Time preferences and preventive health behavior: Acceptance of the influenza vaccine

Background. Many preventive health behaviors involve immediate costs and de layed benefits. Time preference is the extent to which decision makers valu e future outcomes relative to immediate ones. Consequently, people with fut ure-oriented time preferences should be more likely to adopt preventive mea sures. The relationship between time preferences and acceptance of a free i nfluenza Vaccination was examined. Sample. The participants were 412 corpor ate employees who were offered free influenza vaccinations at their workpla ce. Measures. Participants' time preferences were measured in each of two d omains: money and health. They also reported on whether they had accepted t he influenza vaccination and their beliefs and attitudes about the vaccine. Results. There was a small (OR = 2.38) relationship of Vaccination accepta nce to monetary time preferences but not to the health time-preference meas ures. Other variables, such as perceived effectiveness of the vaccine, were more predictive. Conclusion. This study provides some evidence of a small relationship between time preferences and preventive health behavior.