Citations:

Using et al.

For a work with one or two authors, include the name(s) in every citation. Here is how this could look:

(Dusek & Bakke, 2019)

or

According to Lai and Sookochoff (2018)…

In APA 7, for a work with three or more authors, list the first author and “et al.” for all citations, including the first citation, unless doing so would create ambiguity. (Note that this rule has changed from APA 6 guidelines on using "et al.," which recommend listing all author names in the first citation up to five authors but then using "et al." for the second and subsequent citations.)

Here is how this would look for a source authored by Sookochoff, Lai, and Bakke published in 2017:

(Sookochoff et al., 2017)

or

According to Sookochoff et al. (2017)...

Remember that there is no comma between the surname and "et al.," and the period goes only after the "al." The English translation of "et al." is "and others."

A helpful table of this rule can be found in APA 7, Table 8.1.