Consideration of future consequences: Preliminary evidences for a four-factor distinction

Abstract

Consideration of either future consequences or immediate consequences plays an important role in our daily decision-making. However, no general consensus has been reached as to whether the construct – consideration of future consequences – consists of one factor or multiple factors. To examine the latent structure, we conducted two studies. In Study 1, we collected data online from 494 participants with the Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) scale, and performed confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) of alternative models derived from previous studies. The results indicated that a four-factor model fitted the data best. In Study 2, we administrated the CFC scale and an inter-temporal choice questionnaire to another sample of 496 participants in classrooms. Cross-validation with CFA demonstrated the four-factor solution as the best fit model. In addition, the four factors were differently correlated with the discounting rate facing various rewards. Further multilevel analysis indicated that two factors among the four moderated the magnitude effect. All these findings provided evidences for a four-factor distinction in the CFC scale.