The association between monetary and sexual delay discounting and risky sexual behavior in an online sample of men who have sex with men

ABSTRACT

Delay discounting is a measure of impulsivity that has been found to be associated with numerous health-related outcomes. To the extent that delay discounting is associated with sexual risk-taking, it might serve as a marker for HIV risk or as the basis for novel HIV prevention interventions. The goal of the current study was to examine the association between monetary and sexual delay discounting and condomless anal intercourse (CAI) in a cross-sectional sample of men who have sex with men. Based on previous findings, we examined whether these associations were age-dependent. Sexual, but not monetary, delay discounting was found to be associated with CAI in the past 12 months. These results suggest that delay discounting is associated with sexual risk-taking. More high risk sexual behaviors and their associations with delay discounting should be investigated in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Men who have sex with men
• delay discounting
• sexual risk
• HIV

Acknowledgement

This research was conducted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Doctor of Philosophy degree at Emory University for the first author, Jeb Jones.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Jeb Jones http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9165-1658

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number F31AI122973. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Jones was supported by a George W. Woodruff Graduate Fellowship provided by the Laney Graduate School of Emory University.