decision-making in low-ses children_2021_data.xlsx

This data set belongs to:<br>Delgado, H.,Aldecosea, C., Menéndez, Ñ., Rodríguez, R., Nin, V., Lipina, S., &amp; Carboni, A. (2021). Is Future-Oriented Decision-Making Adaptive in Low Socioeconomic Status Children? Evidence From the Children’s Gambling Task. Developmental Psychology (in revision)<b></b> <br><br>Abstract<br>Traditional perspectives on self-regulation have emphasized the importance of future-oriented decision-making in the expression of adaptive behaviors. In the present study, we examined whether decision-making varies as a function of socioeconomic status (SES) using the Children’s Gambling Task (CGT). We administered the CGT to 227 children (49% female, 48% low SES) between the ages of 5 and 7 years. After completing the CGT, children were given an awareness test to assess their knowledge of the reward/loss contingencies. Data analysis was conducted through multilevel modelling. Fluid intelligence, as measured by the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence, was included as a covariate in the analysis. Results indicated that low-SES children performed lower in the CGT than their middle/high-SES peers. Children from middle/high-SES backgrounds made more advantageous choices than the low-SES children in the last blocks of the task. No differences were found in the level of explicit understanding of the task reached by the two SES groups. Further analysis indicated that, while middle/high-SES children with higher knowledge of the game performed better on the last blocks of the task in comparison with their SES peers with no understanding, low-SES children with higher explicit knowledge did not exhibit an improvement in their decision-making strategy in comparison with their SES low-awareness counterparts. Fluid intelligence did not predict CGT performance, suggesting that SES differences were not mediated by reasoning capabilities. The finding that children from low-SES families continued exhibiting an immediate reward-oriented strategy despite being aware of deck contingencies fits with (although speculatively) the evolutionary-developmental framework.<br>For more information, please contact the authors at [e-mail]<br><br><br>