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Male, But Not Female, Alcohol-Dependent African Americans Discount Delayed Gains More Steeply than Propensity-Score Matched Controls

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Abstract

Rationale

Alcohol dependence is known to be associated with steep discounting of delayed rewards, but its relation to the discounting of delayed losses and probabilistic rewards is unclear. Moreover, patterns of alcohol consumption vary considerably between communities, but previous research has not examined the relation between discounting and alcohol dependence in low-income African Americans.

Objectives

The goal of the present study was to determine whether low-income, alcohol-dependent African Americans differ from controls in the degree to which they discount delayed rewards, delayed losses, or probabilistic rewards.

Methods

African–American participants, both cases and controls, were recruited from the same low-income neighborhoods, and propensity-score matching was used to further control for demographic differences. Participants performed three tasks that assessed their discounting of hypothetical monetary outcomes: delayed rewards, delayed losses, and probabilistic rewards.

Results

Alcohol-dependent cases discounted delayed gains, but not delayed losses or probabilistic gains, more steeply than their matched controls. The difference in discounting of delayed gains was localized to the male cases, whose discounting was steeper than either the male controls or the female cases; no gender difference was observed between male and female controls.

Conclusions

The present results extend findings regarding discounting by substance abusers to a previously unstudied group, low-income African Americans, and suggest that in this group at least, alcohol dependence, particularly in males, may be more a reflection of choosing immediate rewards than of ignoring their delayed negative consequences.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors have no financial relationship or conflict of interest to declare.

Funding

Funding for the research was provided by NIH grants R01AA017444, T32DA007313 and DA031288.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Joel Myerson & Leonard Green

  2. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Carissa van den Berk-Clark

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Richard A. Grucza

Authors
  1. Joel Myerson
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  2. Leonard Green
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  3. Carissa van den Berk-Clark
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  4. Richard A. Grucza
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Correspondence to Joel Myerson.

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Myerson, J., Green, L., van den Berk-Clark, C. et al. Male, But Not Female, Alcohol-Dependent African Americans Discount Delayed Gains More Steeply than Propensity-Score Matched Controls. Psychopharmacology 232, 4493–4503 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-4076-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-4076-x

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