Time Preferences and Preventive Health Behavior

Gretchen B. Chapman and Elliot J. Coups

Medical Decision Making, 1999, vol. 19, issue 3, 307-314

Abstract: Background . Many preventive health behaviors involve immediate costs and delayed benefits. Time preference is the extent to which decision makers value future outcomes relative to immediate ones. Consequently, people with future-oriented time preferences should be more likely to adopt preventive measures. The relationship between time preferences and acceptance of a free influenza vaccination was examined. Sample . The participants were 412 corporate employees who were offered free influenza vac cinations at their workplace. Measures . Participants' time preferences were measured in each of two domains: money and health. They also reported on whether they had accepted the influenza vaccination and their beliefs and attitudes about the vaccine. Results . There was a small (OR = 2.38) relationship of vaccination acceptance to monetary time preferences but not to the health time-preference measures. Other var iables, such as perceived effectiveness of the vaccine, were more predictive. Conclu sion. This study provides some evidence of a small relationship between time prefer ences and preventive health behavior. Key words : time preference; decision making; preventive health behavior; influenza vaccine. (Med Decis Making 1999; 19:307-314)

Date: 1999
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:medema:v:19:y:1999:i:3:p:307-314

DOI: 10.1177/0272989X9901900309

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