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Abstract
Background: Reward sensitivity (fun-seeking) is a risk factor for a wide range of high-risk behaviors. While high socioeconomic status (SES) is known to reduce reward sensitivity and associated high-risk behaviors, less is known about the differential effects of SES on reward sensitivity. It is plausible to expect weaker protective effects of family SES on reward sensitivity in racial minorities, a pattern called Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs). Aim: We compared Caucasian and African American (AA) children for the effects of subjective family SES on children’s fun-seeking. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis of 7061 children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The independent variable was subjective family SES. The main outcome was children’s fun-seeking measured by the behavioral approach system (BAS) and behavioral avoidance system (BIS). Age, gender, marital status, and household size were the covariates. Results: In the overall sample, high subjective family SES was associated with lower levels of fun-seeking. We also found a statistically significant interaction between race and subjective family SES on children’s fun-seeking in the overall sample, suggesting that high subjective family SES is associated with a weaker effect on reducing fun-seeking among AA than Caucasian children. In race-stratified models, high subjective family SES was protective against fun-seeking of Caucasian but not AA children. Conclusion: Subjective family SES reduces the fun-seeking for Caucasian but not AA children.
Highlights
In their earlier [1] and later [2] theoretical work on the behavioral approach system (BAS)and reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST), Gray and McNaughton introduced and discussed the contribution of the BAS-based sensitivity to reward as the main driver of human behaviors [3].These BAS-based traits correlate with traits such as impulsivity and risk taking [4]
Some evidence suggests that similar to high-risk behaviors [21] and impulsivity [22,23], BAS-traits may be linked to race and socioeconomic status (SES), with African Americans (AAs) and individuals with lower SES scoring higher in reward-seeking traits compared to Caucasians and high SES people [24]
Rooted in the BAS developed by Carver and White [16], high reward sensitivity reflects individuals’ high sensitivity to conditioned cues, which signal the individual about a higher-than-luck probability of reward
Summary
In their earlier [1] and later [2] theoretical work on the behavioral approach system (BAS)and reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST), Gray and McNaughton introduced and discussed the contribution of the BAS-based sensitivity to reward as the main driver of human behaviors [3].These BAS-based traits correlate with traits such as impulsivity and risk taking [4]. Some evidence suggests that similar to high-risk behaviors [21] and impulsivity [22,23], BAS-traits may be linked to race and socioeconomic status (SES), with African Americans (AAs) and individuals with lower SES scoring higher in reward-seeking traits compared to Caucasians and high SES people [24]. Many investigators have found evidence regarding the relevance of reward sensitivity, as the main component of approach motivations, to a wide range of health and behavioral outcomes in clinical samples [24,25,26], as well as the general population [27] These BAS-based reward-sensitivity traits are relevant to children’s risk behaviors [11,15,28]. Conclusion: Subjective family SES reduces the fun-seeking for Caucasian but not AA children
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