Several theories of self-control [including intertemporal bargaining (Ainslie, 1992) and self-signaling (Bodner and Prelec, 2001)] imply that intertemporal decisions can be more farsighted than would be predicted by the incentive associated with rewards outside a decision context. We examined this hypothesis using behavior and functional neuroimaging. First, subjects expressed preferences between amounts of money delayed by 4 months and smaller amounts available that day. This allowed us to establish “indifference pairs” individualized to each participant: immediate and delayed amounts that were equally preferred. Participants subsequently performed a reaction time functional magnetic resonance imaging task (Knutson et al., 2001a) that provided them with distinct opportunities to win each of the rewards that comprised the indifference pairs. Anatomical region of interest analysis as well as whole-brain analysis indicated greater response recruited by the immediate rewards (relative to the preference-matched delayed rewards) in regions previously implicated as sensitive to incentive value using the same task (including bilateral putamen, bilateral anterior insula, and midbrain). Reaction time to the target was also faster during the immediate relative to delayed reward trials (p< 0.01), and individual differences in reaction time between immediate versus delayed reward trials correlated with variance in magnetic resonance signal in those clusters that responded preferentially to immediate rewards (r= 0.33,p< 0.05). These findings indicate a discrepancy in incentive associated with the immediate versus the preference-matched delayed rewards. This discrepancy may mark the contribution of self-control processes that are recruited during decision-making but that are absent when rewards are individually anticipated.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents unique stressors (e.g. social isolation) that may increase substance use risk among young adults with a history of emotional disturbance. This study examined whether emotional disorder symptoms and transdiagnostic vulnerabilities during adolescence predicted young adult substance use during COVID-19, and whether using substances to cope with the pandemic’s social conditions mediated these associations. Adolescents (N = 2,120) completed baseline surveys assessing transdiagnostic emotional vulnerabilities (anhedonia, distress intolerance, anxiety sensitivity, negative urgency) and symptoms (major depression[MD], generalized anxiety[GAD], panic disorder[PD], social phobia[SP], obsessive-compulsive disorder[OCD]) in adolescence (September–December 2016; M[SD] age = 17.45[0.38]). At follow-up (May–August 2020; M[SD] age = 21.16[0.39]), past 30-day substance use and using substances to cope with social isolation during the pandemic were reported. Adjusted models showed that baseline distress intolerance, anxiety sensitivity, negative urgency, and MD symptoms each significantly predicted higher number of past-month single-substance using days and number of substances used at follow-up (βs = 0.04–0.06). In each case, associations were mediated by tendency to use substances to cope with the pandemic (β_indirect range: 0.028–0.061). To mitigate disproportionate escalation of substance use in young adults with a history of certain types of emotional disturbance, interventions promoting healthy coping strategies to deal with the pandemic’s social conditions warrant consideration.