Individual Differences in Decisionmaking Style May Predict Teen Problems

Delay-discounting test has clinical potential.

December 2011

Lori Whitten, NIDA Notes Staff Writer

Immediacy Adds Weight The value of a reward appears enhanced when it is provided right away and discounted when it is scheduled for a later date. The tendency to highly discount delayed rewards has been linked with drug abuse and other behavioral disorders. Illustration shows a balance (scale) with two piles of coins on the lefthand plate and three piles of coins on the righthand plate. An additional weight, labeled “Right Now,” hangs below the lefthand plate, and that plate rests at a lower position than the righthand one.

Illustration shows a balance (scale) with two piles of coins on the lefthand plate and three piles of coins on the righthand plate. An additional weight, labeled “Right Now,” hangs below the lefthand plate, and that plate rests at a lower position than the righthand one.

Putting a very high premium on receiving a reward now rather than later has been linked to drug abuse and behavioral disorders in several studies. Now, Dr. Andrey P. Anokhin and colleagues at the Washington University School of Medicine have provided the first estimate of the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to a young teen’s response to a now-versus-later reward option. Although genetics significantly influenced the children’s choices, environmental factors also contributed, suggesting that behavioral and other interventions may be able to promote forward-looking decision-making and reduce the risks related to impulsivity.
The researchers recruited 372 pairs of 12-year-old twins and told each child that, as a reward for cooperating with a battery of assessments, he or she could either have $7 right away or wait and receive $10 in the mail in a week. Two years later, when the twins were 14, the researchers were able to contact 82 percent of them and repeat the same assessments and reward alternatives.
Consistent with previous research, the children who chose the immediate reward appeared to be headed for more behavioral problems than their more patient peers. They scored higher on the novelty-seeking and lower on the self-directedness scales of the Temperament and Character Inventory, scored higher on an assessment of impulsivity, and reported more symptoms of conduct disorder.
Although few of the participants had used drugs by age 14, those who chose the immediate reward were significantly more likely to report having done so during the past year. For example, more than 6 percent of them had tried marijuana by age 14, whereas only 2 percent of those who selected a delayed reward had done so; the rates for cigarette smoking were 9 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. Immediate reward choosers were also three times as likely as their more patient counterparts to have been suspended from school in the past year.
The percentage of children who took the $7—that is, discounted the reward by 30 percent to avoid a 7-day delay in receiving it—declined as the children grew, from 35 percent at age 12 to 28 percent at age 14. However, most of the children who opted for the $7 payment at age 14 had also done so at age 12, suggesting that the disposition to discount heavily is stable over this span of development.