Understanding Alcohol Harm Reduction Behaviors from the Perspective of Self-determination Theory: A Research Agenda

The evidence for the efficacy of harm reduction approaches to harmful alcohol use has accumulated over the past 30 years. Self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan and Deci 2017) offers a useful framework for understanding why people engage in alcohol harm reduction behaviors, as well as for delineating active ingredients of harm reduction interventions and individual characteristics that influence response to intervention. In the current paper, we sought to advance a research agenda for applying SDT to alcohol harm reduction behaviors. Specifically, we provide specific examples of the utility of SDT in advancing research on alcohol harm reduction behaviors and provide recommendations for future studies to address issues related to measurement, generalizability, temporal directionality, and causal relationships in examining the constructs of SDT and alcohol harm reduction behaviors. We also suggest that future research apply SDT to advance the understanding of how, why, and for whom harm reduction interventions are most effective. Finally, we provide recommendations for how SDT could potentially be applied to develop novel alcohol interventions.