Risk-Taking Behaviour

Featuring Dr. Dan Bilsker, PhD, Rpsych

Duration: 1 minute, 29 seconds

Risk-taking behavior, particularly among men, and its potential impact on their health and safety. It is indeed observed that men are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, such as reckless driving, which can lead to higher rates of motor vehicle accidents and fatalities, especially in their early 20s.

Individual men should reflect on their own attitudes towards risk-taking and consider the potential consequences of their actions. This self-reflection can extend to teaching young men, including their own sons, about responsible risk-taking, distinguishing between courageous and honorable actions versus those that are simply dangerous and foolish.

It is essential for men to consider the long-term implications of their risk-taking behaviors and make gradual changes to promote safer choices. This individual-level change can have a broader impact on how society as a whole views and approaches risk-taking.

While society may not currently consider risk-taking behavior as a pathological or highly problematic issue requiring intervention, it is worth considering the option of seeking help from a psychologist or mental health counselor. These professionals can provide guidance and support in exploring patterns of risk-taking, helping individuals develop healthier attitudes and behaviors before they become extremely dangerous.

By addressing risk-taking behavior proactively, both at the individual and societal levels, we can promote a culture of responsible decision-making and reduce the negative consequences associated with excessive risk-taking, particularly among young men. A very prominent and risky male health issue is that of excessive risk-taking.

It's been noticed in the research data that men are far more likely to die in motor vehicle accidents, especially in their early 20s. It's a time of extremely high risk and men are at far more vulnerability for this form of mortality than are women.

What's important is for individual men to really think about their own attitude towards risk-taking, and to think about how they might be teaching young men, how they may be teaching their sons, to approach risk taking, and to distinguish between risk taking that is courageous and honorable, and that which is simply tragic and foolish, like a young man driving quickly, filled with alcohol.

That's going to be important at the the individual level in terms of making gradual change and that would ultimately impact at the social level how men see risk taking.

What's interesting is that this society has not really identified risk taking as a pathological or highly problematic behavior that would require intervention. We rather tend to simply deal with the consequences of risk-taking behavior in the form of high levels of motor vehicle accidents and fatalities for young men.

There might be well be an option to really consider using referral to a psychologist or some form of mental health counselor to think about and change patterns of risk taking before they become extremely dangerous.

Presenter: Dr. Dan Bilsker, Psychologist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Psychologist