Citation

Greening L, Stoppelbein L, Chandler CC, Elkin TD. J. Pediatr. Psychol. 2005; 30(5): 425-435.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0348. green@bama.ua.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/jpepsy/jsi066

PMID

15944170

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To test cognitive-developmental, social-cognitive, motivational, and cognitive hypotheses about the psychological mechanisms underlying children's risk perception. METHOD: Youth (N = 1315) ranging from 9 to 17 years of age completed measures assessing adolescent egocentrism, personal experience with four negative health events, how much they worried about the health events, and their perceived skill for event-related activities. The measures were completed twice, 12 months apart. RESULTS: Lacking personal experience with and worrying less about health threats were significant predictors of more optimistically biased risk perception a year later. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of experience with and not worrying about serious health consequences may desensitize children to potential health risks. Clinical applications for health education programs are discussed.