Item-based analysis of delayed reward discounting decision making.
Delayed reward discounting (DRD) is a behavioral economic index of time preference, referring to how much an individual devalues a reward based on its delay in time, and has been linked to a wide array of health behaviors. It is commonly assessed using a task that asks participants to make dichotomous choices between two monetary rewards, one available immediately and the other after a delay. This study sought to shorten an extended iterative DRD assessment to increase its versatility and efficiency. Data were drawn from two young adult samples, an exploratory sample (N=130) and a confirmatory sample (N=247). In the exploratory sample, eight items were identified as predicting the majority of the variance in the full task area under the curve (AUC) (R(2)=.821; p<.001). In the confirmatory sample, the same eight items similarly predicted the majority of variance in the full task AUC (R(2)=.844, p<.001). These results provide initial support for the validity of a brief 8-item assessment of DRD. Priorities for further validation and potential applications are discussed.
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30605 , USA.
Joshua C
JC
Gray
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30605 , USA; Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
Michael T
MT
Amlung
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30605 , USA.
John D
JD
Acker
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30605 , USA; Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Providence, RI 02911, USA.
Lawrence H
LH
Sweet
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30605 , USA; Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02911, USA. Electronic address: jmackill@uga.edu.
James
J
MacKillop
D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012201:Reward; D055815:Young Adult
Decision making; Delay discounting; Impulsivity; Reward