Male, But Not Female, Alcohol-Dependent African Americans Discount Delayed Gains More Steeply than Propensity-Score Matched Controls.
RATIONALE
Alcohol dependence is known to be associated with steep discounting of delayed rewards, but its relation to the discounting of delayed losses and probabilistic rewards is unclear. Moreover, patterns of alcohol consumption vary considerably between communities, but previous research has not examined the relation between discounting and alcohol dependence in low-income African Americans.


OBJECTIVES
The goal of the present study was to determine whether low-income, alcohol-dependent African Americans differ from controls in the degree to which they discount delayed rewards, delayed losses, or probabilistic rewards.


METHODS
African-American participants, both cases and controls, were recruited from the same low-income neighborhoods, and propensity-score matching was used to further control for demographic differences. Participants performed three tasks that assessed their discounting of hypothetical monetary outcomes: delayed rewards, delayed losses, and probabilistic rewards.


RESULTS
Alcohol-dependent cases discounted delayed gains, but not delayed losses or probabilistic gains, more steeply than their matched controls. The difference in discounting of delayed gains was localized to the male cases, whose discounting was steeper than either the male controls or the female cases; no gender difference was observed between male and female controls.


CONCLUSIONS
The present results extend findings regarding discounting by substance abusers to a previously unstudied group, low-income African Americans, and suggest that in this group at least, alcohol dependence, particularly in males, may be more a reflection of choosing immediate rewards than of ignoring their delayed negative consequences.
['Myerson|Joel|J|', 'Green|Leonard|L|', 'van den Berk-Clark|Carissa|C|', 'Grucza|Richard A|RA|']
D000328:Adult D001741:African Americans D000428:Alcohol Drinking D000437:Alcoholism D065786:Delay Discounting D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009483:Neuropsychological Tests D012201:Reward D012727:Sex Characteristics
African Americans Discounting Delayed gains Alcohol dependence Delayed losses Probabilistic gains Gender Income