Experts

Modern Men are Less Adventurous Than Their Fathers

By Cheri Cheng | Update Date: Sep 04, 2013 03:36 PM EDT

In current day society, men and women are becoming more attached to their devices. With the introduction of tablets and smartphones, people have more ways of connecting to the Internet. This type of lifestyle that incorporates media can lead to physically inactive habits that contribute to obesity. In a new report, researchers found that younger men today are less likely to be as adventurous as their fathers possibly due to the fact that they are not as fit and have lower motivation.

For this study, the researchers headed by Dr. Kate Cross from the University of St. Andrews decided to study the reduction in male thrill-seekers over the years. Based on studies conducted in the 1970s, men were around 48 percent more likely to participate in adrenaline-fuelled sports than women were. Now, according to the new research, men are only 28 percent more likely to be involved in these thrill-seeking activities than women are. Although other experts reasoned that this reduction could be attributed to the fact that more women are getting involved in action-thrilling activities, Cross believes that there is more to the falling trend.

Cross provided several explanations for why men might not be as adventurous as their fathers. First, men are generally left active due to technology and might not have the time or the desire to seek rigorous and adventurous activities. Second, the argument that women are participating in more of these activities could be true. There has been more encouragement for women to partake in all kinds of sports, even the thrill-seeking ones.

"The decline in the sex difference in thrill and adventure-seeking scores could reflect declines in average fitness levels, which might have reduced people's interest in physically challenging activities," Cross explained. "This interpretation is consistent with evidence that participation in college sports is becoming more gender balanced across time in response to concerted efforts to encourage female sports participation."

Cross provided another explanation that would clarify why men are less likely to be adventurous today than they were decades ago. She stated that the questions used in the studies in 1970s could be considered outdated. For example, in the 1970s, skiing was considered to be an intense and novel activity.

Cross's study was published in the Scientific Reports

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