title: Increasing the Value of an Alternative Monetary Reinforcer Reduces Cigarette Choice in Adolescents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Smoking can be conceptualized as an operant behavior maintained by the reinforcing effects of cigarettes. Changing the magnitude and availability of alternative reinforcers should shift behavior away from smoking. Adults' smoking behavior is sensitive to the magnitude and availability of alternative reinforcers; however, the extent to which the same is true for adolescents has not yet been shown in the laboratory.
  
  
  METHODS
  To test the sensitivity of adolescent smoking behavior to changes in the magnitude of alternative reinforcement, we gave adolescents who abstained overnight the opportunity to make 20 choices between receiving two puffs of their usual-brand cigarette or money. The magnitude of the monetary reinforcer was varied across sessions in counterbalanced order ($0.00, $0.10, and $0.50).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results indicated that adolescents' choices for puffs decreased as a function of increasing monetary reinforcer magnitude, while money choices increased. This effect was moderated by baseline smoking level and by gender, such that heavier-smoking participants and males made more cigarette choices when the alternative monetary value was zero, and decreased their choices more steeply in response to increasing monetary value.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current study validates a laboratory choice procedure for studying smoking in adolescents, and demonstrates that adolescent smoking behavior is sensitive to changes in the magnitude of concurrently available monetary reinforcers. The current paradigm can be adapted and applied to explore the effects of other variables that may affect cigarette choice in adolescents.
authors: Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI rachel_cassidy@brown.edu.
authors: Rachel N
authors: RN
authors: Cassidy
authors: Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI.
authors: Jennifer W
authors: JW
authors: Tidey
authors: Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI.
authors: Christopher W
authors: CW
authors: Kahler
authors: Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI.
authors: Tyler B
authors: TB
authors: Wray
authors: Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI.
authors: Suzanne M
authors: SM
authors: Colby
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012201:Reward; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D055815:Young Adult