Poor sleep quality and stress differentially predict delay discounting for food, but not money, in college students

Early college is a time when eating habits change and subsequent weight gain may occur. Moreover, college students report higher stress levels and poorer sleep quality while enrolled in courses. This study investigated the extent to which stress and sleep quality in college students may be related to delay discounting (DD) for food—a psychological process in which immediate outcomes are preferred over larger, more delayed outcomes. College students (N = 297) completed the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) and the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ)—measures of food and monetary DD, respectively. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and measures of subjective hunger, substance use, and demographic variables were also administered. Perceived stress was related to poor sleep quality, alcohol use, substance use, and vaping. Analyses revealed that, when controlling for subjective hunger, perceived stress and poor sleep quality contributed unique variance to food DD, though in opposing directions. Perceived stress uniquely predicted preferences for immediate food, a phenomenon consistent with stress-induced urgent eating. Poor sleep quality uniquely predicted preferences for larger amounts of delayed food, a pattern consistent with eating later in the day. Stress and sleep quality, when controlling for substance use variables, were unrelated to monetary discounting. Stress and poor sleep quality, then, predict independent and opposing discounting processes in college students that are food-specific, as opposed to more general cross-commodity processes.