The development of prosocial risk-taking behavior: Mechanisms and opportunities.

ABSTRACT: Many young people are inclined toward risk taking and also toward helping other people. Prosocial risk taking is a term that can describe different ways that youth provide significant instrumental and emotional support to family members, friends, and strangers, even when it involves a personal risk. In this article, we review research about different types of prosocial risk taking and highlight examples, emphasizing a developmental perspective by examining change across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Research to date suggests that young people are more likely to engage in prosocial risk taking when they are more tolerant of uncertainty, have greater sensation-seeking, perspective-taking, and empathy, and when they are motivated by reputational concerns. Individual diff

SUBMITTER: Armstrong-Carter E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12392804 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature