Do teens engage in risky behavior because they don’t know the risks or because they don’t care? A new study suggests the former. Researchers at Yale University and Fordham University asked youths ages 12 to 17 and adults ages 30 to 50 to take part in a computer-based lottery, in which participants were allowed to take a guaranteed up-front payment of $5 or bet that money potentially to win more. Half the subjects were told the odds; for the other half, the odds of winning were hidden. Researchers found that adults were more likely to bet the $5 when they knew the odds—though the chances of winning were slim. Teens were more likely to participate in the lottery in which the odds were hidden. To researchers, this suggests adults actually had a higher risk tolerance than youth, but teens were more likely to hop into a risky situation blindly. “When we see young children engaged in risky actions, we do not think about them as risk-takers; rather we see them as curious about the world that surrounds them,” wrote the study’s authors. (Los Angeles Times)