Sensation seeking of young children

Thirty-six boys and 33 girls, attending kindergatern, second-grade and fourth-grade, and their parents responded to a simplified version of the general Sensation Seeking Scale. Children's preferences for activities, puzzles, pictures, responses, foods, mazes and behaviors were also assessed. Results showed that the mean scores for the Sensation Seeking Scale of young children were much lower than scores of high school and college students, and significantly lower than the guesses of their parents. Sensation seeking was found to be related to preference for complex puzzles and pictures, to engagement in negative behaviors and to the children's knowledge about the environment. These findings suggest that the level of sensation seeking of children is related to their activities and preferences as well as their exposure to a variety of experiences.