Consumer Choices of Women in Residential Drug Treatment: An Analysis of Risk and Impulsivity

The relationship between risk taking, impulsivity, temporal discounting, and shopping choices in an onsite token-economy store was investigated with 10 women in a long-term residential drug-treatment center. Participants completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), Eysenck Impulsivity Scale, and a delay discounting task, which were then correlated with the mean amount spent on slow- and fast-moving consumer items for self, child, and household (cash-and-carry store items and catalog items). Of particular importance, purchases of slow- and fast-moving items for the child seemed to mirror one another, suggesting that these women are valuing their children's well-being (in terms of consumer goods) more highly than their own. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]