Iranian Journal of Learning and Memory

Abstract Objective: Temporal discounting may vary with socioeconomic resources and macroeconomic conditions. This study examined associations between objective and subjective socioeconomic status (SES) and the temporal discounting of rewards and effort costs among Iranian university students.
Method: Using a descriptive–correlational design, 61 students (53 women, 8 men) from public universities in Tehran were recruited through convenience sampling during the 2024–2025 academic year. Research instruments included a Rating Task to assess the subjective value of rewards and subjective cost of efforts, and an Intertemporal Choice Task to measure reward and effort discounting via hypothetical “smaller–sooner” versus “larger–later” choices. Subjective and objective SES were assessed using the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status (Adler et al., 2000) and the Ghodratnama Socioeconomic Status Questionnaire (Ghodratnama et al., 2013), respectively. Individual reward- and effort-cost discounting parameters (k) were estimated using a hyperbolic model. Analyses were conducted in R 4.5.0.
Results: Objective SES showed a significant positive correlation with reward discounting (r = 0.271, p = 0.047( but not with effort-cost discounting (r = −0.096, p = 0.460). Subjective SES was not significantly associated with reward discounting (r = -0.021, p = 0.878) or effort discounting (r = -0.015, p = 0.909). Effort discounting was not related to either SES dimensions.
Conclusions: The positive association between objective SES and reward discounting diverges from the pattern commonly reported in stable economies, suggesting that macroeconomic context—particularly chronic high inflation—may moderate SES-discounting relationships. The absence of SES-effort associations reinforces the conceptual distinction between delay and effort costs.

Abstract The study was conducted with the aim of predicting educational hope based on the perceived parent-child relationship and socioeconomic status through self-esteem mediation in female high school students in the 19th district of Tehran during the academic year of 1396-97. The research method was descriptive-correlational. 200 students were randomly selected using cluster random sampling. Copepool and Kawon (2001)’s socioeconomic status and Rosenberg’s self-esteem (1965) and Mark Fine et al. (1983)’s perceived parent-child relationship questionnaires were Completed. Statistical analysis of structural equation modeling using AMOS software was used to analyze the data. Findings showed that the direct effect of parent-child relationship perception and self-esteem on academic achievement was positive and significant, but the direct effect of socioeconomic status on academic hope was insignificant but significant on self-esteem. The indirect effect of the parent-child relationship and socioeconomic status on academic self-esteem mediation was also significant. Based on the findings of the study, the role of teenage female-parent relationship in the hope of education and self-esteem of adolescent females was emphasized. In addition, socioeconomic status plays an important role in explaining the student's education and self-esteem.