Keywords: sex differences, gender differences, risk perception
Judgments | Males | Females | Analysis |
Gambling | |||
Likelihood of engaging in risky behavior | 1.84 (0.94) | 1.45 (0.67) | t(654) = 6.18*** |
Probability of negative consequences | 3.66 (0.74) | 3.88 (0.73) | t(654) = 3.69*** |
Severity of potential negative consequences | 3.62 (0.88) | 3.77 (0.81) | t(654) = 2.33* |
Enjoyment of experience | 3.88 (1.04) | 3.41 (1.24) | t(654) = 5.14*** |
Health | |||
Likelihood of engaging in risky behavior | 2.58 (0.66) | 2.25 (0.63) | t(654) = 6.40*** |
Probability of negative consequences | 2.99 (0.74) | 3.50 (0.73) | t(654) = 8.80*** |
Severity of potential negative consequences | 4.24 (0.61) | 4.48 (0.50) | t(654) = 5.52*** |
Enjoyment of experience | 2.44 (0.83) | 2.31 (0.73) | t(654) = 2.01* |
Recreation | |||
Likelihood of engaging in risky behavior | 2.96 (0.91) | 2.54 (0.91) | t(654) = 5.75*** |
Probability of negative consequences | 3.07 (0.72) | 3.37 (0.65) | t(654) = 5.67*** |
Severity of potential negative consequences | 4.37 (0.67) | 4.42 (0.62) | t(654) = 1.09 |
Enjoyment of experience | 4.17 (0.85) | 3.98 (0.91) | t(654) = 2.78** |
Social | |||
Likelihood of engaging in risky behavior | 3.53 (0.61) | 3.45 (0.59) | t(654) = 1.81f |
Probability of negative consequences | 2.46 (0.63) | 2.54 (0.60) | t(654) = 1.58 |
Severity of potential negative consequences | 2.58 (0.69) | 2.69 (0.65) | t(654) = 2.05* |
Enjoyment of experience | 3.31 (0.69) | 3.28 (0.70) | t(654) = 0.40 |
Positive | |||
Likelihood of engaging in behavior | 2.94 (0.86) | 3.23 (0.83) | t(655) = 4.34*** |
Probability of positive consequences | 3.23 (0.58) | 3.40 (0.60) | t(655) = 3.57*** |
Intensity of potential positive consequences | 4.48 (0.57) | 4.56 (0.50) | t(655) = 1.84f |
Unpleasantness of experience | 2.72 (0.74) | 2.68 (0.77) | t(655) = 0.69 |
f p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p .001. |
Risk Behavior Questions | Males Means (SDs) | Females Means (SDs) | Gender Difference |
Do you smoke? | 1.30 (0.73) | 1.17 (0.55) | t(654) = 2.48, p < .013* |
How many alcoholic beverages do you typically drink in a week? | 1.99 (1.16) | 1.67 (0.80) | t(652) = 4.13, p < .001** |
How often have you had too much to drink or gotten drunk? | 2.72 (1.51) | 2.40 (1.35) | t(654) = 2.90, p < .004** |
How often do you drive over the speed limit? | 3.91 (1.08) | 3.65 (1.15) | t(653) = 2.90, p < .004** |
How often do you "bend" or break traffic laws? | 3.13 (1.14) | 2.85 (1.08) | t(654) = 3.30, p < .001** |
How often do you gamble? | 2.18 (1.12) | 1.47 (0.81) | t(653) = 9.53, p < .001** |
How often do you engage in risky recreational activities? | 2.21 (1.11) | 1.73 (0.92) | t(655) = 5.99, p < .001** |
How often do you get into arguments with friends or family? | 2.48 (1.00) | 2.36 (0.95) | t(655) = 1.58, p < .115 |
How often do you raise your hand to answer or ask questions in class? | 2.28 (1.12) | 2.02 (1.00) | t(655) = 3.22, p < .001** |
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. | |||
Note. Some n's may be slightly reduced for some individual analyses due to missing data points. |
Past risk behavior | Average likelihood of engaging | ||
Do you smoke? | 0.11* | ||
How many alcoholic beverages do you typically drink in a week? | 0.26** | ||
How often have you had too much to drink or gotten drunk? | 0.23** | ||
How often do you drive over the speed limit? | 0.18** | ||
How often do you bend or break traffic laws? | 0.34** | ||
*p < .01, **p < .001 |
Items: | Probability and severity | Probability and enjoyment | Severity and enjoyment |
Gambling domain | |||
1 (sport event) | .427*** | -.092* | .036 |
2 (horse races) | .398*** | -.025 | .018 |
3 (poker) | .407*** | -.095* | .003 |
4 (casino) | .513*** | .019 | .060 |
Health | |||
1 (walking home) | .344*** | -.137*** | -.201*** |
2 (seatbelt) | .125** | -.109** | -.211*** |
3 (helmet) | .230*** | -.183*** | -.044 |
4 (sun exposure) | .411*** | -.018 | .021 |
Recreational | |||
1 (rafting) | .336*** | -.208*** | .047 |
2 (sport) | .171*** | -.218*** | .121** |
3 (plane) | .063 | -.233*** | .106** |
4 (tornado) | .356*** | -.189*** | .025 |
Social | |||
1 (tastes) | .572*** | .009 | .021 |
2 (disagreeing) | .645*** | -.045 | -.019 |
3 (defending) | .574*** | -.033 | -.038 |
4 (arguing) | .551*** | -.148*** | -.107** |
5 (date) | .488*** | -.028 | .066f |
6 (raising hand) | .508*** | -.043 | .124** |
f p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. |
Probability with | Probability of Good Outcomes | Intensity of Good Outcomes | |
Items: | Intensity of Good Outcomes | with Unpleasantness | with Unpleasantness |
1 (screenplay) | .044 | .002 | -.011 |
2 (radio station) | -.069f | .068f | -.196*** |
3 (applications) | .343*** | .063 | .026 |
4 (visiting) | .465*** | -.050 | -.007 |
f p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. |
Zero-order correlations | Partial correlations | Sobel's Test | |||
Risk taking | Mediator | Risk taking | Mediator | ||
Gambling | |||||
Negative probability | Negative probability | ||||
Gender | -.235*** | .143*** | -.205*** | z = -3.08, p < .003 | |
Risk taking | -.279*** | -.255*** | |||
Severity | Severity | ||||
Gender | .091* | -.218*** | z = -2.23, p < .03 | ||
Risk taking | -.315*** | -.303*** | |||
Enjoyment | Enjoyment | ||||
Gender | -.197*** | -.190*** | z = -4.08, p < .001 | ||
Risk taking | .289*** | .254*** | |||
Health | |||||
Negative probability | Negative probability | ||||
Gender | -.243*** | .325*** | -.166*** | z = -4.81, p < .001 | |
Risk taking | -.283*** | -.222*** | |||
Severity | Severity | ||||
Gender | .211*** | -.218*** | z = -2.51, p < .02 | ||
Risk taking | -.154*** | -.108** | |||
Enjoyment | Enjoyment | ||||
Gender | -.078* | -.231*** | z = -1.92, p = .055 | ||
Risk taking | .264*** | .254*** | |||
Recreational | |||||
Negative probability | Negative probability | ||||
Gender | -.219*** | .216*** | -.165*** | z = -4.45, p < .001 | |
Risk taking | -.304*** | -.269*** | |||
Severity | Severity | ||||
Gender | .042 | -- | -- | ||
Risk taking | -.031 | -- | |||
Enjoyment | Enjoyment | ||||
Gender | -.108** | -.192*** | z = -2.76, p = .01 | ||
Risk taking | .534*** | .526*** | |||
Social | |||||
Negative probability | Negative probability | ||||
Gender | -.07f | .062 | -- | -- | |
Risk taking | -.233** | -- | |||
Severity | Severity | ||||
Gender | .08* | -- | -- | ||
Risk taking | -.247*** | -- | |||
Enjoyment | Enjoyment | ||||
Gender | -.016 | -- | -- | ||
Risk taking | .322*** | -- | |||
Positive | |||||
Positive probability | Positive probability | ||||
Gender | .167*** | .138*** | .131** | z = 3.30, p < .001 | |
Risk taking | .323*** | .307*** | |||
Positive intensity | Positive intensity | ||||
Gender | .072f | .157*** | z = 1.70, p = .09 | ||
Risk taking | .186*** | .177*** | |||
Unpleasantness | Unpleasantness | ||||
Gender | -.027 | -- | -- | ||
Risk taking | -.074f | -- | |||
f p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001., -- criteria for mediational analyses not met, for gender M=1 F=2. |
Variable | Standardized coefficients | t | Significance |
Gambling domain | |||
(Constant) | 13.572 | .001 | |
Gender | -.142 | -3.983 | .001 |
Negative probability | -.120 | -2.945 | .003 |
Severity | -.253 | -6.226 | .001 |
Enjoyment | .270 | 7.655 | .001 |
Health domain | |||
(Constant) | 13.661 | .001 | |
Gender | -.153 | -3.982 | .001 |
Negative probability | -.202 | -5.108 | .001 |
Severity | -.031 | -0.804 | .422 |
Enjoyment | .230 | 6.342 | .001 |
Recreational domain | |||
(Constant) | 7.898 | .001 | |
Gender | -.130 | -3.989 | .001 |
Negative probability | -.145 | -4.189 | .001 |
Severity | -.085 | -2.532 | .012 |
Enjoyment | .503 | 14.938 | .001 |
Social domain | |||
(Constant) | 21.500 | .001 | |
Gender | -.044 | -1.238 | .216 |
Negative probability | -.072 | -1.494 | .136 |
Severity | -.210 | -4.334 | .001 |
Enjoyment | .327 | 9.139 | .001 |
Positive domain | |||
(Constant) | 2.470 | .014 | |
Gender | .119 | 3.236 | .001 |
Positive probability | .281 | 7.470 | .001 |
Positive intensity | .110 | 2.934 | .003 |
Unpleasantness | -.054 | -1.476 | .141 |