Development of a behavioral economic intervention with personalized resource allocation feedback to reduce young adult alcohol misuse

ABSTRACT
Alcohol use across the life course peaks for most individuals in young adulthood, and use during this
developmental period is associated with numerous consequences and societal costs. Personalized feedback
interventions (PFIs) are among the most effective interventions for reducing young adult alcohol misuse,
however questions remain regarding the magnitude and duration of effects and the extent to which PFIs are of
interest to young adults (YAs). Previous studies have demonstrated YA preferences for feedback on practical
information including financial expenditures on alcohol. Behavioral economic models posit that alcohol misuse
is indexed by an excessive valuation of alcohol and resources allocated to alcohol (i.e., money and time spent
on alcohol), and considerable research supports these models. Although some PFIs include information on
alcohol-related resource allocation, they are often not the primary focus of feedback, are not personalized to
YAs’ reported personal interests or financial goals, are often very brief and limited in scope, and provide
feedback in reference to broad timeframes. This proposed research aims to develop a comprehensive web-
based Resource Allocation PFI (RA-PFI) that summarizes YAs’ daily finances and time allocated to alcohol-
related activities with weekly personalized information tailored to an individual’s own personal financial and
time allocation goals. The RA-PFI will be developed to specifically target behavioral economic risk factors
shown to be associated with alcohol misuse, including alcohol demand (e.g., feedback regarding overall and
peak financial expenditures on alcohol), delay discounting (e.g., feedback regarding expenditures on
immediate rewards [alcohol] vs. delayed rewards [savings]) and time allocation (e.g., feedback on time spent in
alcohol vs. alcohol-free activities). To do so, Phase 1 will include formative research on the development of the
RA-PFI, including qualitative work assessing young adult preference for specific RA feedback components.
Phase 2 will be a pilot study where 150 young adult drinkers (ages 21-29) will be randomized to an RA-PFI
intervention (n=75) or an assessment only control (n=75) condition and will complete an online baseline
assessment, 3-weeks of daily assessments on resource allocation and weekly personalized feedback, and 1-
and 3-month follow-up online assessments. Those in the RA-PFI will receive weekly personalized feedback on
behavioral economic indices of alcohol use including spending patterns, expenditures, time allocation, and
progress working towards financial goals. We will test the feasibility and acceptability of the RA-PFI and
examine intervention effects on alcohol use, related consequences, and behavioral economic indices of
alcohol misuse. Findings have important public health implications as we will develop, refine, and test an
intervention with high potential for dissemination and interest to YAs by targeting theoretically and empirically
supported behavioral economic risk factors to reduce young adult alcohol misuse.

Grant Number: 1R34AA029478-01A1
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Cadigan