Risk behaviour of children measured with the Colombia Card Task

Risk behaviour in an experimental risk task is a key predictor of real life behaviour and the development of a child. Existing research shows that smokers and gamblers are risk seeking on experimental risk tasks. The present study aimed to predict risk behaviour of children by means of the Columbia Card Task (CCT). The analysed dataset consists of 3326 children of around nine years old. This study is embedded in the Generation R program that investigates children’s growth, development, and health from foetal life onwards. A finite mixture model with a censored Poisson regression is implemented to predict the number of cards these children turn over. Additionally, with this model the influence of the loss probability and gain and loss amount on the number of cards turned over is analysed. The results show that children with a low socioeconomic status perform worse on the CCT and are more risk seeking than children with a high socioeconomic status. Additionally, a difference between boys and girls is revealed. Boys tend to be more risk averse and score higher on the CCT than girls. Regarding the game settings, the loss probability and loss amount have a significant negative effect on the number of cards turned over. Besides, these factors seem to be more important to boys than to girls.