Association of temporal discounting with transdiagnostic symptom dimensions

Abstract Temporal discounting (TD), the tendency to devalue future rewards as a function of delay until receipt, is aberrant in many mental disorders. Identifying symptom patterns and transdiagnostic dimensions associated with TD could elucidate mechanisms responsible for clinically impaired decisio...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kristof Keidel, Xiaping Lu, Shinsuke Suzuki, Carsten Murawski, Ulrich Ettinger
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-04-01
Series:npj Mental Health Research
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-024-00060-3
Description
Summary:Abstract Temporal discounting (TD), the tendency to devalue future rewards as a function of delay until receipt, is aberrant in many mental disorders. Identifying symptom patterns and transdiagnostic dimensions associated with TD could elucidate mechanisms responsible for clinically impaired decision-making and facilitate identifying intervention targets. Here, we tested in a general population sample (N = 731) the extent to which TD was related to different symptom patterns and whether effects of time framing (dates/delay units) and monetary magnitude (large/small) had particularly strong effects in people scoring higher on specific symptom patterns. Analyses revealed that TD was related to symptom patterns loading on anxious-depression and inattention-impulsivity-overactivity dimensions. Moreover, TD was lower in the date than the delay version and with higher magnitudes, especially in people scoring higher on the inattention-impulsivity-overactivity dimension. Overall, this study provides evidence for TD as a transdiagnostic process across affective and impulsivity-related dimensions. Future studies should test framing interventions in clinical populations characterized by impulsivity. Preregistration: This research was preregistered at https://osf.io/fg9sc .
ISSN:2731-4251