Gender and developmental patterns of affect, belief, and behavior in simulated injury events

This study examined the hypothesis drawn from epidemiological data that beliefs and affective reactions of male second, fifth, and eighth graders, undergraduates, and adults in response to a series of four simulated bicycle collisions would show decreased expectation and avoidance of injury in comparison to females. This study also contrasted two additional hypotheses, one suggesting an invincibility belief in teenagers, producing a curvilinear age trend, with risky cognitions increasing from second grade, peaking at eighth grade, and then decreasing in adulthood. The other hypothesis suggested that with exposure, risky beliefs increased linearly, due to desensitization to cues of risk. As predicted, female participants did expect more fear and pain, and less exhilaration, and braked sooner after seeing the hazard than male participants. Linear rather than curvilinear age patterns emerged across films, revealing that the youngest participants anticipated more fear and less exhilaration than older participants. These results parallel developmental trends in which females and younger participants who anticipate more serious consequences are at lower risk for bicycle injury than are males, older children, and adolescents. Limitations of this analogue study and potential questions for both future research and the application of injury prevention techniques are explored.