Older adults place lower value on choice relative to young adults.
Choice is highly valued in modern society, from the supermarket to the hospital; however, it remains unknown whether older and younger adults place the same value on increased choice. The current investigation tested whether 53 older (M age = 75.44 years) versus 53 younger adults (M age = 19.58 years) placed lower value on increased choice by examining the monetary amounts they were willing to pay for increased prescription drug coverage options--important given the recently implemented Medicare prescription drug program. Results indicate that older adults placed lower value on increasing choice sets relative to younger adults, who placed progressively higher value on increasingly larger choice sets. These results are discussed regarding their implications for theory and policy.
Department of Human Development, Cornell University, G60 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-4401, USA. jmikels@cornell.edu
Joseph A
JA
Mikels
Andrew E
AE
Reed
Kosali I
KI
Simon
D000368:Aged; D001290:Attitude; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014836:Volition; D055815:Young Adult