Risk-Taking Differences Across the Adult Life Span: A Question of Age and Domain

Rolison, Jonathan J.; Hanoch, Yaniv; Wood, Stacey; Liu, Pi-Ju

doi:10.1093/geronb/gbt081

Cited by 215 publications

(214 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Also, given that prior studies suggest age effects may be nonlinear across adulthood (Read & Read, 2004; Rolison et al, 2014), we also tested the quadratic effect of age. Figure 2 displays a scatterplot with linear and quadratic effects of age for each discounting factor/reward domain.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beyond the question of optimal decision making there are also significant individual differences in preferences that can be affected by age. Recent studies of risky decision making and intertemporal choice across multiple decision domains have revealed substantial variability in the magnitude and direction of age differences (Jimura et al, 2011; Josef et al, 2015; Rolison, Hanoch, Wood, & Liu, 2014). The goal of this study is to extend these initial findings by focusing on age differences in how discounting factors (time, probability, and effort) influence preferences across a range of reward domains.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Adult age differences in decision making across domains: Increased discounting of social and health-related rewards.

Seaman¹,

Gorlick²,

Vekaria³

et al. 2016

Psychology and Aging

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Although research on aging and decision making continues to grow, the majority of studies examine decisions made to maximize monetary earnings or points. It is not clear whether these results generalize to other types of rewards. To investigate this, we examined adult age differences in ninety-two healthy participants aged 22–83. Participants completed nine hypothetical discounting tasks, which included three types of discounting factors (time, probability, effort) across three reward domains (monetary, social, health). Participants made choices between a smaller magnitude reward with a shorter time delay / higher probability / lower level of physical effort required and a larger magnitude reward with a longer time delay / lower probability / higher level of physical effort required. Older compared to younger individuals were more likely to choose options that involved shorter time delays or higher probabilities of experiencing an interaction with a close social partner or receiving health benefits from a hypothetical drug. These findings suggest that older adults may be more motivated than young adults to obtain social and health rewards immediately and with certainty.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult age differences in decision making across domains: Increased discounting of social and health-related rewards.

Seaman¹,

Gorlick²,

Vekaria³

et al. 2016

Psychology and Aging

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show abstract

“…Another consistent risk factor is younger age, which was significantly associated with increased likelihood of overall OT, again supporting similar findings from previous studies 3 5 9–15. Several potential explanations for younger age as a determinant have been proposed,8 9 including high-risk taking behaviour or exposure to high-risk situations through work, sports or a higher frequency of physical activity25 and/or a systematic recall bias among older persons due to failure to recall injuries that may have occurred when they were younger. Unfortunately, we did not collect data on the age of occurrence of OT to fully validate the above hypotheses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence, subtypes, severity and determinants of ocular trauma: The Singapore Chinese Eye Study

et al. 2017

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“…Importantly, investigations of age differences in self-reported risk-taking propensity in different domains suggest that the overall reduction in risk-taking propensity plays out somewhat differently as a function of domain (e.g., financial, health, social). That is, financial and recreational risk-taking propensity showed steeper declines relative to risk-taking propensity in the social, ethical and health domains (Rolison et al, 2013). …”

Section: The Concept Of Risk-taking Propensity and Potential Changes mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability and change in risk-taking propensity across the adult life span.

Josef¹,

Richter²,

Samanez-Larkin³

et al. 2016

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

223

203

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Can risk-taking propensity be thought of as a trait that captures individual differences across domains, measures, and time? Studying stability in risk-taking propensities across the lifespan can help to answer such questions by uncovering parallel, or divergent, trajectories across domains and measures. We contribute to this effort by using data from respondents aged 18 to 85 in the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) and by examining (1) differential stability, (2) mean-level differences, and (3) individual-level changes in self-reported general (N = 44,076) and domain-specific (N =11,903) risk-taking propensities across adulthood. In addition, we investigate (4) the correspondence between cross-sectional trajectories of self-report and behavioral measures of social (trust game; N = 646) and nonsocial (monetary gamble; N = 433) risk taking. The results suggest that risk-taking propensity can be understood as a trait with moderate stability. Results show reliable mean-level differences across the lifespan, with risk-taking propensities typically decreasing with age, although significant variation emerges across domains and individuals. Interestingly, the mean-level trajectory for behavioral measures of social and nonsocial risk taking was similar to those obtained from self-reported risk, despite small correlations between task behavior and self-reports. Individual-level analyses suggest a link between changes in risk-taking propensities both across domains and in relation to changes in some of the Big Five personality traits. Overall, these results raise important questions concerning the role of common processes or events that shape the lifespan development of risk-taking across domains as well as other major personality facets.

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Risk-Taking Differences Across the Adult Life Span: A Question of Age and Domain

Abstract: We discuss possible underlying causes of the domain-specific nature of risk taking and age.

Cited by 215 publications

References 49 publications

Adult age differences in decision making across domains: Increased discounting of social and health-related rewards.

Adult age differences in decision making across domains: Increased discounting of social and health-related rewards.

Prevalence, subtypes, severity and determinants of ocular trauma: The Singapore Chinese Eye Study

Stability and change in risk-taking propensity across the adult life span.

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