Paper Summary:

It is generally believed that males are less risk averse than are females in most situations. Additionally, it is commonly held that young adults and adolescents are generally more prone to engage in risk taking behavior than are older individuals. Most contemporary studies that assess risk taking behavior in young adults focus on sexual activity and confirm these beliefs. However, attitudes towards riskiness in more general, non-sexual situations are less often examined. This paper assesses the gender differences in risk taking attitudes in 15 separate situations of varying risk. Twenty participants (10 male, 10 female) took part in a survey on risk taking behavior by young adults. The results confirmed the belief that males are less risk averse generally, but also found a significant interaction between sex and situation, indicating that in certain specific situations females would be less risk averse. The paper includes tables.

From the Paper:

"The results of this study also indicate that alcohol use probably has little causal impact on risk taking. All of the respondents were alcohol free when taking the survey, and most of the situations to which they responded posited alcohol free decisions. Still, the general finding that males were less risk averse held. Some care should be taken in broadly applying the findings of this study. The few situations in which females were the less risk averse may indicate that, in the universe of all possible situations, the general findings could vary. Future iterations of this study should attempt to more fully catalogue risky situations to explore this finding more thoroughly. Other directions that future studies should take would include variables such as race or ethnicity, religion, and socio-economic status to how complex the interplay between personality and willingness to take risks is."

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