Risk-Taking Behavior (Young Male Syndrome)

‘Young male syndrome’ refers to the tendency of adolescent and young adult men to think and act in more aggressive and dominant ways and to take more risks than women or men outside of this age range. This phenomenon is explained by adopting a functional perspective of aggressive behaviors and using this perspective to examine factors that have contributed to the increased frequency of these behaviors in men compared to women and in younger people compared to older people. The confluence of these factors compounded over evolutionary time is believed to produce the observed sex and age differences in aggression.