A growing literature indicates that impulsivity is a fundamental behavioral process that underlies
obesity. However, impulsivity is a multidimensional construct, which comprises independent patterns of
decision-making that could be uniquely associated with obesity. No research to date has clarified
whether obesity is differentially associated with specific behavioral aspects of impulsivity. This study
examined whether obesity was differentially associated with patterns of decision-making associated
with impulsivityddelay discounting, probability discounting, and response inhibition. Young adults
(n ¼ 296; 44.3% male) age 18e30 were recruited from the community with media advertisements.
Participants completed a series of standard self-report measures of health outcomes and behavioral
measures of delay discounting, probability discounting, and response inhibition individually in a laboratory.
Associations between body mass index (BMI) and behavioral outcomes in the whole sample
indicated that BMI was associated with age, delay discounting, and probability discounting, but not
response inhibition. A logistic regression that included age, sex, and substance use as covariates found
that delay discounting, but neither probability discounting nor response inhibition, was associated with
obesity status. Sensitivity to delay, rather than response inhibition and sensitivity to uncertainty, may be
the best correlate of obesity status in adults. These findings are relevant to our understanding of the
fundamental behavioral processes associated with obesity.