TESTING FOR GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DELAY DISCOUNTING OF DIFFERENT COMMODITIES USING A UNIVERSITY SAMPLE

Abstract

Many studies have investigated how individuals discount delayed outcomes, but few, if any, have explicitly studied whether gender differences exist in discounting. The present study employed a university sample to complete a delay-discounting task that included the commodities of cigarettes, money (two amounts), the ideal body image, and the perfect mate. Significant gender differences were observed in discounting $100,000 and ideal body image, with females displaying a greater degree of discounting than males. Factor analyses on the measures of delay discounting across the different commodities yielded a similar factor structure between genders, suggesting that although the genders may sometimes differ in how they discount particular consequences, these differences are likely linked to state, not trait, variables.Keywords: Delay discounting; Gender differences; Money, Body Image, Factor analysis; College sample