title: Economic preferences and fast food consumption in US adults: Insights from behavioral economics.
abstract: To examine the relationship between economic time preferences and frequency of fast food and full-service restaurant consumption among U.S. adults.
  
  
  
  Participants included 5871U.S. adults who responded to a survey conducted in 2011 pertaining to the lifestyle behaviors of families and the social context of these behaviors. The primary independent variable was a measure of time preferences, an intertemporal choice assessing delay discounting. This was elicited via responses to preferences for an immediate dollar amount or a larger sum in 30 (30-day time horizon) or 60days (60-day time horizon). Outcomes were the frequency of fast food and full-service restaurant consumption. Ordered logistic regression was performed to examine the relationship between time preferences and food consumption while adjusting for covariates (e.g. socio-demographics).
  
  
  
  Multivariable analysis revealed that higher future time preferences were significantly related to less frequent fast food intake for both the 30- and 60-day time horizon variables (P for linear trend <0.05; both). Notably, participants with the highest future time preference were significantly less likely to consume fast food than those with very low future time preferences (30-day: OR=0.74, 95%CI: 0.62-0.89; and 60-day: OR=0.86, 95%CI: 0.74-1.00). In comparison, higher future time preferences were not significantly associated with full-service restaurant intake (30-day: p for linear trend=0.73; 60-day: p for linear trend=0.83).
  
  
  
  Higher future time preferences were related to a lower frequency of fast food consumption. Utilizing concepts from behavioral economics (e.g. pre-commitment contracts) to facilitate more healthful eating is warranted using experimental studies.
authors: American Cancer Society, Economic and Health Policy Research Program, Intramural Research Department, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: kerem.shuval@cancer.org.
authors: Kerem
authors: K
authors: Shuval
authors: American Cancer Society, Economic and Health Policy Research Program, Intramural Research Department, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors: Michal
authors: M
authors: Stoklosa
authors: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Department of Sociology, Amherst, MA, USA; University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Computational Social Science Institute, Amherst, MA, USA.
authors: Mark C
authors: MC
authors: Pachucki
authors: The Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition, Omaha, NE, USA.
authors: Amy L
authors: AL
authors: Yaroch
authors: American Cancer Society, Economic and Health Policy Research Program, Intramural Research Department, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors: Jeffrey
authors: J
authors: Drope
authors: University of California, Irvine, Department of Economics, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors: Matthew
authors: M
authors: Harding
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior; D060909:Economics, Behavioral; D005006:Ethnicity; D057140:Fast Foods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012147:Restaurants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States