RISK PREFERENCES AND PATRIARCHY - EXTENDING POWER-CONTROL THEORY

Power-control theory, at ifs most abstract level, links gender differe nces in risk preference to patriarchal family structures. In precious studies, direct tests have focused on adolescent delinquency, which is a specific form of risk-faking, and have used measures of risk prefer ence specific to delinquency. In the present article, we introduce evi dence for more general power-control theory hypotheses by employing a more global measure of risk preference and analyzing data from a sampl e of adults. We have found that among adults who were raised in more p atriarchal families, females have a significantly lower taste for risk , globally defined, than males, and dart such a gender difference does not appear among adults who were raised in less patriarchal families. The findings provide a basis fbr expanding the scope of power-control theory beyond adolescent delinquency to include the gender patterning , and changes over time in that patterning of a wide range of risk-tak ing behaviors among adults, including risks that are socially and cult urally valued.