Value for the future and preventive health behavior

Many everyday decisions require trade-offs between immediate arid delayed b enefits. Although much research has assessed discounting of delayed outcome s by using hypothetical scenarios, little research has examined whether the se discounting measures correspond to real-world behavior. Three studies ex amined the relationship between scenario measures of time preference and pr eventive health behaviors that require an upfront cost to achieve a long-te rm benefit. Responses to time preference scenarios showed weak or no relati onship to influenza vaccination, adherence to a medication regimen to contr ol high blood pressure, and adherence to cholesterol-lowering medication. T he finding that scenario measures of time preference have surprisingly litt le relationship to actual behaviors exemplifying intertemporal trade-offs p laces limits on the applications of time preference research to the promoti on of preventive health behavior.