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Validity of the alcohol purchase task: a meta-analysis
Andrew M Kiselica1, Troy A Webber1, Marina A Bornovalova1
1Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
Addiction (Abingdon, England)
|December 1, 2015
Summary
The Alcohol Purchase Task (APT) shows good construct validity for assessing alcohol problems. However, its incremental utility in predicting risk beyond general consumption is limited.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Psychology
- Public Health
Background:
- Behavioral economics assesses alcohol consumption via unit price, creating demand curves and indices to estimate alcohol problem risk.
- The Alcohol Purchase Task (APT) is a common behavioral economic measure for alcohol risk.
- The construct validity and incremental utility of the APT require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a meta-analysis of the Alcohol Purchase Task (APT) literature.
- To evaluate the construct validity and incremental utility of the APT in assessing alcohol problem risk.
Main Methods:
- A meta-analysis of 16 studies was performed using data from PsycInfo, PubMed, Web of Science, and EconLit.
- Random-effects meta-analyses with inverse variance weighting were used to calculate summary effect sizes.
- The incremental utility of APT indices in predicting drinking problems was tested.
Main Results:
- APT indices showed expected correlations with drinking outcomes, though effect sizes were often small.
- Drinking status (regular vs. heavy drinkers) did not typically moderate these effects.
- The intensity metric demonstrated incremental utility in predicting alcohol use disorder symptoms.
Conclusions:
- The Alcohol Purchase Task demonstrates good construct validity.
- The incremental utility of the APT in estimating alcohol problem risk is limited.
