Economic and social deprivation predicts impulsive choice in children.
Richard J TunneyPublished in: Scientific reports (2022)
Impulsivity is an individual difference in decision-making that is a risk factor for a number of health concerns including addiction and obesity. Although impulsivity has a large heritable component, the health concerns associated with impulsivity are not uniformly distributed across society. For example, people from poorer backgrounds are more likely to be overweight, and be dependent on tobacco or alcohol. This suggests that the environmental component of impulsivity might be related to economic circumstances and the availability of resources. This paper provides evidence that children aged 4 to 12 from the most deprived areas in England show greater impulsivity in the form of delay discounting than do children from the least deprived areas. The data are discussed with reference to scarcity-based models of decision-making and to public health inequalities.
Keyphrases
- public health
- decision making
- obsessive compulsive disorder
- borderline personality disorder
- healthcare
- mental health
- young adults
- weight loss
- metabolic syndrome
- insulin resistance
- type diabetes
- health information
- life cycle
- health promotion
- global health
- electronic health record
- big data
- deep learning
- social media
- drug induced