- Email: [email protected]
Sensation seeking of young children
Prrwn ~r,n,ed
ml;,-~1. 0119 Vol. ,n Circr, Broatn.
3. pi? 161 to 166. I’%? All rlphtr rexwed
SENSATION
CopyrIght
SEEKING DITSA
Department
of Psychology.
OF YOUNG
0191.8869/82/020161-0650300/0 0 IV82 Pcrgaman Prcsr
Ltd
CHILDREN
KAFRY
University
of California.
(Rewired
13 July 1981)
Berkeley. CA 94720.
U.S.A.
Summary-Thirty-six
boys and 33 girls, attending kindergarten, second-grade and fourth-grade. and their parents responded to a simplified version of the general Sensation Seeking Scale. Children’s preferences for activities, puzzles. pictures. responses, foods, mazes and behaviors were also assessed. Results showed that the mean scores for the Sensation Seeking Scale of young children were much lower than scores of high school and college students, and significantly lower than the guesses of their parents. Sensation seeking was found to be related to preference for complex puzzles and pictures, to engagement in negative behaviors and to the children’s knowledge about the environment. These findings suggest that the level of sensation seeking of children is related to their activities and preferences as well as their exposure to a variety of experiences.
INTRODUCTION
A need for varied stimulation was assumed by a number of authors who studied its effects on behaviors and preferences. Attempts to characterize individual differences along this dimension center around the Sensation Seeking Scale (for recent reviews see Zuckerman, 1978, 1979; Zuckerman et al. 1980). Zuckerman (1972, 1978) proposed that sensation seeking increases with age until adolescence and then starts decreasing. The youngest samples studied using the Sensation Seeking Scale were high school students. Kish and Leahy (1970) studied 97 high school students and found that their mean value was 12.85 which was almost identical to the mean values found by Kish (unpublished data) for college sophomores. Farley and Cox (1971) studied 32 students at each age from 14 to 17. They found no increase with age for the four groups studied and no difference from college students. Hence, findings about the Sensation Seeking Scale do not show the expected decrease at adolescence, but rather a plateau from high school to the college years. Results for older age groups were summarized by Zuckerman (1978) and generally showed negative correlations with age. Zuckerman (1978) pointed out that the Sensation Seeking Scale is not feasible for use with younger children because of its vocabulary level and its content. The present study involves simplification of the general Sensation Seeking Scale and its adaptation it to the level of understanding of young children. In order to test the alignment between the responses of children and those of their parents, the latter were asked to guess their children’s responses to the scale. Previously, the Sensation Seeking Scale was predicted and found to be related to preferences of various kinds: to preference for complex visual designs (Zuckerman er ui., 1972; Looft and Baranowski, 1971), to preference for certain foods (Kish and Donnenwerth, 1972), to preference for risky gambling bets (Waters and Kirk, 1968), and to preferences of physical risks (for a review see Zuckerman, 1978). Hence sensation seeking was related to preferences for novel, complex and risky activities and perceptions. In order to test the relation between Sensation Seeking Scale and activities and perceptions of young children several preference measures were included in the study. METHOD Sample
Sixty-eight children from public schools in northern California participated in the study. The children were from three age groups: 28 kindergarteners (16 boys and 12 161
162
DITSA KAFRY
girls). 19 second graders (10 boys and 9 girls) and 21 fourth graders (10 boys and 11 girls). At the time the study began the mean ages of the children were 5.8, 7.8 and 9.7 years, respectively in the three groups. Sensation seeking was assessed 6 months after the beginning of the study. Procedure The data were collected in home interviews as a part of a larger project. An read the items of the Sensation Seeking Scale to the child and asked him/her the response to each item. Another interviewer read the same items to the asked for his/her guesses of the child’s responses. Information about the measures was collected either in the same interview or in a prior interview earlier.
interviewer to indicate parent and preference 6 months
Sensation seeking measure The items of the general Sensation Seeking keep the content of the original items. Preference
Scale were simplified
with an attempt
to
measures
1. Preferencefor actioiries. A measure of preference for risk of physical activities. Seven pairs of photographs of children performing physical activities were presented to the child. Each pair included two pictures of the same child doing the same activity in a safe way and in a daring way. The child was told: “Now I will show you pictures of children playing. Look at the way they play and tell me which one is more like you.” The pairs included: riding and balancing on a bike, standing and balancing on a skateboard. jumping a few and many stairs, sitting and hanging on rings, sitting and hanging on bars, sitting and climbing on a tree, diving and descending into a swimming pool. The score was the total number of preferred risky activities. After indicating preference for all stimulus pairs the child was also asked to show which picture of each pair was more dangerous. Analysis of the children’s responses showed that between 90-999; agreed with the definition of risk for the seven pairs of pictures. 2. Preference for puzzles. A measure of preference for complexity of puzzles. Five puzzles each consisting of pieces fitting together to make a square and differing in the number of pieces from 2 to 6 were presented to the child. The child was told that the more pieces the puzzle had the more difficult it was and was asked which of these puzzles he/she would like to do. The score was the serial number of the puzzle chosen (l-5) in order of complexity. 3. Preference for pictures. A measure of preference for complexity of visual stimuli. The measure consisted of eight pairs of simple and complex stimuli which were presented to the child who was asked to indicate which one he/she likes best. The pairs were used by Kreitler et al. (1974) and were taken from Berlyne (1958a. b), Berlyne et al. (1963), Cantor et al. (1963). Smock and Holt (1962), and Hoats et al. (1963). The pairs depicted two dimensions of complexity: amount of material and regularity of shape. The score was the total number of preferred complex stimuli. 4. Preference for responses. A measure of change-seeking behavior in response variation. The measure was the Box Maze which consisted of five identical (except for color) presentations of a maze which is completed by drawing a line from a starting point (boy) to the goal (store). The maze contained no blind alleys and the distance to the goal was always 10 segments long. The child was free to choose the path and had the opportunity to vary the routes on successive mazes. The test was developed by Harter (1972) on the basis of a test reported by Howard (1961) and Howard and Diesenhaus (1965), and was used by Harter and Zigler (1974). The amount of change was quantified by four measures: (a) the total number of different segments traversed on two successive presentations of the mazes; (b) the total number of segments used once; (c) the total number of segments used; and (d) the total number of different segments traversed on two successive presentations of the mazes times the number of contiguous pairs in which there was any
Sensation
seeking
of young
children
163
change(used by Howard and Diesenhaus, 1965). The intercorrelations among the measures were very high (for example, the correlation between (a) and (d) was 0.98), suggesting that one measure is sufficient to reflect the change score, measure (a) was selected. 5. Preference for foods. A measure of preference for novelty of food items. The measure consisted of seven pairs of photographs of food items. One item of each pair was a well known food and the other was a less familiar food item. The child was asked to imagine being in a restaurant and was asked to indicate which item of each pair he/she would try there. The pairs included a melon-papaya, pear-mango, lettuce-artichoke, carrot-parsnip, celery-asparagus, tomato-tamarillo, lettuce salad-sprout salad. The score was the number of less familiar food items chosen. The child was also asked whether he/she knew both food items. Analysis of these responses showed that between 84100% of the children knew the familiar items, and between 335%; knew the less familiar items. 6. Preference for muzes. A measure of preference for complexity of mazes. The child performed the WISC Mazes test (Wechsler, 1949). Upon completion of the test he/she was asked which of the eight mazes (including the practice mazes) he/she liked best. The score was the serial number of the maze (l-8) in order of complexity. 7. Preference for hehaciors. A measure of the child’s involvement in negative behaviors. The child was shown 15 drawings of children doing negative behaviors and was asked to sort them into things he/she did, and things that he/she did not do. The pictures included the following behaviors: playing with matches, playing with a lighter, playing with firecrackers, lighting papers, smoking, hitting peers, hitting an adult, hitting self, hitting an animal, damaging property, taking money from mother’s purse, shoplifting, skipping school, drinking beer, and accusing friends. The sex of the child in the picture was the same as the sex of the interviewed child. The score was the total number of negative behaviors that the child reported to have done. RESULTS Odd-even split-half reliability was calculated for the Sensation Seeking Scale and corrected by the Spearman-Brown formula. The reliability coefficient was 0.57 for the total sample of children (0.39 for kindergarteners, 0.57 for second graders, and 0.74 for fourth graders), and 0.64 for the sample of adults. Table 1 presents the mean values for boys and girls in the three age groups. Analysis of variance by age group and sex revealed no significant effects. The overall mean value was 7.0 which is much smaller than values reported in the literature for other age groups. (In fact, the maximum value for the children was the median value for college students, as reported by Zuckerman, 1972). The standard deviation for the total sample was 3.3 which is in the lower range of standard deviations found in other studies. The responses of parents were highly dissimilar from those of their children. On the average, parents had a score of 10.3 which is significantly higher from the mean value of their children (t = 6.70, df = 67, P -C 0.001). The correlation between the total score of parents and children was 0.40. In addition, analysis of variance of the parents’ responses showed a significant sex effect (F = 10.0, df = 1, P < 0.002), parents perceived boys as having higher mean values (11.6) than girls (8.8). Table 2 presents the intercorrelations among sensation seeking, preference measures, age, and sex. Results showed that the Sensation Seeking Scale was significantly correlated with the following measures: Preference for activities; Preference for puzzles; Preference for pictures: and Preference for behaviors. Preference for behaviors showed a significant Table
Sex Boys Girls Total
1. Mean
General
Kindergarten 6.3 5.9 6.1
Sensation Seeking Scale for boys three age groups
Second
Age group grade Fourth
8.7 6.3 7.6
grade
8.3 6.9 7.6
and
girls in
Total 7.5 6.4 7.0
I. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
-
._.-
* P < 0.05.
- .,,
Sensation Seeking Scale Preference for activities Preference for puzzles Preference for pictures Preference for responses Preference for foods Preference for mazes Preference for behaviors
._
-
Age
Sensation
among
16 10 IO 16 I6 I6 I6 64 296 686
N Males
5
0.15 - 0.05
measures
12 9 II 16 I6 I6 I6 57 280 850
Females
6.3 8.7 8.3 13.1 12.2 14.6 12.4 12.6 12.8 13.4
5.9 6.3 6.9 12.0 12.5 13.1 11.9 12.8 12.0 12.6
Means Males Females
Scale of male and female students
0.12
0.00 0.19 0.02
6
and preference
0.07 0.03 - 0.05
Seeking
,_. .
Seeking
-
0.54. 0.29’ 0.03
4
Sensation
_ .,, _ . .
6 8 IO 14 I5 I6 I7 20 Freshmen Sophomores
General
0.25* 0.06 -
0.29*
3. Mean
3
2
2. Intercorrelations
Present Present Present Farley and Cox (197 I ) Farley and Cox (I 97 1) Farley and Cox (1971) Farley and Cox (1971) Kish and Donnenwerth (1972) Zuckerman (1972) Zuckerman (1972)
Study
Table
Table
X X
Significant sex ditierences P < 0.05
- 0.09 0.05 - 0.02 -
-0.05 0.15 0.02
7
0.05 - 0.03 -0.14 0.17
0.31* 0.29* -0.12
8
-
-_
-0.16 0.23 -0.18 0.21 -0.27’
0.19 -0.03 0.01
Age
-. -
-0.17 -0.21 0.04 - 0.08 -0.00 - 0.05 -0.04 -0.30*
Sex
I_.
_
Y : F % z
Sensation
“! 6
7
6
165
seeking of young children
9
IO
Fig. I. General
II
12 13 14 I5
Sensation
I6
Seeking
I7
I8
I9
20
and age.
sex
difference with boys having higher mean values than girls, a result which supports findings of self-reported delinquency (Rushton and Chrisjohn, 198 1).
DISCUSSION Figure 1 presents the mean values of the Sensation Seeking Scale for the three young age groups in the present sample, for the four high school age groups in the Farley and Cox’s (1971) sample, and for college students in the Kish and Donnenwerth’s (1972) study. A hypothetical line was drawn between the values of fourth grade students and high school students. The assumption of a linear development of sensation seeking leads to the prediction of a sharp increase between age 10 and 14. Further studies are needed to test this prediction. It is interesting to note that the mean values provided by the parents’ responses are found to be between the range of the young children and the high school students. The guesses of the parents as to the children’s responses showed that they expect their sqns and daughters to be higher sensation seekers than they really are, and that they expect their sons to be more so than their daughters. The children on the other hand, tend to show lower preference for the studied sensation seeking activities. Table 3 presents the mean values for males and females from the present sample. from the sample of Farley and Cox (1971). from the sample of Kish and Donnenwerth (1972), and from samples presented by Zuckerman (1972). The comparisons between the sexes showed mostly higher values for males than females, they reached statistical significance only for the older age groups who were also larger samples. The correlational pattern showed that sensation seeking was related to preference for risky physical activities, to reports of engaging in risky and antisocial activities, to preference for incongruous and complex pictures and to preference for complex puzzles. Preferences for variability of stimulation, for novel food items, and for cognitively complex mazes failed to show significant correlations with sensation seeking or among themselves. Most of the intercorrelations among the preference measures were very low. In view of the common knowledge that children are characterized by a high level of curiosity, their low level of sensation seeking is a curious finding. One possible explanation is that most of the sensation seeking items are outside the realities of the children’s lives. Hence, lack of exposure to these experiences rather than lack of sensation seeking could account for the results. Since this study was part -of a larger project, this afterthought led to further tests of the relationships between sensation seeking and other variables. Subsequent analyses revealed that the Sensation Seeking Scale was not significantly related to any cognitive measures such as: digit span (WISC); mazes (WISC); tests of auditory and visual attention. The Sensation Seeking Scale. however. was found to be significantly related to knowledge measures such as: the number of known food items
D~TSAKAFRY
I66
from preference for foods measure (r = 0.34, P -C 0.05); the number of known items about the world (e.g. occupations, sports, countries, musical instruments, crimes, hobbies, presidents) (r = 0.40, P < 0.05); the number of known everyday items (r = 0.30, P < 0.05); the number of everyday and leisure objects used (r = 0.35, P < 0.05); the number of everyday and leisure activities performed (r = 0.35, P < 0.05); the number of tools used (r = 0.45, P < 0.05); and reading knowledge (I”= 0.27, P < 0.05). These variables collected via interviews with both children and parents show that while sensation seeking is unrelated to cognitive measures it is highly and consistentIy related to measures of knowledge about the environment. Sensation seeking was, hence, found to be related to children’s preference for cognitive and visuaf complexity as well as to preference for risky and antisocial activities. Sensation seeking was also found to be related to chifdren’s experience and knowIedge about the worfd. These findings suggest that sensation seeking devefops together with both preferences of the chifd and his/her exposure to a variety of experiences as determined by the child’s activities as well as by the child’s environmental context. The findings also suggest that experience and knowledge about the world and their relation to sensation seeking may constitute an interesting and promising topic of research. Acknowlr~gemenrs-This study was supported by the Department of Health. Education and Welfare. Grant MC-R-060420. The assistance of Nona Hasselbring. in developing the chi)d”s version of the Sensation Seeking Scale, Gordon Hammer. for taking photographs for the preference for activities and foods. Edward Lynch, for drawings for the preference of behaviors. and Daha Nevo for drawing in this article. REFERENCES BERL~NE D. E. (L958a) The inftuenee of complexity and novelty in visual tigures on orienting responses. J. e.vp. . __ Psyrftof.55, 289296. BER~YNE D. E. (195%) The infiuence of the aIbedo and complexity of stimuli on visual fixation in the human infant. Br. J. Ps_r&of, 49, 315-318. BERLYNED. E., CRAW M. A.. SALAPATEKP. H. and LEWIS J. L. (1963) Novelty. complexity. incongruity. extrinsic motivation. and the GSR. J. rxp. P.~rc/tol. 66. 560-567. CANTORG. N.. CANTORJ. H. and D~TRICHSR. (1963) Observing behavior in preschool children as a function of stimulus complexity. Chill/ Dee. 34, 683-689. FARLEYF. H. and Cox 0. Sr. (1971) Stimulus-seeking motivation in adolescents as a function of age and sex. Atfoiescmce 22. 201-2 18. HARTER S. (1972) Description of tasks constructed to measure effectance motivation. Yale University. November. 1972. HARXR S. and ZIGLERE. (1974) The assessment ofeffectance motivation in normal and retarded children. DrrI Pst&ol. 10, I@- 180. HEATS D. L.. MILLER M. B. and SPITZ H. H. (1963) Experiments on perceptuat curiosity in mentaf retardes and normals. Am. J. menr. Defic. 63, 386-395. Hownm K. I. $136II A test of stimuius seeking behavior. Prrwpr. Nat. Skii& 13.4%. HOWARDK. f. and DIESENKM.JS H. I. (1965) ~~~~f~~ou~&F rhr Mrrze 7~. State of Illinois. Department of Mentat Health. fnstitute for Juvenile Research. Research Report. 2, No. 4. KISH G. 3. and DONNENWER~W G. V. (1972) Sex differences in the correlates of stimulus seekintz. J. insult. C&I. G. B. and LEAHYL. (1970) Stimulus-seeking. age. interests and aptitudes: an amplification. Percept. Mot. 30.670. KRE~TLERS.. ZIGLER E. and KKEITLERH. (1974) The complexity of complexity. Htmr. Dec. 17, 54-73. LO~FT W. R. and I!%ARANOWSK~ M. D. (1971) An analysis of five measures of sensation seeking and preference for complexity. J. yen. Psyhof. 85, 307-313. RUSHTONJ. P. and CHRISJOHNR. D. (1981) Extraversion. neuroticism. psychoticism and self-reported delinquency: evidence from eight separate samples. Person. indiuid. I>[$ 2, I I-20. SMOCKC. D. and Herr B. 0. (1962) Children‘s reaction to novelty: an experimental study of curiosity motivation. fhi&f I&r. 33, 631-642. WATERSL. K. and KIRK W. E. fk968) Stimulus seeking motivation and risk taking behavior in a gambling situation. E&r. ps_vchoi, Neusur. 28, 549-550. WECHSLER 0. (19493 Manuuf j&r rite Wechsrsfer ~~rr~flf~e~~e &ah far fhifdren. The Psychofogicaf Corporation. New York. ZUCKERMANM. (1972) Manual and research report for the Sensation Seeking Scale. University of Delaware. ZUCKERMANM. (1978) Sensation seeking. In Dimensions of Persunnfit~ (Edited by LONDONH. and EXNER J. E. JR). Wiley. New York. ZUCKERMANM. (1979) Sensation seeking and risk taking. In Enroriom in Personulir~ and Ps,whopclrho/og~ (Edited by C. E. IZARD).Plenum Press, New York. ZUCKERMANM.. BONE R. N., NEARY R.. MANOELSD~RFFD. and BRWSTMAN B. (1972) What is the sensation seeker’! Personality trait and experience correlates of the Sensation Seeking Scales. J. consafr. r/in. Ps~chol. 39, 308-321. ZUCKERMANM.. BUCHSBAUMM. S. and MLJRPAYD. L. (1980) Sensation seeking and its biological correlates.
KISH
Skills
Psyhuf.
Buff.
88,
187-2
14.
ml;,-~1. 0119 Vol. ,n Circr, Broatn.
3. pi? 161 to 166. I’%? All rlphtr rexwed
SENSATION
CopyrIght
SEEKING DITSA
Department
of Psychology.
OF YOUNG
0191.8869/82/020161-0650300/0 0 IV82 Pcrgaman Prcsr
Ltd
CHILDREN
KAFRY
University
of California.
(Rewired
13 July 1981)
Berkeley. CA 94720.
U.S.A.
Summary-Thirty-six
boys and 33 girls, attending kindergarten, second-grade and fourth-grade. and their parents responded to a simplified version of the general Sensation Seeking Scale. Children’s preferences for activities, puzzles. pictures. responses, foods, mazes and behaviors were also assessed. Results showed that the mean scores for the Sensation Seeking Scale of young children were much lower than scores of high school and college students, and significantly lower than the guesses of their parents. Sensation seeking was found to be related to preference for complex puzzles and pictures, to engagement in negative behaviors and to the children’s knowledge about the environment. These findings suggest that the level of sensation seeking of children is related to their activities and preferences as well as their exposure to a variety of experiences.
INTRODUCTION
A need for varied stimulation was assumed by a number of authors who studied its effects on behaviors and preferences. Attempts to characterize individual differences along this dimension center around the Sensation Seeking Scale (for recent reviews see Zuckerman, 1978, 1979; Zuckerman et al. 1980). Zuckerman (1972, 1978) proposed that sensation seeking increases with age until adolescence and then starts decreasing. The youngest samples studied using the Sensation Seeking Scale were high school students. Kish and Leahy (1970) studied 97 high school students and found that their mean value was 12.85 which was almost identical to the mean values found by Kish (unpublished data) for college sophomores. Farley and Cox (1971) studied 32 students at each age from 14 to 17. They found no increase with age for the four groups studied and no difference from college students. Hence, findings about the Sensation Seeking Scale do not show the expected decrease at adolescence, but rather a plateau from high school to the college years. Results for older age groups were summarized by Zuckerman (1978) and generally showed negative correlations with age. Zuckerman (1978) pointed out that the Sensation Seeking Scale is not feasible for use with younger children because of its vocabulary level and its content. The present study involves simplification of the general Sensation Seeking Scale and its adaptation it to the level of understanding of young children. In order to test the alignment between the responses of children and those of their parents, the latter were asked to guess their children’s responses to the scale. Previously, the Sensation Seeking Scale was predicted and found to be related to preferences of various kinds: to preference for complex visual designs (Zuckerman er ui., 1972; Looft and Baranowski, 1971), to preference for certain foods (Kish and Donnenwerth, 1972), to preference for risky gambling bets (Waters and Kirk, 1968), and to preferences of physical risks (for a review see Zuckerman, 1978). Hence sensation seeking was related to preferences for novel, complex and risky activities and perceptions. In order to test the relation between Sensation Seeking Scale and activities and perceptions of young children several preference measures were included in the study. METHOD Sample
Sixty-eight children from public schools in northern California participated in the study. The children were from three age groups: 28 kindergarteners (16 boys and 12 161
162
DITSA KAFRY
girls). 19 second graders (10 boys and 9 girls) and 21 fourth graders (10 boys and 11 girls). At the time the study began the mean ages of the children were 5.8, 7.8 and 9.7 years, respectively in the three groups. Sensation seeking was assessed 6 months after the beginning of the study. Procedure The data were collected in home interviews as a part of a larger project. An read the items of the Sensation Seeking Scale to the child and asked him/her the response to each item. Another interviewer read the same items to the asked for his/her guesses of the child’s responses. Information about the measures was collected either in the same interview or in a prior interview earlier.
interviewer to indicate parent and preference 6 months
Sensation seeking measure The items of the general Sensation Seeking keep the content of the original items. Preference
Scale were simplified
with an attempt
to
measures
1. Preferencefor actioiries. A measure of preference for risk of physical activities. Seven pairs of photographs of children performing physical activities were presented to the child. Each pair included two pictures of the same child doing the same activity in a safe way and in a daring way. The child was told: “Now I will show you pictures of children playing. Look at the way they play and tell me which one is more like you.” The pairs included: riding and balancing on a bike, standing and balancing on a skateboard. jumping a few and many stairs, sitting and hanging on rings, sitting and hanging on bars, sitting and climbing on a tree, diving and descending into a swimming pool. The score was the total number of preferred risky activities. After indicating preference for all stimulus pairs the child was also asked to show which picture of each pair was more dangerous. Analysis of the children’s responses showed that between 90-999; agreed with the definition of risk for the seven pairs of pictures. 2. Preference for puzzles. A measure of preference for complexity of puzzles. Five puzzles each consisting of pieces fitting together to make a square and differing in the number of pieces from 2 to 6 were presented to the child. The child was told that the more pieces the puzzle had the more difficult it was and was asked which of these puzzles he/she would like to do. The score was the serial number of the puzzle chosen (l-5) in order of complexity. 3. Preference for pictures. A measure of preference for complexity of visual stimuli. The measure consisted of eight pairs of simple and complex stimuli which were presented to the child who was asked to indicate which one he/she likes best. The pairs were used by Kreitler et al. (1974) and were taken from Berlyne (1958a. b), Berlyne et al. (1963), Cantor et al. (1963). Smock and Holt (1962), and Hoats et al. (1963). The pairs depicted two dimensions of complexity: amount of material and regularity of shape. The score was the total number of preferred complex stimuli. 4. Preference for responses. A measure of change-seeking behavior in response variation. The measure was the Box Maze which consisted of five identical (except for color) presentations of a maze which is completed by drawing a line from a starting point (boy) to the goal (store). The maze contained no blind alleys and the distance to the goal was always 10 segments long. The child was free to choose the path and had the opportunity to vary the routes on successive mazes. The test was developed by Harter (1972) on the basis of a test reported by Howard (1961) and Howard and Diesenhaus (1965), and was used by Harter and Zigler (1974). The amount of change was quantified by four measures: (a) the total number of different segments traversed on two successive presentations of the mazes; (b) the total number of segments used once; (c) the total number of segments used; and (d) the total number of different segments traversed on two successive presentations of the mazes times the number of contiguous pairs in which there was any
Sensation
seeking
of young
children
163
change(used by Howard and Diesenhaus, 1965). The intercorrelations among the measures were very high (for example, the correlation between (a) and (d) was 0.98), suggesting that one measure is sufficient to reflect the change score, measure (a) was selected. 5. Preference for foods. A measure of preference for novelty of food items. The measure consisted of seven pairs of photographs of food items. One item of each pair was a well known food and the other was a less familiar food item. The child was asked to imagine being in a restaurant and was asked to indicate which item of each pair he/she would try there. The pairs included a melon-papaya, pear-mango, lettuce-artichoke, carrot-parsnip, celery-asparagus, tomato-tamarillo, lettuce salad-sprout salad. The score was the number of less familiar food items chosen. The child was also asked whether he/she knew both food items. Analysis of these responses showed that between 84100% of the children knew the familiar items, and between 335%; knew the less familiar items. 6. Preference for muzes. A measure of preference for complexity of mazes. The child performed the WISC Mazes test (Wechsler, 1949). Upon completion of the test he/she was asked which of the eight mazes (including the practice mazes) he/she liked best. The score was the serial number of the maze (l-8) in order of complexity. 7. Preference for hehaciors. A measure of the child’s involvement in negative behaviors. The child was shown 15 drawings of children doing negative behaviors and was asked to sort them into things he/she did, and things that he/she did not do. The pictures included the following behaviors: playing with matches, playing with a lighter, playing with firecrackers, lighting papers, smoking, hitting peers, hitting an adult, hitting self, hitting an animal, damaging property, taking money from mother’s purse, shoplifting, skipping school, drinking beer, and accusing friends. The sex of the child in the picture was the same as the sex of the interviewed child. The score was the total number of negative behaviors that the child reported to have done. RESULTS Odd-even split-half reliability was calculated for the Sensation Seeking Scale and corrected by the Spearman-Brown formula. The reliability coefficient was 0.57 for the total sample of children (0.39 for kindergarteners, 0.57 for second graders, and 0.74 for fourth graders), and 0.64 for the sample of adults. Table 1 presents the mean values for boys and girls in the three age groups. Analysis of variance by age group and sex revealed no significant effects. The overall mean value was 7.0 which is much smaller than values reported in the literature for other age groups. (In fact, the maximum value for the children was the median value for college students, as reported by Zuckerman, 1972). The standard deviation for the total sample was 3.3 which is in the lower range of standard deviations found in other studies. The responses of parents were highly dissimilar from those of their children. On the average, parents had a score of 10.3 which is significantly higher from the mean value of their children (t = 6.70, df = 67, P -C 0.001). The correlation between the total score of parents and children was 0.40. In addition, analysis of variance of the parents’ responses showed a significant sex effect (F = 10.0, df = 1, P < 0.002), parents perceived boys as having higher mean values (11.6) than girls (8.8). Table 2 presents the intercorrelations among sensation seeking, preference measures, age, and sex. Results showed that the Sensation Seeking Scale was significantly correlated with the following measures: Preference for activities; Preference for puzzles; Preference for pictures: and Preference for behaviors. Preference for behaviors showed a significant Table
Sex Boys Girls Total
1. Mean
General
Kindergarten 6.3 5.9 6.1
Sensation Seeking Scale for boys three age groups
Second
Age group grade Fourth
8.7 6.3 7.6
grade
8.3 6.9 7.6
and
girls in
Total 7.5 6.4 7.0
I. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
-
._.-
* P < 0.05.
- .,,
Sensation Seeking Scale Preference for activities Preference for puzzles Preference for pictures Preference for responses Preference for foods Preference for mazes Preference for behaviors
._
-
Age
Sensation
among
16 10 IO 16 I6 I6 I6 64 296 686
N Males
5
0.15 - 0.05
measures
12 9 II 16 I6 I6 I6 57 280 850
Females
6.3 8.7 8.3 13.1 12.2 14.6 12.4 12.6 12.8 13.4
5.9 6.3 6.9 12.0 12.5 13.1 11.9 12.8 12.0 12.6
Means Males Females
Scale of male and female students
0.12
0.00 0.19 0.02
6
and preference
0.07 0.03 - 0.05
Seeking
,_. .
Seeking
-
0.54. 0.29’ 0.03
4
Sensation
_ .,, _ . .
6 8 IO 14 I5 I6 I7 20 Freshmen Sophomores
General
0.25* 0.06 -
0.29*
3. Mean
3
2
2. Intercorrelations
Present Present Present Farley and Cox (197 I ) Farley and Cox (I 97 1) Farley and Cox (1971) Farley and Cox (1971) Kish and Donnenwerth (1972) Zuckerman (1972) Zuckerman (1972)
Study
Table
Table
X X
Significant sex ditierences P < 0.05
- 0.09 0.05 - 0.02 -
-0.05 0.15 0.02
7
0.05 - 0.03 -0.14 0.17
0.31* 0.29* -0.12
8
-
-_
-0.16 0.23 -0.18 0.21 -0.27’
0.19 -0.03 0.01
Age
-. -
-0.17 -0.21 0.04 - 0.08 -0.00 - 0.05 -0.04 -0.30*
Sex
I_.
_
Y : F % z
Sensation
“! 6
7
6
165
seeking of young children
9
IO
Fig. I. General
II
12 13 14 I5
Sensation
I6
Seeking
I7
I8
I9
20
and age.
sex
difference with boys having higher mean values than girls, a result which supports findings of self-reported delinquency (Rushton and Chrisjohn, 198 1).
DISCUSSION Figure 1 presents the mean values of the Sensation Seeking Scale for the three young age groups in the present sample, for the four high school age groups in the Farley and Cox’s (1971) sample, and for college students in the Kish and Donnenwerth’s (1972) study. A hypothetical line was drawn between the values of fourth grade students and high school students. The assumption of a linear development of sensation seeking leads to the prediction of a sharp increase between age 10 and 14. Further studies are needed to test this prediction. It is interesting to note that the mean values provided by the parents’ responses are found to be between the range of the young children and the high school students. The guesses of the parents as to the children’s responses showed that they expect their sqns and daughters to be higher sensation seekers than they really are, and that they expect their sons to be more so than their daughters. The children on the other hand, tend to show lower preference for the studied sensation seeking activities. Table 3 presents the mean values for males and females from the present sample. from the sample of Farley and Cox (1971). from the sample of Kish and Donnenwerth (1972), and from samples presented by Zuckerman (1972). The comparisons between the sexes showed mostly higher values for males than females, they reached statistical significance only for the older age groups who were also larger samples. The correlational pattern showed that sensation seeking was related to preference for risky physical activities, to reports of engaging in risky and antisocial activities, to preference for incongruous and complex pictures and to preference for complex puzzles. Preferences for variability of stimulation, for novel food items, and for cognitively complex mazes failed to show significant correlations with sensation seeking or among themselves. Most of the intercorrelations among the preference measures were very low. In view of the common knowledge that children are characterized by a high level of curiosity, their low level of sensation seeking is a curious finding. One possible explanation is that most of the sensation seeking items are outside the realities of the children’s lives. Hence, lack of exposure to these experiences rather than lack of sensation seeking could account for the results. Since this study was part -of a larger project, this afterthought led to further tests of the relationships between sensation seeking and other variables. Subsequent analyses revealed that the Sensation Seeking Scale was not significantly related to any cognitive measures such as: digit span (WISC); mazes (WISC); tests of auditory and visual attention. The Sensation Seeking Scale. however. was found to be significantly related to knowledge measures such as: the number of known food items
D~TSAKAFRY
I66
from preference for foods measure (r = 0.34, P -C 0.05); the number of known items about the world (e.g. occupations, sports, countries, musical instruments, crimes, hobbies, presidents) (r = 0.40, P < 0.05); the number of known everyday items (r = 0.30, P < 0.05); the number of everyday and leisure objects used (r = 0.35, P < 0.05); the number of everyday and leisure activities performed (r = 0.35, P < 0.05); the number of tools used (r = 0.45, P < 0.05); and reading knowledge (I”= 0.27, P < 0.05). These variables collected via interviews with both children and parents show that while sensation seeking is unrelated to cognitive measures it is highly and consistentIy related to measures of knowledge about the environment. Sensation seeking was, hence, found to be related to children’s preference for cognitive and visuaf complexity as well as to preference for risky and antisocial activities. Sensation seeking was also found to be related to chifdren’s experience and knowIedge about the worfd. These findings suggest that sensation seeking devefops together with both preferences of the chifd and his/her exposure to a variety of experiences as determined by the child’s activities as well as by the child’s environmental context. The findings also suggest that experience and knowledge about the world and their relation to sensation seeking may constitute an interesting and promising topic of research. Acknowlr~gemenrs-This study was supported by the Department of Health. Education and Welfare. Grant MC-R-060420. The assistance of Nona Hasselbring. in developing the chi)d”s version of the Sensation Seeking Scale, Gordon Hammer. for taking photographs for the preference for activities and foods. Edward Lynch, for drawings for the preference of behaviors. and Daha Nevo for drawing in this article. REFERENCES BERL~NE D. E. (L958a) The inftuenee of complexity and novelty in visual tigures on orienting responses. J. e.vp. . __ Psyrftof.55, 289296. BER~YNE D. E. (195%) The infiuence of the aIbedo and complexity of stimuli on visual fixation in the human infant. Br. J. Ps_r&of, 49, 315-318. BERLYNED. E., CRAW M. A.. SALAPATEKP. H. and LEWIS J. L. (1963) Novelty. complexity. incongruity. extrinsic motivation. and the GSR. J. rxp. P.~rc/tol. 66. 560-567. CANTORG. N.. CANTORJ. H. and D~TRICHSR. (1963) Observing behavior in preschool children as a function of stimulus complexity. Chill/ Dee. 34, 683-689. FARLEYF. H. and Cox 0. Sr. (1971) Stimulus-seeking motivation in adolescents as a function of age and sex. Atfoiescmce 22. 201-2 18. HARTER S. (1972) Description of tasks constructed to measure effectance motivation. Yale University. November. 1972. HARXR S. and ZIGLERE. (1974) The assessment ofeffectance motivation in normal and retarded children. DrrI Pst&ol. 10, I@- 180. HEATS D. L.. MILLER M. B. and SPITZ H. H. (1963) Experiments on perceptuat curiosity in mentaf retardes and normals. Am. J. menr. Defic. 63, 386-395. Hownm K. I. $136II A test of stimuius seeking behavior. Prrwpr. Nat. Skii& 13.4%. HOWARDK. f. and DIESENKM.JS H. I. (1965) ~~~~f~~ou~&F rhr Mrrze 7~. State of Illinois. Department of Mentat Health. fnstitute for Juvenile Research. Research Report. 2, No. 4. KISH G. 3. and DONNENWER~W G. V. (1972) Sex differences in the correlates of stimulus seekintz. J. insult. C&I. G. B. and LEAHYL. (1970) Stimulus-seeking. age. interests and aptitudes: an amplification. Percept. Mot. 30.670. KRE~TLERS.. ZIGLER E. and KKEITLERH. (1974) The complexity of complexity. Htmr. Dec. 17, 54-73. LO~FT W. R. and I!%ARANOWSK~ M. D. (1971) An analysis of five measures of sensation seeking and preference for complexity. J. yen. Psyhof. 85, 307-313. RUSHTONJ. P. and CHRISJOHNR. D. (1981) Extraversion. neuroticism. psychoticism and self-reported delinquency: evidence from eight separate samples. Person. indiuid. I>[$ 2, I I-20. SMOCKC. D. and Herr B. 0. (1962) Children‘s reaction to novelty: an experimental study of curiosity motivation. fhi&f I&r. 33, 631-642. WATERSL. K. and KIRK W. E. fk968) Stimulus seeking motivation and risk taking behavior in a gambling situation. E&r. ps_vchoi, Neusur. 28, 549-550. WECHSLER 0. (19493 Manuuf j&r rite Wechsrsfer ~~rr~flf~e~~e &ah far fhifdren. The Psychofogicaf Corporation. New York. ZUCKERMANM. (1972) Manual and research report for the Sensation Seeking Scale. University of Delaware. ZUCKERMANM. (1978) Sensation seeking. In Dimensions of Persunnfit~ (Edited by LONDONH. and EXNER J. E. JR). Wiley. New York. ZUCKERMANM. (1979) Sensation seeking and risk taking. In Enroriom in Personulir~ and Ps,whopclrho/og~ (Edited by C. E. IZARD).Plenum Press, New York. ZUCKERMANM.. BONE R. N., NEARY R.. MANOELSD~RFFD. and BRWSTMAN B. (1972) What is the sensation seeker’! Personality trait and experience correlates of the Sensation Seeking Scales. J. consafr. r/in. Ps~chol. 39, 308-321. ZUCKERMANM.. BUCHSBAUMM. S. and MLJRPAYD. L. (1980) Sensation seeking and its biological correlates.
KISH
Skills
Psyhuf.
Buff.
88,
187-2
14.