ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2023
Aging and Economic Preferences: Cumulative Meta-Analyses of Age Differences in Risk, Time, Social, and Effort Preferences.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Age, income, and the discounting of delayed and probabilistic rewards.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between age and degrees of avoidant decision-making style.European journal of ageing · 2025Article
- Age, income, and the discounting of delayed monetary losses.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Convergence of Age Differences in Risk Preference, Impulsivity, and Self-Control: A Multiverse Analysis.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesSeveral theories predict changes in individuals' economic preferences across the life span. To test these theories and provide a historical overview of this literature, we conducted meta-analyses on age differences in risk, time, social, and effort preferences as assessed by behavioral measures.
methodsWe conducted separate meta-analyses and cumulative meta-analyses on the association between age and risk, time, social, and effort preferences. We also conducted analyses of historical trends in sample sizes and citation patterns for each economic preference.
resultsThe meta-analyses identified overall no significant effects of age for risk (r = -0.02, 95% CI [-0.06, 0.02], n = 39,832) and effort preferences (r = 0.24, 95% CI [-0.05, 0.52], n = 571), but significant effects of age for time (r = -0.04, 95% CI [-0.07, -0.01], n = 115,496) and social preferences (r = 0.11, 95% CI [0.01, 0.21], n = 2,997), suggesting increased patience and altruism with age, respectively. Equivalence tests, which compare these effects to practically important ones (i.e., r = |0.1|), however, suggest that all effects are of trivial significance. The analyses of temporal trends suggest that the magnitude of effects and sample sizes have not changed significantly over time, nor do they dramatically affect the extent that articles are cited. DISCUSSION: Overall, our results contrast with theories of aging that propose general age effects for risk and effort preferences, yet provide some but tenuous support for those suggesting age-related changes in time and social preferences. We discuss implications for theory development as well as future empirical work on economic preferences.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.