학술논문
Is it worth it? Greater risk aversion with lower life satisfaction among depressed individuals.
Document Type
Academic Journal
Author
Young BE; Department of Psychology, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.; Goodmann DR; Department of Psychology, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.; Hamlin E; Department of Psychology, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.; Tabaczyk O; Department of Psychology, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.; Dunn LB; Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA.; Muñoz RF; Department of Psychology, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.; Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health, Palo Alto, CA, USA.; Leykin Y; Department of Psychology, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Source
Publisher: Routledge Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9604099 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1465-3966 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 13548506 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Psychol Health Med Subsets: MEDLINE
Subject
Language
English
Abstract
Decisions of individuals with depression are often risk-averse. Risk-aversion may also extend to decisions regarding treatment, which may cause individuals to forgo or delay treatment. It is also well established that depression is associated with lower satisfaction with life. However, whether life satisfaction is associated with risk aversion for individuals with depression is not yet known. Three groups of participants (Depressed: n = 61; Chronic pain: n = 61; Comorbid depression and pain: n = 58) completed a clinical interview and several self-report questionnaires, including the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Participants also completed two utility elicitation tasks: time trade-off (TTO), which measures utilities of health states without implied risks, and standard gamble (SG), which measures utilities of health states in the presence of risk (presented in this study as a hypothetical clinical trial described as having both potential harms and benefits). Risk aversion is defined as the difference in the utility ratings generated via SG and via TTO. For both TTO and SG, individuals evaluated their own depression or pain. When perfect health was used as a hypothetical benefit in TTO and SG tasks, satisfaction with life was not associated with risk preferences, for either depressed participants or participants with chronic pain (all p s ns ). However, for participants with depression, when the hypothetical benefit was a more ecologically valid 'mild' depression in TTO and SG tasks, lower satisfaction with life was associated with greater risk aversion ( p < .005; p < .03). For depressed individuals, therefore, lower satisfaction with life may be associated with risk aversion regarding treatments when benefits are seen as minor, which may result in treatment avoidance and, consequently, further worsening of both symptoms and life satisfaction.