Relation between preference for intermediate risk and adult age in men: A cross-cultural validation

Investigated the generalizability of the N. P. Chaubey (see record 1974-27278-001) finding of an inverse relation between adult age and magnitude of preference for intermediate risk in Asian Indian males. 11 17-21 yr old undergraduates and 11 60-74 yr old volunteers from the community individually completed a task which was oriented about the Verbal Ability Test. Ss chose their preferred difficulty level and were afforded points based on their performance. An index of the preference for intermediate risk was derived by obtaining the absolute value of the difference between the probability of success at which the S chose to work and .50. Analysis of variance applied to data based on the risk index revealed that older Ss exhibited significantly less preference for intermediate risk than did younger Ss. Results of this study considered in conjunction with those of the Chaubey study indicate that the preference for intermediate risk in males has a strong, reliable, replicable relation to adult age. It is suggested that future research study intermediate risk in females. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).