Intertemporal Impatience Across Mental Health in a Community Sample: A Novel Transdiagnostic Approach

ABSTRACT Intertemporal impatience has been proposed to be centrally and transdiagnostically implicated across mental health difficulties, including maladaptive behaviors, psychopathologies, and other psychological outcomes. We empirically tested this proposal using a novel research approach that integrates per‐category , trans‐category , scale‐level , and item‐level analyses. First, we studied per‐category continuous associations between intertemporal impatience and a broad range of mental health‐related behaviors and psychological constructs. Next, we examined which of several latent, trans‐category dimensions were associated with impatience, thereby studying which mental health difficulties may be connected through shared impatience. Finally, we investigated which specific symptoms or behaviors were driving these associations. This study was conducted in a community sample of 899 participants who completed an intertemporal choice task and various self‐report mental health measures. Per‐category analyses involved bivariate correlations and multiple regressions; trans‐category analyses involved exploratory factor analyses to identify transdiagnostic dimensions, and structural‐after‐measurement models to test for associations between the dimensions and intertemporal impatience. Intertemporal impatience was associated with increased nicotine use, reactive aggression, non‐planning impulsivity, motor impulsivity, and dispositional greed. Moreover, impatience was positively associated with a transdiagnostic impulsivity dimension (including attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder, low self‐control, and motor and non‐planning impulsivity). Symptom‐level analyses suggested that this association was mainly driven by information impulsivity (also known as lack of premeditation) and financial impulsivity. Our results provide support for the role of intertemporal impatience across several externalizing but not internalizing mental health difficulties and offer a detailed and nuanced interpretation of the transdiagnostic role of intertemporal impatience across mental health.