%0 Journal Article
%T Differences in risk aversion between young and older adults
%A Albert SM
%A Duffy J
%J Neuroscience and Neuroeconomics
%D 2012
%I 
%R http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NAN.S27184
%X ences in risk aversion between young and older adults Original Research (2780) Total Article Views Authors: Albert SM, Duffy J Published Date February 2012 Volume 2012:1 Pages 3 - 9 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NAN.S27184 Received: 10 October 2011 Accepted: 11 January 2012 Published: 15 February 2012 Steven M Albert1, John Duffy2 1Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, 2Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Abstract: Research on decision-making strategies among younger and older adults suggests that older adults may be more risk averse than younger people in the case of potential losses. These results mostly come from experimental studies involving gambling paradigms. Since these paradigms involve substantial demands on memory and learning, differences in risk aversion or other features of decision making attributed to age may in fact reflect age-related declines in cognitive abilities. In the current study, older and younger adults completed a simpler, paired lottery choice task used in the experimental economics literature to elicit risk aversion. A similar approach was used to elicit participants' discount rates. The older adult group was more risk averse than the younger (P < 0.05) and had a higher discount rate (15.6%¨C21.0% versus 10.3%¨C15.5%, P < 0.01), indicating lower expected utility from future income. Risk aversion and implied discount rates were weakly correlated. It may be valuable to investigate developmental changes in neural correlates of decision making across the lifespan.
%K aging
%K decision making
%K risk
%K time preference
%K behavioral economics
%U https://www.dovepress.com/differences-in-risk-aversion-between-young-and-older-adults-peer-reviewed-article-NAN