Changes in delay discounting, substance use, and weight status across adolescence.
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ABSTRACT: Objective
Higher rates of delay discounting have been consistently linked to maladaptive health behaviors, including substance use and overeating, among adults. Despite adolescence representing a critical period for the escalation of these risky health behaviors, little is known about the developmental course of delay discounting or how this construct relates to important health outcomes in youth. The current study examined change in delay discounting over time using a latent growth curve approach and the relation between growth in this construct and changes in substance use and body-mass index over a 6-year period.Method
Participants included 247 adolescents (44% female) with a mean age of 13 at the initial assessment.Results
Findings suggest that, on average, rates of delay discounting are stable across adolescence; however, there are significant individual differences around this trajectory. Moreover, youth who demonstrate significant increases in delay discounting over time are also more likely to experience more rapid escalations of both substance use and Body Mass Index across adolescence.Conclusions
Results indicate that delay discounting is an important trans-disease process among adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
SUBMITTER: Felton JW
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7169948 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:RationaleDespite consistent evidence of the familiality of substance misuse, the mechanisms by which family history (FH) increases the risk of addiction are not well understood. One behavioral trait that may mediate the risk for substance use and addiction is delay discounting (DD), which characterizes an individual's preferences for smaller immediate rewards compared to larger future rewards.ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to examine the interrelationships among FH, DD, and diverse aspects of personal substance use, and to test DD as a mediator of the relationship between FH and personal substance use.MethodsThe study used crowdsourcing to recruit a community sample of adults (N = 732). Family history was assessed using a brief assessment of perceived parental substance use problems, personal substance use was assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and a measure of frequency of use, and delay discounting was assessed using a latent index of discounting preferences across six reward magnitudes.ResultsSteeper discounting was significantly associated with personal alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use, and level of substance experimentation. Steeper DD was also associated with a denser parental FH of alcohol, tobacco, and overall substance misuse. Parental FH density was significantly associated with several aspects of personal substance use, and these relationships were partially mediated by DD.ConclusionsThe current study suggests that impulsivity, as measured by DD, is one proximal mechanism by which parental FH increases substance use later in life. The causal role of DD in this relationship will need to be established in future longitudinal studies.
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Project description:ObjectiveMany adolescents with substance use problems show poor response to evidence-based treatments. Treatment outcome has been associated with individual differences in impulsive decision making as reflected by delay discounting (DD) rates (preference for immediate rewards). Adolescents with higher rates of DD were expected to show greater neural activation in brain regions mediating impulsive/habitual behavioral choices and less activation in regions mediating reflective/executive behavioral choices.MethodThirty adolescents being treated for substance abuse completed a DD task optimized to balance choices of immediate versus delayed rewards, and a control condition accounted for activation during magnitude valuation. A group independent component analysis on functional magnetic resonance imaging time courses identified neural networks engaged during DD. Network activity was correlated with individual differences in discounting rate.ResultsHigher discounting rates were associated with diminished engagement of an executive attention control network involving the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal cortex, cingulate cortex, and precuneus. Higher discounting rates also were associated with less deactivation in a "bottom-up" reward valuation network involving the amygdala, hippocampus, insula, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These 2 networks were significantly negatively correlated.ConclusionsResults support relations between competing executive and reward valuation neural networks and temporal decision making, an important, potentially modifiable risk factor relevant for the prevention and treatment of adolescent substance abuse. Clinical trial registration information-The Neuroeconomics of Behavioral Therapies for Adolescent Substance Abuse, http://clinicaltrials.gov/, NCT01093898.
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