Cross-Commodity Delay Discounting of Alcohol and Money in Alcohol Users

Abstract

Despite real-world implications, the pattern of delay discounting in alcohol users when the commodities now and later differ has not been well characterized. In this study, 60 participants on Amazon's Mechanical Turk completed the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) to assess severity of use and completed four delay discounting tasks between hypothetical, equivalent amounts of alcohol and money available at five delays. The tasks included two cross-commodity (alcohol now-money later and money now-alcohol later) and two same-commodity (money now-money later and alcohol now-alcohol later) conditions. Delay discounting was significantly associated with clinical cutoffs of the AUDIT for both of the cross-commodity conditions but not for either of the same-commodity delay discounting tasks. The cross-commodity discounting conditions were related to severity of use wherein heavy users discounted future alcohol less and future money more. The change in direction of the discounting effect was dependent on the commodity that was distally available suggesting a distinctive pattern of discounting across commodities when comparing light and heavy alcohol users.

Delay discounting of different outcomes: Review and theory

“…In this type of research, one type of outcome is available immediately, but another type of outcome is available after a delay. For example, Moody et al () examined delay discounting in people who used alcohol. There were two same‐commodity conditions, in which the immediate and delayed outcomes were the same (Money–Money [M–M] and Alcohol–Alcohol [A–A]), and two cross‐commodity conditions, in which the immediate and delayed outcomes were different (Money–Alcohol [M–A] and Alcohol–Money [A–M]).…”

The influence of groups and alcohol consumption on individual risk-taking

“…For example, selecting an immediate £5 payoff, over a £10 reward given the following day. As with behavioural disinhibition, delay discounting has found to be associated with increased risk-taking (Courtney et al, 2012;Mishra & Lalumière, 2017), and seems to be elevated in heavy and harmful drinkers (Moody, Tegge, & Bickel, 2017). As such, both constructs of impulsivity are seemingly related to both risk-taking and alcohol use.…”

Less is more: Negative income shock increases immediate preference in cross commodity discounting and food demand

“…These tasks offer several advantages: first, they more accurately reflect the real-world decisions between alternative choices; second, in conjunction with more conventional (within-commodity) discounting, they allow for simultaneous assessment of preference for immediate reinforcement and a particular reinforcer. Cross-commodity discounting has been assessed in cocaine users (Bickel, Landes, et al, 2011), and alcohol users (Moody, Tegge, & Bickel, 2017) and, in conjunction with within-commodity discounting, can assess relative discounting of, and utility, for each commodity (Bickel, Landes, et al, 2011). In this case, assessing discounting both across commodities (food now, money later; money now, food later) and within commodities (food now and later; money now and later) allows for the finest resolution of relative preference of the distinct effects of each of these factors, indicating how preference may shift towards or away from specific kinds of reward, independent of how that reward may be discounted.…”