GOTHENBURG, Sweden, June 9 (UPI) -- Young Swedish women are more prone than men to perceive situations as risky but there are no gender differences in actual risk-taking, researchers say.
Margareta Bohlin, a doctoral student at the University of Gothenburg, studied risk-taking behavior among men and women ages 15-20. Although similar studies in several countries showed males generally take more risks than women, Bohlin's study indicates this is not the case in Sweden today.
"Girls have been given increased access to the public sphere, so they both want to and are expected to behave like boys, and they certainly do," Bohlin says in a statement.
However, they tend to perceive risks as more dangerous, which corresponds to traditional gender role patterns.
Bohlin used interviews and group discussions to assess adolescents' reasoning about risks.
"They talked a lot about how boys have difficulties to show vulnerability. For example, hearing protection and helmets are for wimps, and it's uncool to think that the music is too loud," Bohlin says.
The adolescents said they are aware of the risk of hearing damage at concerts and clubs, yet the loud music engulfs them and the music takes them to a different existential level.
Bohlin concludes the existential dimensions must be included in research on risk-taking and preventive work.
"Information campaigns focusing on catastrophic death don't work," Bohlin says. "The kids just turn off. I think that adults must realize and communicate that risk-taking also give meaning to the adolescent life."
