Socio-Emotional Status, Education, and Time-Discounting in Japanese Non-Smoking Population: A Multi-Generational Study

Abstract

Recent studies in behavioral economics and neuroeconomics have revealed that emotion affects impulsiv-ity in intertemporal choice. We examined the roles of socio-emotional status (i.e., perceived stress, de-pression, quality of sleep, loneliness) in temporal discounting behavior by Japanese non-smokers in a generation-specific manner (20 -70 s) with a relatively large sample size (N = 3450). We observed that 1) both men and women are the most impulsive in their 60 s; 2) education has a negative impact on impul-sivity in men aged 40 -49 and women aged 50 -59; 3) perceived stress has a negative impact on impul-sivity in men aged 60 -69; and 4) sleeplessness has negative and positive impacts on impulsivity in men aged 40 -49 and women aged 30 -39, respectively. Biological and social factors underlying observed findings are discussed.