Cent Eur J Public Health 2018, 26(1):54-59 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a4920

Age and gender differences in health risk perception

YoungHo Kim, InKyoung Park, SooJin Kang
Department of Sport Science, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, Korea

Objective: The current study investigated how adolescents perceive their own health risks and compare their own likelihood of health risks with that of others of the same age. Moreover, the study identified the differences in health risk perceptions between males and females.

Methods: A total of 625 adolescents (314 males and 311 females) from the Nowon district, geographically located in northern Seoul, voluntarily participated. In order to measure health risk perceptions a Korean version of self-other risk judgments profile was used.

Results: The findings indicated that study participants, regardless of gender and age, tend to underestimate their vulnerability to majority of health risk events. Furthermore, there were significant gender and age differences in health risk perception and perception bias in all health risk domains.

Conclusion: The present study suggests that further research is needed to identify realistic and unrealistic perception mechanism for a large number of people from different demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Keywords: adolescents, risk perception, perception bias, health risks, gender, age

Received: September 6, 2016; Revised: June 27, 2017; Published: March 30, 2018  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
YoungHo K, Park I, Kang S. Age and gender differences in health risk perception. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2018;26(1):54-59. doi: 10.21101/cejph.a4920. PubMed PMID: 29684299.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Grunbaum JA, Kann K, Kinchen S, Ross J, Hawkins J, Lowrym R, et al. Youth risk behavior surveillance - United States, 2003. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004 May 21;53(SS-2):1-95.
    2. Kim Y. Preliminary finding on Korean adolescents' perceptions of health risks. Psychol Rep. 2007 Dec;101(3 Pt 1):995-1000. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    3. Halpern-Felsher BL, Millstein SG, Ellen JM, Adler NE, Tschann JM, Biehl, M. The role of behavioral experience in judging risks. Health Psychol. 2001 Mar;20(2):120-6. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    4. Ellen JM, Boyer CB, Tschann JM, Shafer MA. Adolescents' perceived risk for STDs and HIV infection. J Adolesc Health. 1996 Mar;18(3):177-81. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    5. Perloff LS, Fetzer BK. Self-other judgment and perceived vulnerability to victimization. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1986 Mar;50(3):502-10. Go to original source...
    6. Gough JD. A review of the literature pertaining to 'perceived' risk and 'acceptable' risk and the methods used to estimate them. Canterbury (NZ): Centre for Resource Management; 1990.
    7. Weinstein ND. Unrealistic optimism about susceptibility to health problems. J Behav Med. 1982 Dec;5(4):441-60. Go to original source...
    8. Perloff LS. Social comparison and illusions of invulnerability to negative life events. In: Snyder CR, Ford CE, editors. Coping with negative life events. The plenum series on stress and coping. Boston (MA): Springer; 1987. p. 217-42. Go to original source...
    9. Jones SM, Gell NM, Roth JA, Scholes D, LaCroix AZ. The relationship of perceived risk and biases in perceived risk to fracture prevention behavior in older women. Ann Behav Med. 2015 Oct;49(5):696-703. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    10. Steptoe A, Wright C, Kunz-Ebrecht SR, Iliffe S. Dispositional optimism and health behavior in community-dwelling older people: associations with healthy aging. Br J Health Psychol. 2006 Feb;11(Pt 1):71-84. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    11. Lee JE, Lemyre L, Mercier P, Bouchard L, Krewski D. Beyond the hazard: the role of beliefs in health risk perception. Hum Ecol Risk Assess. 2005;11(6):1111-26. Go to original source...
    12. Walker EA, Mertz CK, Kalten MR, Flynn J. Risk perception for developing diabetes: comparative risk judgments of physicians. Diabetes Care. 2003 Sep;26(9):2543-8. Go to original source...
    13. Finn P, Bragg BW. Perception of the risk of an accident by young and older drivers. Accid Anal Prev. 1986 Aug;18(4):289-98. Go to original source...
    14. Harris CR, Jenkins M, Glaser D. Gender differences in risk assessment: why do women take fewer risks than men? Judgm Decis Mak. 2006 Jul;1(1):48-63. Go to original source...
    15. Lapsley DK, Hill PL. Subjective invulnerability, optimism bias and adjustment in emerging adulthood. J Youth Adolesc. 2010 Aug;39(8):847-57. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    16. Whalen CK, Henker B, O'Neil R, Hollingshead J, Holman A, Moore B. Optimism in children's judgments of health and environmental risks. Health Psychol. 1994 Jul;13(4):319-25. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    17. Kim YH, Kang SJ, Park IK. Health risk perception according to gender and the physical activity level in middle-aged adults. Korean J Sport Psychol. 2016;27:1-8.
    18. Banville D, Desrosiers P, Genet-Volet Y. Translating questionnaires and inventories using a cross-cultural translation technique. J Teach Phys Educ. 2000 Apr;19(3):374-87. Go to original source...
    19. Nezlek JB, Zebrowski BD. Implications of the dimensionality of unrealistic optimism for the study of perceived health risks. J Soc Clin Psychol. 2001 Dec;20(4):521-37. Go to original source...
    20. Elkind D. Egocentrism and adolescence. Child Dev. 1967 Dec;38(4):1025-34. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    21. Lavery B, Siegel AW, Cousins JH, Rubovits DS. Adolescent risk taking: an analysis of problem behavior in problem children. J Exp Child Psychol. 1993 Apr;55(2):277-94. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    22. Bassett RL, Martin Ginis KA. Risky business: the effects of an individualized health information intervention on health risk perceptions and leisure time physical activity among people with spinal cord injury. Disabil Health J. 2011 Jul;4(3):165-76. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    23. Renner B, Schupp HT. The perception of health risk. In: Friedman HS, editor. The Oxford handbook of health psychology. New York: Oxford University Press; 2011. p. 637-65. Go to original source...
    24. Davidson DJ, Freudenburg WR. Gender and environmental risk concerns: a review and analysis of available research. Environ Behav. 1996 May;28(3):302-29. Go to original source...
    25. Finucane ML, Slovic P, Mertz CK, Flynn J, Satterfield TA. Gender, race, and perceived risk: the 'white male' effect. Health Risk Soc. 2000 Jul;2(2):159-72. Go to original source...
    26. Borrelli B, Hayes RB, Dunsiger S, Fava JL. Risk perception and smoking behavior in medically ill smokers: a prospective study. Addiction. 2010 Jun;105(6):1100-8. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    27. Maričíć J, Sučíć I, Šakić V. Risk perception related to (il)licit substance use and attitudes toward its use and legalization: the role of age, gender, and substance use. J Gen Soc Iss. 2013 Dec;22(4):579-99. Go to original source...
    28. Mravčik V, Korčišová B, Lejčková P, Miovská L, Škrdlantová E, Petroš O, Sklenař V, Vopravil J. Annual report: the Czech Republic 2004 drug situation. Prague: Office of the Government of the Czech Republic. 2005.
    29. Sharma M. Health belief model: need for more utilization in alcohol and drug education. J Alcohol Drug Educ. 2011 Apr;55(1):3-6.
    30. Ravert RD, Schwartz SJ, Zamboanga BL, Kim SY, Weisskirch RS, Bersamin M. Sensation seeking and danger invulnerability: paths to college student risk-taking. Pers Indiv Differ. 2009 Nov;47(7):763-8. Go to original source...

    Return to the content