Addressing the significance of cultural variability in perceptions of risk: Some implications of ecological systems theory for operationalizing risk in quantitative models based on a critical review of theory and empirical evidence

Abstract

This paper critically reviews the major theoretical treatments of risk and related quantitative empirical evidence. It is argued that the full implications of the ecological dialectic of context/agency have not informed operationalizations and measurements of risk in quantitative models in psychopathology and developmental psychology. In particular, variability in individual perceptions of risk due to cultural differences is not satisfactorily handled in efforts to track effects of distal or proximal risk on developmental outcomes in the life course. It is further argued that full recognition of the significance of the joint effect of time-varying characteristics of context and agency in ecological systems theory requires that most types of proximal and distal risk should better be seen as representing continua of risk intensity rather than discrete categories since such a methodology can do more justice to the culturally-induced variability in understandings and handling of risk among people.