ArticleAlcoholism, clinical and experimental research2020
Latent Profile Analysis of Heavy Episodic Drinking in Emerging Adults: A Reinforcer Pathology Approach.
Article in Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Delay discounting and anxiety: a systematic review on current evidence for clinical and non-clinical population.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Concurrent validity of the Alcohol Purchase Task for measuring the reinforcing efficacy of alcohol: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2021Pooled it
- Toward a Predictive Model of Success in Contingency Management: A Proof of Concept Study Utilizing Behavioral Economic, Clinical Severity, and Alcohol Use Severity Measures.The Psychological record · 2026Article
- Diagnostic validity of alcohol demand and monetary delay discounting in relation to alcohol use disorder.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2025Article
- Assessment of contextualized reinforcement pathology in a community sample of young adult substance users.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
- Understanding Momentary Alcohol Use Cognitions Through the Lenses of Momentary Socioeconomic Identification, Unfair Treatment, and Strain.Substance use & misuse · 2025Article
- Reward deprivation is associated with elevated alcohol demand in emerging adults.Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior · 2025Article
- The role of anhedonia in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), alcohol use disorder symptoms, and food addiction symptoms in a sample of emerging adults with histories of heavy drinking.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- The Use of Nonmonetary Outcomes in Health-Related Delay Discounting Research: Review and Recommendations.Perspectives on behavior science · 2024Review
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is associated with more alcohol problems and less substance-free reinforcement: A behavioral economics daily diary study of college student drinkers.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2024Article
- Characterizing clinical heterogeneity in an inpatient service treating mental, substance use and concurrent disorders.PLOS mental health · 2024Article
- The Phenotype of Recovery X: Associations between delay discounting, regulatory flexibility, and remission from substance use disorder.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2023Article
- Associations between alcohol demand, delayed reward discounting, and high-intensity drinking in a diverse emerging adult sample.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Subtypes in addiction and their neurobehavioral profiles across three functional domains.Translational psychiatry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHeavy episodic drinking (HED) is a major public health problem among emerging adults (individuals 18 to 25), but with considerable heterogeneity in concurrent substance use and psychopathology. The current study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to detect discrete subgroups of HED based on alcohol, other drug severity, and concurrent psychopathology. A reinforcer pathology approach was used to understand motivational differences among the latent subgroups.
methodsParticipants were 2 samples of emerging adults reporting regular HED, 1 Canadian (n = 730) and 1 American (n = 602). Indicators for the LPA were validated dimensional self-report assessments of alcohol severity, cannabis severity, other drug severity, nicotine dependence, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Reinforcer pathology indicators were measures of alcohol demand, proportionate substance-related reinforcement, and discounting of future rewards.
resultsThe LPA yielded parallel 3-class solutions in both samples. The largest subgroup was characterized by comparatively low substance severity and psychopathology (Low overall severity). The second largest subgroup was characterized by comparatively high alcohol and other drug severity (excluding tobacco) and high levels of psychopathology (Heavy alcohol & high psychiatric severity). The third subgroup exhibited high alcohol, smoking and intermediate levels of other substance use and psychopathology (Heavy alcohol, smoking, & intermediate psychiatric severity). The Heavy alcohol & high psychiatric severity and Heavy alcohol, smoking, & intermediate psychiatric severity subgroups exhibited significantly higher alcohol demand, greater proportionate substance-related reinforcement, and steeper delay discounting.
conclusionsParallel latent subgroups of emerging adults engaging in HED were present in both samples, and the high-risk subgroups were significantly differentiated by the reinforcer pathology indicators. These latent profiles may ultimately inform heterogeneity in the longitudinal course of HED in emerging adults.
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