Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2012 Jun;36(6):950-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2011.01703.x. Epub 2012 Feb 6.
A long line of theoretical and empirical evidence implicates negative reinforcement as a process underlying the etiology and maintenance of risky alcohol use behaviors from adolescence through emerging adulthood. However, the bulk of this literature has relied on self-report measures, and there is a notable absence of behavioral modes of assessments of negative reinforcement-based alcohol-related risk-taking. To address this clear gap in the literature, the current study presents the first published data on the reliability and validity of the Maryland Resource for the Behavioral Utilization of the Reinforcement of Negative Stimuli (MRBURNS), which is a modified version of the positive reinforcement-based Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART).
Participants included a convenience sample of 116 college freshmen ever regular drinkers (aged 18 to 19) who completed both behavioral tasks; self-report measures of negative reinforcement/avoidance constructs and of positive reinforcement/appetitive constructs to examine convergent validity and discriminant validity, respectively; and self-report measures of alcohol use, problems, and motives to examine criterion validity.
The MRBURNS evidenced sound experimental properties and reliability across task trials. In support of convergent validity, risk-taking on the MRBURNS correlated significantly with negative urgency, difficulties in emotion regulation, and depressive and anxiety-related symptoms. In support of discriminant validity, performance on the MRBURNS was unrelated to risk-taking on the BART, sensation seeking, and trait impulsivity. Finally, pertaining to criterion validity, risk-taking on the MRBURNS was related to alcohol-related problems but not heavy episodic alcohol use. Notably, risk-taking on the MRBURNS was associated with negative reinforcement-based but not with positive reinforcement-based drinking motives.
Data from this initial investigation suggest the utility of the MRBURNS as a behavioral measure of negative reinforcement-based risk-taking that can provide a useful complement to existing self-report measures to improve our understanding of the relationship between avoidant reinforcement processes and risky alcohol use.
大量理论和实证证据表明，负强化是导致青少年至成年早期期间危险饮酒行为发生和维持的一个过程。然而，该领域的大部分研究都依赖于自我报告的测量方法，并且缺乏基于负强化的与饮酒相关的风险行为的行为模式评估。为了解决这一文献中的明显差距，本研究首次提供了马里兰州基于负刺激强化的行为利用资源（MRBURNS）的可靠性和有效性的已发表数据，这是基于正强化的气球模拟风险任务（BART）的修改版本。
参与者包括一个方便的 116 名大学新生样本，他们都是经常饮酒者（年龄在 18 到 19 岁之间），他们完成了两种行为任务；自我报告的负强化/回避结构和正强化/欲望结构的测量，以分别检验收敛效度和区分效度；以及自我报告的酒精使用、问题和动机的测量，以检验效标效度。
MRBURNS 在整个任务试验中表现出良好的实验特性和可靠性。支持收敛效度，MRBURNS 的风险承担与消极紧迫感、情绪调节困难以及抑郁和焦虑相关症状显著相关。支持区分效度，MRBURNS 的表现与 BART、感觉寻求和特质冲动性的风险承担无关。最后，关于效标效度，MRBURNS 的风险承担与与酒精相关的问题有关，但与重度 episodic 饮酒无关。值得注意的是，MRBURNS 的风险承担与基于负强化的饮酒动机有关，而与基于正强化的饮酒动机无关。
这项初步研究的数据表明，MRBURNS 作为一种基于负强化的风险承担的行为测量工具具有实用性，可以作为现有自我报告测量的有用补充，以提高我们对回避强化过程与危险饮酒行为之间关系的理解。
