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Do inconsistent parental rewards contribute to the environmental pathogenesis of teenagers' impulsive and addictive behaviors? To learn more, investigators used a delay discounting (DD) paradigm combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging in 48 healthy teenagers (mean age, 14). DD refers to an individual's lower valuing of promised versus immediate awards.
In baseline questionnaires, teenagers self-reported substance use and assessed parents' reward consistency. At baseline and at 2 weeks, teens completed the DD test and were rated on whether they chose a lower, but immediate, reward or a later, larger one. Also, teens completed another study, which required them to send e-mails describing a good experience that day; they were told t…