessed using an alcohol purchase task (APT). Craving was assessed using a single visual analog scale item. FINDINGS In the alcohol group compared with the combined non-alcohol groups, intensity, breakpoint and craving increased from baseline to the ascending limb and decreased thereafter (Ps < 0.05; Omax , P = 0.06). Change in craving following alcohol consumption was significantly associated with change in each of the demand indices (Ps < 0.0001). Finally, the demand single items were associated with corresponding indices from the APT (Ps < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Alcohol demand increases following intoxication, in terms of both the maximum amount people are willing to pay for one drink and the number of drinks people would consume if drinks were free. Behavioral economic measures of alcohol value can complement subjective craving as measures of moment-to-moment fluctuations in drinking motivation following intoxication.

Development and Validation of the Strengths Self-Efficacy Scale (SSES):

The Strengths Self-Efficacy scale (SSES) was developed to allow career counselors, educators, and researchers to assess individuals’ perceived abilities to build their personal strengths and apply them in their daily life. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted with 275 adults and resulted in one factor: general strengths self-efficacy. The internal consistency was .96 and SSES was weakly related to social desirability. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed using another sample of 302 adults, and results verified the one-factor structure. The results suggested that the 11-item SSES demonstrated strong internal consistency (α = .95) and that SSES scores were moderately related to self-esteem and life satisfaction and weakly related to social desirability. Finally, a test–retest reliability analysis on a sample of 36 adults indicated that SSES scores were stable over a 3-week period. Implications for career counseling and mental health practices as well as research applications of this new measure were discussed.

Association between overall rate of change in rising breath alcohol concentration and the magnitude of acute tolerance of subjective intoxication via the Mellanby method

The magnitude of acute tolerance is a strong predictor of the development of longer‐term chronic tolerance and plays a decisive role in risky decisions (e.g., driving after drinking). Therefore, it is important to identify factors that increase the magnitude of this adaptive process. This study explored whether acute tolerance magnitude varied as a function of the overall rate of increase in breath alcohol concentration (BrAC).

Response to Tucker & Vuchinich (2015): Behavioral economics in the broader context of addiction science

Keywords: Alcohol; behavioral economics; craving; demand; efficient causes, within-person variation.