TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2005//
TI  - Predictors of children's and adolescents' risk perception
JO  - Journal of pediatric psychology
A1  - Greening, Leilani
A1  - Stoppelbein, Laura
A1  - Chandler, C. C.
A1  - Elkin, T. David
SP  - 425
EP  - 435
VL  - 30
IS  - 5
N2  - 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.
LA  - 
SN  - 0146-8693
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsi066
ID  - ref1
ER  -