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Do children’s intentions to risk take relate to actual risk taking?

Correspondence to:
Dr Barbara A Morrongiello
Psychology Department, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1; bmorrong{at}uoguelph.ca

ABSTRACT
Objectives: Concerns about safety and rigorous ethic standards can make it very difficult to study children’s risk taking. The goal of this study was to determine how closely intentions to risk take relate to actual risk taking among boys and girls 6–11 years of age.

Methods: Children initially completed an "intentions to risk take" task. Following administration of several questionnaires they later participated in an actual risk taking task.

Results: At all ages, for both boys and girls, intentions to risk take was highly positively correlated with actual risk taking. When discrepancies occurred these were usually of minimal magnitude.

Conclusions: Tasks that tap children’s intentions to risk take can serve as proxy indicators of children’s actual risk taking.

Keywords: risk taking; measurement