About this session

Friday, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

The development of different types of risk from childhood to adolescence in diverse societies

Children and adolescents frequently encounter situations where they must make decisions in the face of uncertainty or potential risks. Prior research has identified important patterns in the development of risk but much remains unknown about how children and adolescents differentiate between different kinds of risk and whether development varies across diverse societies. This symposium explores critical distinctions in the development of risk across a broad range of ages and cultures. The first presentation consists of two experiments showing that young children (4- to 9-years) differentiate between different types of risk (physical, social, and economic) in both their perceptions and decision-making. Moreover, these three types of risk were uncorrelated on most measures suggesting specificity for risk preferences in different domains. The second presentation examined the development of risk perceptions and behaviors in adolescents at three time points (11, 14.5, and 18 years) in seven countries. Overall, perceptions of the riskiness of health-related and antisocial behaviors declined with age, but behavioral risk taking varied by task. The third presentation examined whether children and adolescents (6-19 years) in three societies preferred risk based on epistemic uncertainty (i.e., the outcome has already occurred but is unknown) versus physical uncertainty (i.e., the outcome has yet to occur) and found a consistent preference for epistemic uncertainty across all ages and societies. The discussant for this symposium is an expert on risk in childhood whose own body of work on risk in Chinese children will inform their discussion and integration of the combined research.

Paper #1
Title	Children Differentiate Between Different Domains of Risk: Economic, Social, and Physical
Presenting author	Rachael Silberstein, Boston University, US

Paper #2
Title	Longitudinal Patterns of Risk Taking and Risk Perception Across Adolescence in Seven Countries
Presenting author	Dr. Natasha Duell, Ph.D., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, United States

Paper #3
Title	A preference for epistemic over physical uncertainty across development: Evidence from three diverse cultures
Presenting author	Julia M. Smith, Duke University, US

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Session chair
Peter R. Blake, Ed.D., Boston University, United States

Discussant
Zhen Wu, Tsinghua University, China

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