Subjective expected utility and children's drinking.

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The role of subjective expected utility (SEU), defined as the degree to which the positive consequences of behavior outweigh the negative when the probability and desirability of each consequence were taken into account, was examined in the drinking behavior of 233 children, aged 10-12 (31% Blacks, 56% girls) in Orange County, North Carolina, USA. Each child completed a questionnaire on the quantity and frequency of his consumption of beer and distilled spirits, possible consequences of drinking, the desirability of each consequence and the probability of experiencing each consequence after drinking beer or distilled spirits. Values assigned to each response were used to calculate the SEU of beer and distilled spirits. The 45 children who had ever drunk beer and the 29 children who had ever drunk distilled spirits had more positive mean SEU of beer and distilled spirits than did those who had not (P < 0.001). Similar relationships between drinking experience and SEU were found in both boys and girls.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: