Age differences in risky choice: a meta‐analysis

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Abstract
Does risk taking change as a function of age? We conducted a systematic literature search and found 29 comparisons between younger and older adults on behavioral tasks thought to measure risk taking (N= 4,093). The reports relied on various tasks differing in several respects, such as the amount of learning required or the choice framing (gains vs. losses). The results suggest that age‐related differences vary considerably as a function of task characteristics, in particular the learning requirements of the task. In decisions from experience, age‐related differences in risk taking were a function of decreased learning performance: older adults were more risk seeking compared to younger adults when learning led to risk‐avoidant behavior, but were more risk averse when learning led to risk‐seeking behavior. In decisions from description, younger adults and older adults showed similar risk‐taking behavior for the majority of the tasks, and there were no clear age‐related differences as a function of gain/loss framing. We discuss limitations and strengths of past research and provide suggestions for future work on age‐related differences in risk taking.