Owing to scarcity of resources, we come to face the crossroads of selection at every moment. The result of the selection influence not only on the present but on the future. And, when the points of time which selection is determined & the result of th...
Owing to scarcity of resources, we come to face the crossroads of selection at every moment. The result of the selection influence not only on the present but on the future. And, when the points of time which selection is determined & the result of the profit-and-loss appears don't correspond to each other, it's called 'inter-temporal choice'. The value of the future result by selection, because a point of time for decision-making is the present, is estimated discounting as the present value.
Smoking behaviors are also the result of the selection, so it may be regraded that smokers of the decision makers selected smoking behaviors because benefits from smoking behaviors are quite something. In other words, smokers selected satisfaction from smoking rather than their future health or expenses from smoking, so it's assumed that they prefer the present time. Therefore, this study intended to analyze smoking behaviors through time preference through comparing difference of time preference between smokers & nonsmokers. In addition, it intended to examine empirically the experiment on time preference that there exists discounting rate inconsistently according to the length of prolonged periods & amounts, an experiment in behavioral economics to explain human behaviors of the real life. The conclusions of the research are like followings below.
First, in order to inspect factors influencing on smoking, research was done dividing them into personal characteristics factors, school factors & home surroundings factors. As the result, in case of boy students, it showed that the less future aspiration & the lower school records they have and the more smoking friends & family members they have, the higher their smoking rate is. So, because home surroundings & friendship influence on smoking, it's important to provide students with environs for stop smoking. Also, as seen from that the lower school records & the less definite aims to their future they have, the higher their smoking rate is, home & school surroundings must support in order for adolescence to be a process they can grasp themselves properly, set a clear goal and prepare it.
Second, as the result of analyzing time preference of smokers, it showed that discounting rate of smoking juveniles is higher than that of nonsmoking juveniles. So, it's analyzed that smoking juveniles think much of the present time, give much more value to it, and pursue the present pleasure or satisfaction.
Third, as the result of examining smokers' impulsivity, it also showed that smoking juveniles are more prone to impulse. This explains that the more impulsive they are, the more they prefer the present with higher probability of smoking. In case of smokers, with higher discounting rate & impulsive disposition, correlation between items of impulsivity & discounting rate is higher. So, as used in the precedent studies, discounting rate can be used as an instrument to measure impulsivity.
Finally, to analyze empirically that discounting rate of an individual doesn't appear consistently, this study intended to inspect whether there's any change according to the length of prolonged periods & amounts. And, in fact, when amounts are big and it's the thing of the distant future, discounting rate comes to be much lower. On the contrary of the assumption that 'rational' person has the consistent system in economics, in reality, it showed that we don't have consistent preference or behave consistently.
As seen from above, judging from the fact that smokers prefer the present time than nonsmokers, to change time preference itself may be one method for preventing smoking & helping with quit smoking. Parents & teachers to guide juveniles must offer correct info on smoking, take continual interest, and make them aware of importance of 'time'. Persons having their own plan & future goal can realize importance of the present time & live a more valuable life rather than persons fearing uncertain future & spending the present time, without conviction, thinking they'll be someone anyway if only time passes while preferring the present time.
A Prof. Roland Fryer, in Havard University who proposed ‘REACH(Rewarding Achievement)’ program to pay cash to the superior students of the public schools, begun in New York, mentioned about one of the reasons that students have no interest in studies. It's because rewards for study are paid in such a distant future. So he tried to make students, especially from poor families take an interest in studies by paying cash immediately according to their school records. In order to make smoking students, preferring the present time, experience abstract future having less value than the present as the thing more vivid & concrete, to change their time preference system itself may be one method for stopping smoking. And it can be done through carrying out vocational & career education with education for stopping smoking or developing programs for direct experiencing.