Exploratory Analysis of the Contextual Influence of Motherhood on Probability Discounting in Women

When it comes to financial decision-making, women may be more risk averse than men, and mothers are more risk-averse than non-mothers on average (Charness & Gneezy, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 83 , 50–58, 2012 ; Ross, 2021). This pattern of responding is attributed as one reason for gender-based pay differences that negatively impact women in the workforce and risks placing blame on women when not considering the broader social context operating around womanhood and motherhood. The present study is an exploratory experimental analysis of the influence of motherhood as a context variable affecting probability discounting rates of women across two experiments. In the first experiment, a college student sample of non-mothers completed a standard probability discounting task and an additive discounting task where they imagined having a hypothetical child while completing the task. Results showed steeper probability discounting in the hypothetical motherhood condition ( t (28) = –2.30, p < 0.05). In the second experiment, a sample of mothers recruited using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk completed the standard probability discounting task and a subtractive discounting task where they imagined that they had chosen not to have children and completed the task. Results showed lower probability discounting rates in the hypothetical non-motherhood condition ( t (50) = –5.29, p < 0.01). Taken together, these results suggest that motherhood may be a broad context variable that influences discounting rates and further research is needed to pinpoint specific components within the social experiences of mothers that contribute to financial disadvantages for women within oppressive social systems.