Abstract
Few studies have simultaneously evaluated delay discounting and behavioral economic demand to determine their unique contribution to drug use. A recent study in cannabis users found that monetary delay discounting uniquely predicted cannabis dependence symptoms, whereas cannabis demand uniquely predicted use frequency. This study sought to replicate and extend this research by evaluating delay discounting and behavioral economic demand measures for multiple commodities and including a use quantity measure. Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk was used to sample individuals reporting recent cannabis use (n = 64) and controls (n = 72). Participants completed measures of monetary delay discounting as well as alcohol and cannabis delay discounting and demand. Cannabis users and controls did not differ on monetary delay discounting or alcohol delay discounting and demand. Among cannabis users, regression analyses indicated that cannabis delay discounting uniquely predicted use severity, whereas cannabis demand uniquely predicted use frequency and quantity. These effects remained significant after controlling for other delay discounting and demand measures. This research replicates previous outcomes relating delay discounting and demand with cannabis use and extends them by accounting for the contribution of multiple commodities. This research also demonstrates the ability of online crowdsourcing methods to complement traditional human laboratory techniques.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2017
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2017.03.017
Funding Information
This work was supported by the Psi Chi Psychology Honor Society and National Science Foundation [grant number 1247392].
Related Content
Refer to Web version on PubMed Central for supplementary material.
Repository Citation
Strickland, Justin C.; Lile, Joshua A.; and Stoops, William W., "Unique Prediction of Cannabis Use Severity and Behaviors by Delay Discounting and Behavioral Economic Demand" (2017). Psychology Faculty Publications. 167.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_facpub/167
Supplemental Table. Bivariate Associations of Drug Demand and Intensity with Drug Use Variables.
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Behavioural Processes, v. 140, p. 33-40.
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
This manuscript version is made available under the CC‐BY‐NC‐ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
The document available for download is the author's post-peer-review final draft of the article.