| Delay discounting (DD), the propensity to devalue a future reward as a function of the
delay to its receipt, is a behavioral process that underlies various health-impacting behaviors.
A growing research literature suggests that commodity-specific DD provides salient
information regarding the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of health-risk behaviors more
than DD for monetary outcomes, which is more commonly studied. This study aims to
determine the relationship between delay discounting for minutes of sexual activity and self-
report, retrospective, sexual risk behavior. As part of a larger study, university students (N =
62) completed a DD for sexual activity task and reported their frequency of sexual risk
behaviors over the past six months. Delay discounting for minutes of sexual activity was
related only to the Risky Sex Act subscale of the Sexual Risk Survey, although this relationship
may be driven by single, non-male individuals. This study provides important information
regarding gender and relationship status differences among sex DD and sexual risk behavior.
Further, this study signifies an important stepping stone for future studies utilizing this task.
Keywords: delay discounting, sexual behavior, reinforcer pathology |