Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
PLoS One. 2020 Dec 30;15(12):e0243994. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243994. eCollection 2020.
Delay discounting is an important predictor of future health and academic success in children but can change in environmental uncertainty situations. Here we show that the experience of loss of housing in the Great East Japan Earthquake 2011-but not other psychological trauma such as loss of loved ones-was correlated delay discounting of children. In 2014, we assessed delay discounting in children (N = 167; mean age = 8.3 years-old), who were preschool age at the time of the earthquake (mean age at the time of disaster = 4.8 years-old) in a time-investment exercise where children allocated five tokens between rewards "now" (one candy per token on the same day) versus "one month later" (two candies per token one month later). The number of tokens allocated for "now" was higher by 0.535 (95% confidence interval: -0.012, 1.081) in children who had their housing destroyed or flooded than those with no housing damage. Other types of traumatic experiences were not associated with delay discounting.
延迟折扣是儿童未来健康和学业成功的一个重要预测指标，但在环境不确定的情况下会发生变化。在这里，我们表明，2011 年东日本大地震中失去住房的经历——而不是失去亲人等其他心理创伤——与儿童的延迟折扣有关。2014 年，我们在一项时间投资活动中评估了地震时处于学前年龄的儿童（N=167；平均年龄为 8.3 岁）的延迟折扣，在该活动中，孩子们将五个代币分配给“现在”（当天每枚代币一个糖果）与“一个月后”（一个月后每枚代币两个糖果）之间的奖励。与没有住房损坏的儿童相比，住房被破坏或被洪水淹没的儿童分配给“现在”的代币数量高出 0.535（95%置信区间：-0.012，1.081）。其他类型的创伤经历与延迟折扣无关。
