Why Do Some Kids Take More Chances Than Others?

Some kids like to take chances. Some people prefer to play it safe. Are these variations just a result of personality, or are kids’ settings also influencing how eager they are to take a chance? Researchers at Boston University’s Social Development and Learning Lab have found that when given the same risky situation, children from different socioeconomic backgrounds make different decisions. According to research coauthor and associate professor of psychology at the BU College of Arts & Sciences, Peter Blake, the income and social standing of parents may affect their children’s risk preferences, but this study offers the first experimental support for that theory.

“I hope this study- as well as other future studies by our lab and other people- will change perspectives,” Blake says. According to him, the research shows that making risky decisions as a child is not always a sign of bad judgement or a lack of self-control. Children may rationally decide to take risks when they make sense for them in their environment and avoid them when they don’t. Blake expresses his desire that when adults such as parents, teachers and others notice a youngster making risky decisions, they will pause and think about whether the choice might make sense given the child's situation.

The developmental risk sensitivity theory, which forms the basis of Blake’s study, is based on observations of animal behavior in foraging circumstances. According to the hypothesis, growing organisms learn to employ various risk management techniques depending on the resources at hand and the scope of their requirements.

For instance, a well-fed fox is unlikely to risk venturing into a hostile area for a substantial meal when a limited, predetermined amount of food is easily accessible. However, a hungry fox is more inclined to take chances to get a big feast.

What Influences Children’s Risk Preferences

Blake and his collaborator Teresa Harvey (GRS ‘20) designed an experiment to investigate if children's risk preferences would differ by their socioeconomic level and by the quantity of the provided incentives to evaluate the practical applicability of this theory. The study, which involved dozens of kids between the ages of 4 and 10, was carried out at various research facilities in Greater Boston, including the Museum of Science. Each child had the option of accepting a predetermined quantity of stickers or spinning a wheel for a 50/50 chance of receiving additional stickers or none. Following a few simple practice rounds to make sure everyone understood the task, the kids were presented with harder options, such as a large-reward option (keep four stickers, or spin for a chance to gain eight stickers or none), and a small-reward option (keep two stickers, or spin for a chance of getting four stickers or none).

Children from lower socioeconomic status households were more likely than those from better status families to take a chance and spin the wheel in the large-reward trial, according to the researchers’ analysis of their data. The small-reward trial showed no discernible difference in socioeconomic level.

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“The kids with lower socioeconomic status, they followed the pattern predicted by the theory,” says Blake. “They acted like the hungry fox. They were more likely to take the risk to get the larger reward and when it came to a lower value reward, they chose the certain option so that they would get something.”

Who Takes More Risks- Boys or Girls

Although gender differences had no impact on the socioeconomic trends the researchers were interested in, the study also revealed that boys were more prone than girls to take risks. No age-based differences in risk preference were found in the study.

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To redo the experiment and obtain results with greater confidence, Blake claims he is attempting to recruit more families from the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Most participating families were well educated and had high incomes.

Blake thinks his research findings might not be applicable in other circumstances because spinning wheels to win stickers is not a typical setting for kids. He claims that a child’s decision to take a risk, such as jumping off a swing during recess, incorporates other elements (like peer pressure) that his trials were not intended to take into consideration. But Blake thinks his research explains some of the decisions school-age kids make on a regular basis. For instance, a young person might take a chance and share some of her sandwiches with a classmate to form a meaningful bond.

Children make decisions about how much time and effort to put into different hobbies.

“You tell them that doing their homework has some long-term payoff,” Blake says. “That’s the effort they must expend right now, as opposed to going out to play with their friends. So, they must make decisions about whether there’s an immediate payoff that could be easier versus something that may or may not work out for the long term.”

Source-Medindia