NCJ Number
246447
Journal
Sociological Spectrum Volume: 34 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 2014 Pages: 22-38
Date Published
February 2014
Length
17 pages
Annotation
With data from a sample of college students in Japan, the present study tests the hypothesis that the tendency for females to have a lower affinity for risks, globally defined, than males is attributable to different patterns of parental control imposed on daughters compared to sons.
Abstract
Power-control theory, in its original formulation, links patriarchal family structures to parental control, and then to gender differences in risk preference. In previous studies, most of which have been conducted in North America, direct tests of the links have shown that parental control is a key mediating variable explaining the relationship between gender and risk preferences for those raised in patriarchal families. With data from a sample of college students in Japan, the present study tests the hypothesis that the tendency for females to have a lower affinity for risks, globally defined, than males is attributable to different patterns of parental control imposed on daughters compared to sons. The study found that female students have a significantly lower penchant for risk than males, but that such a difference cannot be explained by gender differences in the intensity of instrumental kinds of parental controls, neither mothers' nor fathers' supervision and surveillance. Abstract published by arrangement with Taylor and Francis.