Risk exposure explaining age differences in risk-taking

Laboratory and real world observations of risk-taking behaviour among children and adolescents show conflicting results. In the real world adolescents take more risks than children, but in lab settings they engage in equal levels of risks. Ivy Defoe is developing a new psychological model that can explain these differences. 'In the real world age and culture predict exposure to risk conducive situations, both offline and online. Increases in such risk exposures as youth become older, predict increases in youth risk behaviour. Risk exposure is thus important to explain age differences in risk-taking, but was so far lacking in contemporary psychological models on youth risk-taking development.' 'Laboratory experimental studies, that are regarded as a golden standard for the scientific investigation of cause and effect, do not reflect the same pattern of age differences in risk-taking that we observe in the real-world', states Ivy Defoe, assistant professor within the Forensic Child and Youth Care Sciences research group at the University of Amsterdam. Defoe based this conclusion on a systematic review (meta-analysis) published in Psychological Bulletin.