Childhood socioeconomic position relates to adult decision-making: Evidence from a large cross-cultural investigation.

ABSTRACT: Early exposure to poverty may have profound and enduring impacts on developmental trajectories over the lifespan. This study investigated potential links between childhood socioeconomic position, recent economic change, and temporal discounting in a large international cohort (N = 12,951 adults from 61 countries). Temporal discounting refers to the tendency to prefer smaller immediate rewards over larger rewards delivered after a delay, and connects to consequential outcomes including academic achievement, occupational success, and risk-taking behaviors. Consistent with multiple theories about the impacts of stress exposure, individuals who reported lower socioeconomic positions in childhood exhibited greater temporal discounting in adulthood compared to peers who did not. Furthermore, an

SUBMITTER: Wang SB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11556711 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature