The differences in adolescents' health intertemporal decision-making across different socioeconomic statuses: Evidence based on delay discount rates of healthy and unhealthy foods.

Adolescents' health intertemporal decision-making not only affects current learning adaptation but also influences development potential in adulthood. However, there is a lack of sufficient empirical evidence regarding whether socioeconomic status, which is an important background factor reflecting the availability of resources and future expectations, influences adolescents' health intertemporal decision-making. Based on life history theory, our study conducted three studies to examine the differences in adolescents' health intertemporal decision-making across different socioeconomic statuses. Study 1 consisted of two sub-studies: Studies 1A and 1B recruited 90 and 84 adolescent participants, respectively, from northwestern China. Based on objective and subjective socioeconomic status scales, the participants were divided into high- and low-score groups to examine the differences in adolescents' health intertemporal decision-making across different socioeconomic statuses. Study 2 recruited 110 adolescent participants from northwest China and used an income feedback comparison paradigm to manipulate subjective socioeconomic status, thereby examining the relationship between the two through experimental manipulation. In all three studies, the main effect of socioeconomic status on health intertemporal decision-making was not significant. However, exploratory analyses consistently indicated that the impact of socioeconomic status on adolescents' health intertemporal decision-making might vary depending on the food context. The results of Study 1 showed that adolescents in the low-score groups for objective socioeconomic status and subjective socioeconomic status exhibited a higher time discount rate when faced with unhealthy food. The results of Study 2 showed that adolescents in the low subjective socioeconomic status group exhibited a higher time discount rate when faced with unhealthy food. The present findings provide preliminary evidence for the association between socioeconomic status and health-related intertemporal decision-making among adolescents. Moreover, they offer a reference for future research aimed at developing interventions to promote healthy behaviors in adolescents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, including goal-setting training, future self-imagination, and food environment optimization.