discounting predicts acquisition and escalation of drug self-administration in drug-naïve animals (Anker, Perry, Gliddon, & Carroll, 2009; Marusich & Bardo, 2009; Perry, Larson, German, Madden, & Carroll, 2005; Perry, Nelson, Anderson, Morgan, & Carroll, 2007), convincingly suggesting that impulsive delay discounting serves as a predisposition to addictive disorders. In addition to contributing to the development of addictive disorders, several prospective studies have found that delay discounting predicts negative outcomes in smoking cessation treatment (Krishnan-Sarin et al., 2007; MacKillop & Kahler, 2009; Sheffer et al., 2012; Yoon et al., 2007). Similarly, impulsive discounting has been found to be significantly associated with poorer opiate treatment response (Passetti, Clark, Mehta, Joyce, King, 2008). Most recently, Stanger et al. (2012) found that discounting predicted treatment outcome in adolescents with marijuana use disorders. Thus, these studies suggest that, in addition to predating addictive behavior, impulsive discounting also plays an important role in maintaining addictive disorders, serving as a risk factor for treatment failure.
