The moderating role of personality in the associations between delay discounting and technology use among older adults
Allison M Walton, Daniel Moss, Hye Won Chai, Abigail T Stephan, Alyssa A Gamaldo, Lesley A Ross, Christine B PhillipsAbstract
Objectives
Delay discount rate (DDR), or the devaluation of a future reward as the delay to its receipt increases, often leads individuals to favor smaller, immediate rewards over larger, delayed ones. Older adults’ technology use may reflect delay discounting, with short-term ease favored over long-term benefits, and personality traits such as openness or neuroticism further modifying these associations. However, these relationships in older adults’ decision-making remain unexplored. Therefore, this study examined (1) associations of DDR with social media and mobile application use, and (2) whether the relationships were moderated by personality traits in a sample of community-dwelling adults aged 55+ years (N = 119, Mage=68.63).
Methods
Measures included the Monetary Choice Questionnaire, Mobile Application Use Questionnaire, one item from The Australian National University Alzheimer’s Disease Risk Index to assess social media use, and the Big Five Personality Inventory.
Results
Linear regression analyses revealed that greater DDR was associated with higher social media and mobile app use (p < 0.001). Neuroticism and openness significantly moderated the relationship between DDR and mobile app (p = .017) and social media use (p = .008), respectively.
Discussion
Results suggest a greater delay discount rate is associated with more frequent technology use among participants with lower levels of neuroticism and openness. This study contributes to an initial understanding of the combined effects of stable and alterable factors that can impact older adults’ willingness to use technology, allowing for the development of more refined strategies to promote healthy engagement.