Leveraging behavioral economics and reinforcement theory in treating heavy episodic drinking among college students.

Abstract

Heavy Episodic drinking and associated serious adverse impacts is a persistent and often tragic problem among emerging adults including college students that calls out for efficacious clinical interventions and innovative mitigation policies (e.g., Hingson et al., 2017; Hultgren et al., 2021). While heavy drinking has multiple determinants, there is broad recognition that the relative reinforcing effects of alcohol acting at brain reward centers play an essential role in promoting and sustaining that behavior pattern (Martinez-Loredo et al., 2021; MacKillop, 2016).