Purpose: To examine evidence for theorized age differences in the processing of positive benefit versus negative risk information and numeric versus nonnumeric information about prescription drugs.

Method: A convenience sample of 301 adults (age 18-88 years) responded to two experiments and completed a numeracy measure. In Study 1 subjects, who had been asked to imagine they were prescribed a drug for high cholesterol, were provided information about drug risks in either numeric or non-numeric terms and were asked their likelihood of taking the drug. No benefit information was provided. In Study 2 subjects asked to imagine they had pneumonia were given numeric information about one benefit and two side effects and were asked their likelihood of taking the drug. In a complete factorial design, each subject was given either a low or high level of each benefit and side effect.

Results: The results of Study 1 revealed that individuals higher in numeracy were more likely to use the drug when given numeric than nonnumeric risk information whereas those low in numeracy showed the opposite results. In addition, however, older adults given numeric risk information were significantly less likely than younger adults to take the drug when given numeric than non-numeric information after controlling for numeric ability. These results are consistent with age-related declines in deliberative ability and suggest that older adults may not be able to use numeric information about drugs. However, evidence from Study 2 reveals a different story. In Study 2, older adults were significantly more sensitive than younger adults to different numeric levels of benefits and were equally sensitive to different numeric levels of risks.

Conclusions: Study 1 results are potentially consistent with robust age-related declines in deliberative capacity being associated with lower comprehension and use of important information. Study 2 results, however, paint a different picture that is consistent with socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, 2006). This theory posits that age should be associated with an increased importance of emotional goals; increased attention to emotional content; and either an increased focus on positive information and/or a decreased focus on negative information, in order to optimize emotional experience. The theory and findings have potentially great relevance to the impact of risk and benefit information in health decisions among older adults.