Valuation of Future Alcohol in Cross-Commodity Delay Discounting Is Associated With Alcohol Misuse/Consequences

Public Health Significance Statement Understanding and reducing hazardous drinking by young adults remains a public health priority. This study highlights the utility of cross-commodity delay discounting tasks in understanding associations between alcohol use/misuse and intertemporal choice by young adults who engage in hazardous drinking. Specifically, we find that lower rates of delay discounting when money is immediately available and alcohol is available following a delay (indicative of relative preference for delayed alcohol) is associated with greater past-month alcohol use and hazardous drinking. This result is inconsistent with single-commodity delay discounting literature that implies that problematic alcohol use is associated with a general unwillingness or inability to delay gratification. The present results suggest that individuals who engage in problematic alcohol use may invest in future access to alcohol, with implications for the etiology of alcohol use disorder as well as for behavioral interventions that seek to alter valuation of commodities across time. Objective: Delay discounting (DD) refers to the reduction in reward value as a function of its delay, and individuals who misuse alcohol typically exhibit high rates of DD, which may reflect a general preference for immediate outcomes. This interpretation is based on studies utilizing single-commodity DD tasks where the same commodity is available immediately and following a delay. Cross-commodity DD tasks require individuals to choose between different commodities at varying delays and may provide the potential to further illuminate intertemporal preference associated with alcohol misuse. The present study examined associations between single-commodity and cross-commodity DD rates with alcohol use metrics among young adults. Method: DD by young adults (N = 70, aged 19-24, 71% male, 80% White) who engage in hazardous drinking was examined using a fully parametric combination of immediate and delayed alcohol and money outcomes. We hypothesized that past 30-day alcohol use and alcohol-related negative consequences would be associated with preference for alcohol outcomes independent of whether alcohol was immediate or delayed. Results: Results support the hypothesis, as past 30-day consumption and AUDIT scores were positively associated with rate of DD in the immediate alcohol versus delayed money task and negatively associated with rate of DD in the immediate money versus delayed alcohol task. Moreover, we found the immediate money versus delayed alcohol task provided unique explanatory power for individual alcohol use. Conclusions: The observed associations indicate that willingness to invest in future access to alcohol may be associated with elevated alcohol use and related consequences.