Delay Discounting Validity and E-Cigarette Use: A Comparison in E-Cigarette Users, Combustible Cigarette Users, Dual Users, and Nonusers

Delay discounting refers to the devaluation of an outcome as temporal delay increases. Steep discounting is characterized by preferring a smaller, immediate outcome over a larger, delayed outcome and is associated with maladaptive behaviors such as tobacco use. Previous studies have compared delay discounting outcomes between combustible cigarette (CC) smokers and nonusers using various discounting tasks.With the growing use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes [EC]) and various delay discounting tasks available to researchers, we extended previous work in delay discounting and EC use in two ways. The present study assessed delay discounting in a web-based sample of 259 participants to (a) establish convergent validity across four different delay discounting tasks and (b) compare the outcomes between four subgroups: dual users, exclusive EC users, exclusive CC users, and nonusers. The four delay discounting tasks (Monetary Choice Questionnaire, 5-Trial Adjusting Delay Discounting Task [ADT-5], Temporal Discounting Questionnaire, and Brief Intertemporal Choice Task [BRIC Task]) showed moderate to strong convergent validity (p <.001). Further, findings indicated significant differences between all four subgroups across the four different delay discounting tasks (p <.048) with small effect sizes. Pairwise comparisons showed that exclusive EC users exhibited significantly steeper discounting than nonusers in ADT-5 (p =.043) and BRIC Task (p =.029) and dual users exhibited significantly steeper discounting than nonusers on ADT-5 (p =.043) and BRIC Task (p =.030). Our findings replicate previous findings and suggest the potential role of delay discounting in explaining the behavioral mechanism underlying e-cigarette use.

© American Psychological Association, 2024-11-07. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission. The final article is available, upon publication, at: https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000748

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Work Title Delay Discounting Validity and E-Cigarette Use: A Comparison in E-Cigarette Users, Combustible Cigarette Users, Dual Users, and Nonusers
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Open Access
Creators
  1. Ji Young Kim
  2. D D Reed
  3. Justin C Strickland
  4. Andrea Hobkirk
  5. Jonathan Foulds
  6. Jonathan Foulds
  7. Andrea Hobkirk
  8. N F Seacord
  9. H M Ditzler
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology
Publication Date January 1, 2024
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000748
Deposited February 03, 2025

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  • Added Creator Ji Young Kim
  • Added Creator D D Reed
  • Added Creator Justin C Strickland
  • Added Creator Andrea Hobkirk
  • Added Creator Jonathan Foulds
  • Added Creator Jonathan Foulds
  • Added Creator Andrea Hobkirk
  • Added Creator N F Seacord
  • Added Creator H M Ditzler
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