Commentary: Risky decision-making is associated with residential choice in healthy older adults

Citation: Petrova D and Garcia-Retamero R (2016) Commentary: Risky decision-making is associated with residential choice in healthy older adults. Seaman et al. (2015) compared 23 older adults living independently to 23 older adults living in a retirement community on their risky decision making. Results from the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART; Lejuez et al., 2002) showed that older adults living in the retirement community were more risk-averse, at least partially due to higher initial perceptions of risk (Seaman et al., 2015). Drawing on findings from the literature on older adults' experiences with age-related relocation and theories on aging and decision making, we suggest that a focus on cognitive factors alone may be insufficient to understand the aging decision maker. Rather, risky decision making in aging could be best understood from an integrated perspective, considering cognitive, social, and motivational factors alike. Seaman et al. (2015) mostly conceptualize the resulting living arrangements of participants as a choice, suggesting that one possible explanation of the results is that more risk-averse older adults choose the security of a retirement community. However, research shows that older adults can be pressured into assisted living by their relatives or by life circumstances (Sergeant and Ekerdt, 2008). For instance, the majority of older adults strongly prefer to continue living in their own homes as long as possible (e.g., more than 80% of United States individuals older than 65, Wylde, 2008). If they need help caring for themselves, most respondents prefer not to move from home, and only a minority (9%) prefers to move to a facility where care is provided (Bayer and Harper, 2000). While some older adults may have a desire to move to a better home environment (Hillcoat-Nalletamby and Ogg, 2014), research shows that relocation to a retirement community or institution often occurs as a consequence of impactful life events like the death of a spouse or critical health-related events like hospitalizations or acute illness (Hays, 2002; Lee et al., 2002; Pope and Kang, 2010). Moving to a residential care facility is mostly perceived as a stressful, negative experience by older adults, associated to feelings of loss, and suffering (Lee et al., 2002). Stress, in its acute or chronic form, can have profound and complex effects on decision making under risk, especially among older adults (Mather et al. stress is disadvantageous can depend on the context and its effects can be different for men and women …