Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA.
Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2009 Dec;17(6):396-404. doi: 10.1037/a0017684.
Recent clinical research suggests that several self-report behavioral economic measures of relative reinforcing efficacy (RRE) may show utility as indices of substance abuse problem severity. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Alcohol Purchase Task (APT), a RRE measure that uses hypothetical choices regarding alcohol purchases at varying prices (demand curves) to generate several indices of alcohol-related reinforcement. Participants were 38 college students who reported recent alcohol consumption. Both the raw alcohol purchase/consumption values and several of the computed reinforcement parameters (intensity & Omax) showed good to excellent 2-week test-retest reliability. Reinforcement parameters derived from both a linear-elasticity (Hursh, Raslear, Bauman, & Black, 1989) and an exponential (Hursh & Silberberg, 2008) demand curve equation were generally less reliable, despite the fact that both equations provided a good fit to participants' reported consumption data. The APT measures of demand intensity (number of drinks consumed when price = 0), Omax (maximum expenditure), and elasticity (alpha) were correlated with weekly drinking, alcohol-related problems, and other self-report RRE measures (relative discretionary monetary expenditures toward alcohol and/or relative substance-related activity participation and enjoyment). Demand intensity was uniquely associated with problem drinking in a regression model that controlled for weekly consumption. These results provide support for the reliability and validity of the RRE indices generated with the APT.
最近的临床研究表明，几种自我报告的行为经济学相对强化效应（RRE）测量方法可能可作为衡量物质滥用问题严重程度的指标。本研究的目的是评估酒精购买任务（APT）的可靠性和有效性，这是一种 RRE 测量方法，它使用关于不同价格的酒精购买的假设选择（需求曲线）来生成几个与酒精相关的强化指数。参与者是 38 名报告最近饮酒的大学生。原始的酒精购买/消费值和几个计算得出的强化参数（强度和 Omax）均显示出良好至优秀的 2 周测试-重测可靠性。尽管两种方程都能很好地拟合参与者报告的消费数据，但从线性弹性（Hursh、Raslear、Bauman 和 Black，1989）和指数（Hursh 和 Silberberg，2008）需求曲线方程得出的强化参数的可靠性通常较低。APT 的需求强度（价格=0 时消耗的饮料数量）、Omax（最大支出）和弹性（alpha）测量值与每周饮酒、酒精相关问题以及其他自我报告的 RRE 测量值（相对可自由支配的用于酒精的支出和/或相对物质相关活动的参与和享受）相关。在控制每周消费的回归模型中，需求强度与问题饮酒存在独特的关联。这些结果为 APT 生成的 RRE 指数的可靠性和有效性提供了支持。
