Therapist FinderSM





Advanced Search »


Trust and Risk-Taking: Inherited Traits?

Current research by the Institute for the Study of Labor and the University of Bonn suggests willingness to take risks and to trust others--traits that may lead to economic success--tend to run in families.

Interviewing 3600 families across the socioeconomic spectrum, the researchers found that parents who were willing to take risks had children who were likewise risk-takers. Parents and children were also likely to be risky in the same ways (for example, financially or athletically) and these children in turn, preferred to marry partners with identical attitudes.Findings were similar with regards to trusting others.

Interestingly, Americans in the study were considerably more likely to take risks than Germans, which researchers chalk up to the U.S. being a country of immigrant risk-takers who spread this trait on to their offspring. They further believe these findings may explain why certain families are successful across generations, but also recognize the effects of socioeconomic advantages.

Read more: Study shows: Success is a family affair
FULL TEXT: The Intergenerational Transmission of Risk and Trust Attitudes (PDF)

SHARE: del.icio.us del.icio.us | Digg It! digg | Add to FURL FURL | Add to Netscape Netscape | Add to Reddit reddit | Stumble! Stumble! | Add to Yahoo! My Web BETA My Web

Posted In: Family Dynamics |

Tags: Trust | Risk Taking |

Posted by FindCounseling.com Staff on November 28, 2006 at 04:29 AM | Permalink

About

This page contains a single entry from Psychology Briefs, the FindCounseling.com Blog.

The previous post was Boys and Girls Process Language in Different Parts of Brain.

The next post is Article: Increasing Number of Youth on Multiple Psychiatric Medications.

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the Psychology Research Archives.

Subscribe

Add to My AOL
Subscribe with Bloglines
Subscribe in FeedLounge
Add to Google
Add to My MSN
Add to Netvibes
Add your feed to Newsburst from CNET News.com
Subscribe in NewsGator Online
Add to PageFlakes
Subscribe in Rojo
Add to SiteShuffle
Add to Technorati Favorites
Add to My Yahoo!

ATOM RSS