The Economics of Losing a Loved One: Delayed Reward Discounting in Prolonged Grief
Open accessAbstract
The tendency for individuals to discount the subjective value of future rewards is a well-established phenomenon. Individual differences in the rate at which one devalues the future have been associated with a range of economic and health outcomes. In this study we investigate future reward discounting in prolonged grief (PG), a potential outcome of bereavement that is associated with significant impairment. A total of 75 bereaved individuals, recruited online, made a series of choices between a small amount of money available immediately and a larger amount available after a specified delay. Greater PG symptomatology was associated with greater discounting of both a small and a relatively larger delayed reward. Results are consistent with findings suggesting that individuals with PG have difficulties orienting to the future and help shed light on economic decision making processes that may contribute to ongoing dysfunction in PG.
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Bereaved individuals with prolonged grief symptoms had a greater tendency to discount the value of future rewards compared to bereaved persons without those symptoms.
“One experiment showed that bereaved individuals with prolonged grief symptoms had a greater tendency to discount the value of future rewards (operationalized as a delayed financial incentive) as compared to bereaved persons without those symptoms 102 .”
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Reed, G. M., First, M. B., Billieux, J., Cloitre, M., Briken, P., Achab, S., Brewin, C. R., King, D. L., Kraus, S. W., & Bryant, R. A. (2022) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.20960 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Fernández-Alcántara, M., Verdejo-Román, J., Cruz-Quintana, F., Pérez-García, M., Catena-Martínez, A., Fernández-Ávalos, M. I., & Pérez-Marfil, M. N. (2020) · Journal of Clinical Medicine · doi:10.3390/jcm9030851 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
- Authors
- Maccallum, F., & Bonanno, G. A.
- Affiliations
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Columbia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Maccallum, Fiona
- Venue
- Clinical Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-07
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 683-690
- ISSN
- 2167-7026 (ISSN-L)
- 2167-7034
- OpenAlex
- W2185138171
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 1.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- handle.unsw.edu.au
- Licence
- Locations
- Clinical Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- UNSWorks (UNSW Sydney) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- UNSWorks (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- prolonged grief disorder, bereavement, time preference, economic decision-making, delayed rewards, individual differences, loss of a loved one
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