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Gender Differences in Adolescent Risk Taking: Are They Diminishing?

An Australian Intergenerational Study

University of Tasmania, J.AbbottChapman{at}utas.edu.au

Carey Denholm

University of Tasmania

Colin Wyld

University of Tasmania

Research investigating patterns of intergenerational risk taking has produced evidence of increased risk taking of female adolescents compared with their mother's generation and a reduction in the traditional gap between levels of teenage male and female risk taking. The research is part of a larger, multistage project on factors affecting adolescent risk taking conducted between 1999 and 2003 in Tasmania, Australia, using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Findings from the study of 954 "mainstream" students in Years 11 and 12 in public and private senior secondary schools and colleges and 1,139 parents of Year 11 and 12 students in the same schools and colleges suggest that gender differences in risk taking and risk perceptions have narrowed significantly over recent decades. Although the pattern of risk activities is complex, it appears that high levels of consumption of alcohol and binge drinking are what especially distinguish the behavior of teenage girls from their mothers' generation.

Key Words: risk taking • students • parents • gender • context • change

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