Open AccessGender Differences in Risk-Taking and Sensation-Seeking Behavior: Empirical Evidence from “ExtremeSports”
Author(s) -
Bernd Frick
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
de economist/economist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.209
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1572-9982
pISSN - 0013-063X
DOI - 10.1007/s10645-020-09373-y
Subject(s) - sensation seeking , psychology , sensation , test (biology) , social psychology , clinical psychology , cognitive psychology , personality , paleontology , biology
Do men and women differ with respect to sensation-seeking behavior, an extreme form of risk preferences? In this paper, I use data from two different high-risk sports—cliff diving and free diving—to test for possible differences between the genders. My findings suggest that, first, women are under-represented in both sports, but that, second, for those who self-select into these occupations, no differences with respect to sensation-seeking behavior can be found between men and women.