Understanding Alcohol Consumption and Its Antecedents and Consequences in Daily Life: The Why and the How

Most of the scientific research on alcohol consumption behavior in humans is laboratory-based, as reflected by the ratio of laboratory vs. real-life contributions to this handbook. Studies in daily life, although having a long history in addiction research (Shiffman et al., Ann Behav Med 16:203-209, 1994), are in the minority. This is surprising, given that patients with substance use disorders are suffering in daily life and not in the laboratory setting. In other words, drinking patterns and symptoms of alcohol use disorder evolve not in the lab but in daily life, where patients show difficulties in limiting their alcohol intake accompanied with all kinds of related problems. The ultimate goal of all interventions, independent of being tailored toward restricted drinking or abstinence, is again an altered behavior in real life. Translated to practice, patients' behavior in the lab may not translate to daily life, often showing minimal ecological validity. Therefore, we have to question to which degree lab-based research findings translate into daily life. Fortunately, the current digital revolution provided us with more and more tools, enabling us to monitor, analyze, and change behavior in human everyday life. Our chapter does not intend to give a comprehensive overview of the daily life research on alcohol consumption over the last few decades as others do (Morgenstern et al., Alcohol Res Curr Rev 36:109, 2014; Piasecki, Alcohol Clin Exp Res 43:564-577, 2019; Shiffman, Psychol Asses 21:486-497, 2009; Votaw and Witkiewitz, Clin Psychol Sci 9:535-562, 2021; Wray et al., Alcohol Res Curr Rev 36:19-27, 2014). Instead, we aim at the following: first, to highlight the key advantages of ecological momentary assessment to motivate scientists to add daily life research components to their laboratory research and, second, to provide some guidance on how to begin with daily life research.