| Health risk behaviors, such as alcohol use, drug use, and sexual risk behaviors, are linked to
increased morbidity and mortality. A large research literature indicates demographic (e.g.,
gender) and behavioral (e.g., delay discounting) factors predict engagement in health risk
behaviors. However, emotion differentiation may also play a role. A national sample of
individuals (N = 198) recruited via crowdsourcing completed measures related to emotion
differentiation, delay discounting, and health risk behaviors. We hypothesize that 1) steeper delay
discounting (i.e., preference for smaller, sooner rewards) will be associated with lower emotion
differentiation, 2) lower emotion differentiation will be associated with greater engagement in
alcohol use, drug use, and sexual risk behavior, and 3) gender, emotion differentiation, and delay
discounting will explain the variance in engagement in health risk behaviors. Results indicated a
negative correlation between delay discounting and emotion differentiation. No significant
associations were found between emotion differentiation and health risk behaviors, and only
delay discounting explained the variance in drug use and alcohol use. These results suggest need
for further research on emotion constructs, delay discounting, and health risk behaviors. Keywords: delay discounting, emotion differentiation, health, behaviors, risk |