Early-life exposure to hardship increased risk tolerance and entrepreneurship in adulthood with gender differences.

Many entrepreneurs credit their success to early hardship. Here, we exploit geographical differences in the intensity of China's Great Famine to investigate the effect of hardship during formative years on individual personality and engagement in business entrepreneurship. To exclude factors that might confound the relation between famine intensity and entrepreneurship, we model famine intensity by random weather shocks. We find robust evidence that individuals who experienced more hardship were subsequently more likely to become entrepreneurs (defined broadly as self-employed or business owners). Importantly, the increase in entrepreneurship was at least partly due to conditioning rather than selection. Regarding the behavioral mechanism, hardship was associated with greater risk tolerance among men and women but increased business ownership only among men. The gender differences were possibly due to the intricate relationship between a Chinese social norm­men focus more on market work, while women focus more on domestic work­and interspousal risk pooling associated with occupational choices. Scientifically, these findings contribute to a long-standing debate on whether entrepreneurship is due to nature or nurture, particularly how hardship conditions people to be entrepreneurial. The findings also highlight the importance of gender differences in shaping the effect of early-life experience on life cycle outcomes.

Preferences in AI algorithms: The need for relevant risk attitudes in automated decisions under uncertainties.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to improve life and reduce risks by providing large amounts of information embedded in big databases and by suggesting or implementing automated decisions under uncertainties. Yet, in the design of a prescriptive AI algorithm, some problems may occur, first and clearly, if the AI information is wrong or incomplete. But the main point of this article is that under uncertainties, the decision algorithm, rational or not, includes, in one way or another, a risk attitude in addition to deterministic preferences. That risk attitude implemented in the software is chosen by the analysts, the organization that they serve, the experts who inform them, and more generally by the process of identifying possible options. The problem is that it may or may not represent, as it should, the preferences of the actual decision maker (the risk manager) and of the people subjected to his/her decisions. This article briefly describes the sometimes-serious problem of that discrepancy between the preferences of the risk managers who use an AI output, and the risk attitude embedded in the AI system. The recommendation is to make these AI factors as accessible and transparent as possible and to allow for preference adjustments in the model if needed. The formulation of two simplified examples is described, that of a medical doctor and his/her patient when using an AI system to decide of a treatment option, and that of a skipper in a sailing race such as the America's Cup, receiving AI-processed sensor signals about the sailing conditions on different possible courses.

The intergenerational transmission of risk and trust attitudes: Replicating and extending "Dohmen, Falk, Huffman and Sunde 2012" using genetically informed twin data.

This replication revisits an influential contribution on the intergenerational transmission of risk and trust attitudes, which, based on data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (GSOEP), reveals a positive correlation between parents' and children's attitudes. The authors of the original study argue that socialization in the family is important in the transmission process. The replication is motivated by mounting evidence indicating that within-family transmission has a considerable genetic component, which calls into question socialization as the main transmission pathway. To consider genetic transmission in addition to social transmission, the replication relies on the German twin family panel TwinLife. The findings reveal that, first, most of the variation in children's risk and social trust attitudes is attributable to differences in the non-shared environment, followed by genetic differences, whereas differences in the shared family environment - the main candidate for social transmission - do not matter. Second, correlations between parents' and children's attitudes essentially involve genetic similarity. Third, family conditions do not moderate these relationships. Thus, the findings do not support the socialization assumption.

Contextual framing effects on risk aversion assessed using the bomb risk elicitation task.

We examine the impact of framing on individuals' risk-taking behavior in the context of health risks during the coronavirus outbreak. We elicit risk attitudes from a sample of 3,385 individuals across seven European countries using an incentivized decision-making task. Participants are randomly assigned to one of three versions of the task: one involving the risk of a bomb explosion, one involving the risk of contracting an infectious disease, and one involving opening an empty box. We find that the framing of the task significantly affects risk-taking behavior, with participants exhibiting greater risk aversion in the health task than in the bomb or neutral task. This framing effect is observed in the majority of the countries studied.

Health insurance, risk attitudes, and household financial behavior.

Medical expenditure risk is widely believed to reduce households' willingness to bear other risks and in turn alter their behavior. In this paper, we investigate the role of health insurance in household financial decision. To this end, we consider a double-multinomial discrete-factor model of insurance choice and portfolio allocation. Using data from a Chinese household survey, we find that enrolling in a health insurance scheme with better policies is associated with a higher probability of owning risky assets. This positive effect is stronger for households with lower risk aversion. Our findings suggest that risk attitudes could indirectly influence portfolio outcomes through affecting households' responsiveness to changes in medical expenditure risk.

Linking Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, Food Safety and Health Risk Attitudes and Happiness in Thailand: Evidence from a Population-based Survey.

The purpose of this nationally-representative cross-sectional study was to investigate the association of fruit and vegetable consumption and food safety and health risk attitudes with happiness among Thai people. The study employed a multi-stage sampling design. A total of 6,955 Thai residents age 15 years or older from four geographic regions and Bangkok in Thailand participated in the study. Information on self-reported happiness, daily fruit, and vegetable consumption, sociodemographic characteristics, and risk attitudes were collected via survey questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was used in investigating the association between risk attitudes, fruit and vegetable consumption, and happiness, adjusting for the covariates sequentially. Risk attitudes and sufficient fruit and vegetable intake were found to be significantly associated with happiness. The positive association between risk attitudes toward health safety, food safety, and happiness were found to be statistically significant. People who had sufficient fruit and vegetable intake had a 0.187 higher happiness score than those who had insufficient fruit and vegetable intake. These findings could be used by policymakers and public health practitioners to design better interventions that can target specific populations with different risk attitudes and improve their psychological well-being via increasing FV consumption.

The Value of a Statistical Life for Risk-Averse and Risk-Seeking Individuals.

This article estimates the value of a statistical life (VSL) for Chile under the hedonic wage method while accounting for individual risk preferences. Two alternative measures of risk aversion are used. First, risk aversion is directly measured using survey measures of preferences over hypothetical gambles, and second, over observed individual behaviors that may proxy for risk preferences, such as smoking status, are used. I reconcile the results with a theoretical model of economic behavior that predicts how the wage-risk tradeoff changes as risk aversion differs across individuals. The VSL estimates range between 0.61 and 8.68 million dollars. The results using smoking behavior as a proxy for risk attitudes are consistent with previous findings. However, directly measuring risk aversion corrects the wage-risk tradeoff estimation bias in the opposite direction. The results are robust to other observed measures of risk aversion such as drinking behavior and stock investments. Results suggest that, consistent with the literature that connects smoking behavior with labor market outcomes, smoking status could be capturing poor health productivity effect in addition to purely risk preferences.

Attentional Selection Mediates Framing and Risk-Bias Effects.

Humans display a number of puzzling choice patterns that contradict basic principles of rationality. For example, they show preferences that change as a result of task framing or of adding irrelevant alternatives into the choice set. A recent theory has proposed that such choice and risk biases arise from an attentional mechanism that increases the relative weighting of goal-consistent information and protects the decision from noise after the sensory stage. Here, using a divided-attention method based on the dot-probe technique, we showed that attentional selection toward values congruent with the task goal takes place while participants make choices between alternatives that consist of payoff sequences. Moreover, we demonstrated that the magnitude of this attentional selection predicts risk attitudes, indicating a common underlying cognitive process. The results highlight the dynamic interplay between attention and choice mechanisms in producing framing effects and risk biases.

Comparing GPs' risk attitudes for their own health and for their patients' : a troubling discrepancy?

BACKGROUND: In this paper, we report the results of risk attitudes elicitation of a French general practitioners national representative sample (N=1568). METHODS: Willingness to take risks in four different domains (daily life, financial matters, own health and patient health) was collected through a large-scale telephone interview of GPs using self-reported 11-point Likert scale questions. RESULTS: We uncover some specificities of the GPs population regarding their attitudes towards risk. In particular, we detect an important positive gap between their willingness to take risks in the domain of their own health and in the domain of the heath of their patients. This "patient-regarding" risk aversion is discussed with respect to its important consequences regarding medical behavior bias. CONCLUSIONS: We confirm the self-other discrepancy found in the medical literature on physicians' behaviors and emphasize the utility of the study and measures of personality traits such as "risk attitudes" for the medical professions and for the population they address.

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? Or Should I Wait and See? Influences on Wildfire Evacuation Decisions.

As climate change has contributed to longer fire seasons and populations living in fire-prone ecosystems increase, wildfires have begun to affect a growing number of people. As a result, interest in understanding the wildfire evacuation decision process has increased. Of particular interest is understanding why some people leave early, some choose to stay and defend their homes, and others wait to assess conditions before making a final decision. Individuals who tend to wait and see are of particular concern given the dangers of late evacuation. To understand what factors might influence different decisions, we surveyed homeowners in three areas in the United States that recently experienced a wildfire. The Protective Action Decision Model was used to identify a suite of factors previously identified as potentially relevant to evacuation decisions. Our results indicate that different beliefs about the efficacy of a particular response or action (evacuating or staying to defend), differences in risk attitudes, and emphasis on different cues to act (e.g., official warnings, environmental cues) are key factors underlying different responses. Further, latent class analysis indicates there are two general classes of individuals: those inclined to evacuate and those inclined to stay, and that a substantial portion of each class falls into the wait and see category.

Risk perception in pregnancy: a concept analysis.

AIM: To report an analysis of the concept of risk perception in pregnancy. BACKGROUND: Pregnant women are increasingly exposed to the view that pregnancy and childbirth are intrinsically dangerous, requiring medical monitoring and management. Societal pressures are applied to women that dictate appropriate behaviours during pregnancy. These changes have resulted in increased perception of risk for pregnant women. DESIGN: Walker and Avant's method was selected to guide this analysis. DATA SOURCES: Peer-reviewed articles published in English from CINAHL, Scopus, PubMed and Psychinfo. No date limits were applied. METHODS: Thematic analysis was conducted on 79 articles. Attributes, antecedents and consequences of the concept were identified. RESULTS: The attributes of the concept are the possibility of harm to mother or infant and beliefs about the severity of the risk state. The physical condition of pregnancy combined with the cognitive ability to perceive a personal risk state is antecedents. Risk perception in pregnancy influences women's affective state and has an impact on decision-making about pregnancy and childbirth. There are limited empirical referents with which to measure the concept. CONCLUSION: Women today know more about their developing infant than at any other time in history; however, this has not led to a sense of reassurance. Nurses and midwives have a critical role in assisting pregnant women, and their families make sense of the information they are exposed to. An understanding of the complexities of the concept of risk perception in pregnancy may assist in enabling nurses and midwives to reaffirm the normalcy of pregnancy.

Determinants of Propranolol's Selective Effect on Loss Aversion.

Research on emotion and decision making has suggested that arousal mediates risky decisions, but several distinct and often confounded processes drive such choices. We used econometric modeling to separate and quantify the unique contributions of loss aversion, risk attitudes, and choice consistency to risky decision making. We administered the beta-blocker propranolol in a double-blind, placebo-controlled within-subjects study, targeting the neurohormonal basis of physiological arousal. Matching our intervention's pharmacological specificity with a quantitative model delineating decision-making components allowed us to identify the causal relationships between arousal and decision making that do and do not exist. Propranolol selectively reduced loss aversion in a baseline- and dose-dependent manner (i.e., as a function of initial loss aversion and body mass index), and did not affect risk attitudes or choice consistency. These findings provide evidence for a specific, modulatory, and causal relationship between precise components of emotion and risky decision making.

Risk Matrix Integrating Risk Attitudes Based on Utility Theory.

Recent studies indicate that absence of the consideration of risk attitudes of decisionmakers in the risk matrix establishment process has become a major limitation. In order to evaluate risk in a more comprehensive manner, an approach to establish risk matrices that integrates risk attitudes based on utility theory is proposed. There are three main steps within this approach: (1) describing risk attitudes of decisionmakers by utility functions, (2) bridging the gap between utility functions and the risk matrix by utility indifference curves, and (3) discretizing utility indifference curves. A complete risk matrix establishment process based on practical investigations is introduced. This process utilizes decisionmakers' answers to questionnaires to formulate required boundary values for risk matrix establishment and utility functions that effectively quantify their respective risk attitudes.

Perceptions of climate change and trust in information providers in rural Australia.

Disagreement within the global science community about the certainty and causes of climate change has led the general public to question what to believe and whom to trust on matters related to this issue. This paper reports on qualitative research undertaken with Australian residents from two rural areas to explore their perceptions of climate change and trust in information providers. While overall, residents tended to agree that climate change is a reality, perceptions varied in terms of its causes and how best to address it. Politicians, government, and the media were described as untrustworthy sources of information about climate change, with independent scientists being the most trusted. The vested interests of information providers appeared to be a key reason for their distrust. The findings highlight the importance of improved transparency and consultation with the public when communicating information about climate change and related policies.

Attitudes of people diagnosed with cancer and cancer care providers towards use of nicotine vaping products in high-income countries: a scoping review.

PURPOSE: To investigate the attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of people diagnosed with cancer and health practitioners on use of nicotine vaping products. METHODS: Scopus and OVID Medline were searched for papers published between 2013 and 2023. Two authors independently selected the studies and extracted data, with conflicts resolved through discussion. Nine studies were selected for further synthesis. Reporting follows the PRISMA Scoping Reviews checklist. RESULTS: E-cigarettes were commonly perceived as less harmful compared to conventional cigarettes and less detrimental to cancer treatment effectiveness among people with a current or previous cancer diagnosis. This population also cited smoking cessation, smoking in non-smoking areas and less risky alternative as the most common reasons for e-cigarette use. Nevertheless, low levels of clinician support on the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool/alternative were identified. CONCLUSION: Findings show differences in beliefs and attitudes of e-cigarettes between clinicians and people diagnosed with cancer. Additional research into the health impacts of e-cigarettes in people with a current or previous cancer diagnosis will allow for greater congruence between patients and clinicians and assist providers in recommending effective tools for smoking cessation within this population. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: This study provides an overview of the attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of e-cigarette use among people with a current or previous diagnosis of cancer and health practitioners. Given the increased prevalence of e-cigarette use within this population, these findings highlight a greater need for dialogue between patients and clinicians regarding the safety and efficacy of these devices.

Get active now or later? The association between physical activity and risk and time preferences.

Despite the well-established link between physical activity and positive health outcomes, much of the world's population remains inactive. Many people don't invest in health behaviours, such as physical activity, in the present, despite the long-term benefits of this. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between physical activity levels and risk and time preferences in university students. A maximum likelihood model was used to jointly estimate risk and time preferences (elicited in an incentivised choice experiment), and to examine the relationship between these preferences and self-reported physical activity. Physically inactive people discounted the future significantly more than physically active people did. Physically active people made slightly more risky choices in our risk attitude task, although this directional relationship was not statistically significant. The link between time preferences and physical activity suggests that further research on behavioural strategies such as commitment devices, nudging or temptation bundling may be helpful in increasing physical activity for individuals who discount the future in favour of more immediate benefits.

What is the relationship between risk attitudes and ambient temperature? Evidence from a large population-based cohort study.

Rising temperatures affect human behavior and risk-taking in several domains. However, it is not yet well understood just how ambient temperature shapes risk attitudes. Using data from the large population-based KORA-Fit study (Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg) of older people (N=2454), we identify a statistically significant, but very small, positive association between short-term ambient temperature changes and individuals' general willingness to take risks. Health-related risk attitudes, however, show no significant relationship with temperature. These findings support a domain-specific view of risk attitudes, with results remaining consistent for vulnerable individuals with the chronic conditions diabetes, hypertension, and asthma. Overall, our findings suggest that risk attitudes are somewhat stable towards changes in ambient temperature.

The Phenomenon of Teen Delay in Driving Licensure: Considerations at the Intersection of Mobility and Social Welfare for Emerging Adults.

In 2021, there were 11.7 million licensed young drivers in the U.S. This is 1.5 million fewer young drivers compared to 2007. The phenomenon of delay in driving licensure among teens has notable implications for opportunities positioning them for life success when transitioning into emerging adulthood and in later life.

The influence of water safety knowledge on adolescents' drowning risk behaviors: a framework of risk-protect integrated and KAP theory.

Introduction: Although previous research has examined the risk factors for drowning behavior among adolescents, it is unclear whether this association is influenced by water safety knowledge. This study aimed to examine whether water safety knowledge is associated with adolescents' drowning risk behaviors and whether drowning risk perceptions and attitudes could have a chain mediating role in the association between water safety knowledge and adolescents' drowning risk behaviors. Methods: This study included 7,485 adolescents from five Chinese provinces and cities. We used the Drowning Risk Behaviors Scales (DRBS) to evaluate the risk of drowning behaviors. The Water Safety Knowledge Scale (WSKS) was used to evaluate the competence level of water safety knowledge. The Drowning Risk Perceptions Scale (DRPS) was used to evaluate the risk level of perceptions, and the Drowning Risk Attitudes Scale (DRAS) was used to evaluate the risk level of attitudes. Results: The results of the mediating effect test showed that water safety knowledge (WSK) affected drowning risk behaviors (DRB) through three indirect paths. Drowning risk perceptions (DRP) and attitudes (DRA) have significantly mediated the association between WSK and DRB. In conclusion, DRP and DRA can act as mediators between WSK and DRB, not only individually, but also as chain mediators, where the direct effect is-0.301, the total indirect effect is-0.214, and the total mediated indirect effect is 41.5%. Discussion: Water safety knowledge negatively predicts adolescents' drowning risk behaviors; water safety knowledge has an inhibitory effect on drowning risk perceptions. Water safety knowledge can directly influence adolescents' drowning risk perceptions and indirectly affect drowning risk behaviors through the mediation of drowning risk perceptions and attitudes comprising three paths: (1) the drowning risk perceptions mediation path, (2) the drowning risk attitudes mediation path, and (3) the drowning risk perceptions and attitudes mediation paths.

The stability of physicians' risk attitudes across time and domains.

Risk attitude is known to influence physicians' decision-making under uncertainty. Research on the risk attitudes of physicians is therefore important in facilitating a better understanding of physicians' decisions. However, little is known about the stability of physicians' risk attitudes across domains. Using five waves of data from a prospective panel study of Australian physicians from 2013 to 2017, we explored the stability of risk attitudes over a four-year period and examined the association between negative life events and risk attitudes among 4417 physicians. Further, we tested the stability of risk attitude across three domains most relevant to a physician's career and clinical decision-making (financial, career and clinical). The results showed that risk attitude was stable over time at both the mean and individual levels but the correlation between domains was modest. There were no significant associations between negative life events and risk attitude changes in all three domains. These findings suggest that risk attitude can be assumed to be constant but domain-specificity needs to be considered in analyses of physician decision-making.