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Acuff SF, Pilatti A, Collins M, et al. Reinforcer pathology of internet-related behaviors among college students: Data from six countries. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2021;doi: 10.1037/pha0000459.
Acuff, S. F., Pilatti, A., Collins, M., Hides, L., Thingujam, N. S., Chai, W. J., Yap, W. M., Shuai, R., Hogarth, L., Bravo, A. J., & Murphy, J. G. (2021). Reinforcer pathology of internet-related behaviors among college students: Data from six countries. Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology, . https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000459
Acuff, Samuel F, et al. "Reinforcer pathology of internet-related behaviors among college students: Data from six countries." Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology vol. (2021). doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000459
Acuff SF, Pilatti A, Collins M, Hides L, Thingujam NS, Chai WJ, Yap WM, Shuai R, Hogarth L, Bravo AJ, Murphy JG. Reinforcer pathology of internet-related behaviors among college students: Data from six countries. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2021 Apr 29; doi: 10.1037/pha0000459. Epub 2021 Apr 29. PMID: 33914568; PMCID: PMC8553798.
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Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2021 Apr 29; doi: 10.1037/pha0000459. Epub 2021 Apr 29.

Reinforcer pathology of internet-related behaviors among college students: Data from six countries.

Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology

Samuel F Acuff, Angelina Pilatti, Megan Collins, Leanne Hides, Nutankumar S Thingujam, Wen Jia Chai, Wai Meng Yap, Ruichong Shuai, Lee Hogarth, Adrian J Bravo, James G Murphy

Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology.
  2. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas.
  3. School of Psychology.
  4. Department of Neurosciences.
  5. Department of Psychological Science.

PMID: 33914568 PMCID: PMC8553798 DOI: 10.1037/pha0000459

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that repeated engagement in low-effort behaviors that are associated with immediate reward, such as Internet use, can result in a pathological reinforcement process in which the behavior is increasingly selected over other activities due, in part, to a low availability of alternative activities and to a strong preference for immediate rather than delayed rewards (delay discounting). However, this reinforcer pathology model has not been generalized to other Internet-related behaviors, such as online gaming or smartphone use. Given the widespread availability of these technologies, it is also important to examine whether reinforcer pathology of Internet-related behaviors is culturally universal or culture-specific. The current study examines relations between behavioral economic constructs (Internet demand, delay discounting, and alternative reinforcement) and Internet-related addictive behaviors (harmful Internet use, smartphone use, online gaming, and Internet sexual behavior) in a cross-sectional sample of college students (N = 1,406) from six different countries (Argentina, Australia, India, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Using structural equation modeling, Internet demand was associated with harmful Internet use, smartphone use, and online gaming; delay discounting was associated with harmful smartphone use; and alternative reinforcement was associated with harmful Internet and smartphone use. The models were partially invariant across countries. However, mean levels of behavioral economic variables differed across countries, country-level gross domestic product, person-level income, and sex at birth. Results support behavioral economic theory and highlight the importance of considering both individual and country-level sociocultural contextual factors in models for understanding harmful engagement with Internet-related behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

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