Abstract

Past research on age differences in delay discounting overwhelmingly has focused on simple delayed rewards. Many everyday choices faced by the aging population, however, involve delayed losses and also are more complicated, involving combination outcomes of both gains and losses. Additionally, income might moderate the effect of age on discounting but has not been evaluated. Here, we examined the discounting not only of simple delayed losses but also of combination outcomes in which immediate gains are followed by delayed losses in a sample of middle-aged and older adults of varying income level. We found that when controlling for income, older adults discounted combination outcomes less steeply compared to middle-aged adults. High-income individuals discounted larger delayed losses whether alone or in combination with an immediate gain less steeply, but low-income individuals discounted only the larger combination outcomes less steeply. Psychological distress was associated with steeper discounting for middle-aged, low-income adults, but not older adults or those with higher income. The current study is the first to show that older adults discount combination outcomes in which immediate gains are followed by delayed losses less steeply, and the findings highlight the role of income in the investigation of aging and delay discounting.

Committee Chair

Leonard Green

Committee Members

Sandra Hale, Joel Myerson, Michael J Strube

Degree

Master of Arts (AM/MA)

Author's Department

Psychology

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

Summer 8-15-2024

Language

English (en)

Author's ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1819-8566

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