The stability of physicians’ risk attitudes across time and domains

Xuemin Zhu; Marjon van der Pol; Anthony Scott; Julia Allan

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116381

The stability of physicians’ risk attitudes across time and domains

Xuemin Zhu^* (Corresponding Author), Marjon van der Pol, Anthony Scott, Julia Allan

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Risk attitude is known to influence physicians' decision-making under uncertainty. Research on the risk attitudes of physicians is therefore important in facilitating a better understanding of physicians' decisions. However, little is known about the stability of physicians' risk attitudes across domains. Using five waves of data from a prospective panel study of Australian physicians from 2013 to 2017, we explored the stability of risk attitudes over a four-year period and examined the association between negative life events and risk attitudes among 4417 physicians. Further, we tested the stability of risk attitude across three domains most relevant to a physician's career and clinical decision-making (financial, career and clinical). The results showed that risk attitude was stable over time at both the mean and individual levels but the correlation between domains was modest. There were no significant associations between negative life events and risk attitude changes in all three domains. These findings suggest that risk attitude can be assumed to be constant but domain-specificity needs to be considered in analyses of physician decision-making.

Original language	English
Article number	116381
Number of pages	9
Journal	Social Science & Medicine
Volume	339
Early online date	16 Nov 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116381
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

unding
No specific funding was received for this work. Xuemin Zhu's PhD studentship was funded by the Elphinstone Scholarship Scheme, University of Aberdeen. This research used data from the MABEL longitudinal survey operated by the University of Melbourne and Monash University. Funding for MABEL was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council (2007–2016: 454799 and 1019605); the Australian Department of Health and Ageing (2008); Health Workforce Australia (2013); The University of Melbourne, Medibank Better Health Foundation, the NSW Department of Health, and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (2017); and the Australian Government Department of Health, the Australian Digital Health Agency, and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (2018). The Health Economics Research Unit is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. The funders were not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication. The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the funders that provide institutional support for the authors.
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge the physicians who spent their valuable time participating in the MABEL longitudinal survey and the research team that designed and administered the survey. The authors would like to acknowledge valuable comments and suggestions at the PhD Student Conference in Behavioural Science 2018, European Health Economics Association Student-Supervisor Conference 2019, and the Health Economists' Study Group Summer Meeting 2019.

Keywords

Risk attitudes
Physicians
Negative life events
Stability
Domain-specificity

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Crown Copyright © 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Cite this

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abstract = "Risk attitude is known to influence physicians' decision-making under uncertainty. Research on the risk attitudes of physicians is therefore important in facilitating a better understanding of physicians' decisions. However, little is known about the stability of physicians' risk attitudes across domains. Using five waves of data from a prospective panel study of Australian physicians from 2013 to 2017, we explored the stability of risk attitudes over a four-year period and examined the association between negative life events and risk attitudes among 4417 physicians. Further, we tested the stability of risk attitude across three domains most relevant to a physician's career and clinical decision-making (financial, career and clinical). The results showed that risk attitude was stable over time at both the mean and individual levels but the correlation between domains was modest. There were no significant associations between negative life events and risk attitude changes in all three domains. These findings suggest that risk attitude can be assumed to be constant but domain-specificity needs to be considered in analyses of physician decision-making.",

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note = "unding No specific funding was received for this work. Xuemin Zhu's PhD studentship was funded by the Elphinstone Scholarship Scheme, University of Aberdeen. This research used data from the MABEL longitudinal survey operated by the University of Melbourne and Monash University. Funding for MABEL was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council (2007–2016: 454799 and 1019605); the Australian Department of Health and Ageing (2008); Health Workforce Australia (2013); The University of Melbourne, Medibank Better Health Foundation, the NSW Department of Health, and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (2017); and the Australian Government Department of Health, the Australian Digital Health Agency, and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (2018). The Health Economics Research Unit is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. The funders were not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication. The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the funders that provide institutional support for the authors. Acknowledgement The authors acknowledge the physicians who spent their valuable time participating in the MABEL longitudinal survey and the research team that designed and administered the survey. The authors would like to acknowledge valuable comments and suggestions at the PhD Student Conference in Behavioural Science 2018, European Health Economics Association Student-Supervisor Conference 2019, and the Health Economists' Study Group Summer Meeting 2019.",

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The stability of physicians’ risk attitudes across time and domains

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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