Background There is a long literature documenting greater willingness to take risks by men than by women. This gender difference in risk taking has been shown for a wide range of behaviors, including financial decisions (Bernasek & Schwiff, 2001; Weaver, Vandello, & Bosson, 2012), sexual behaviors, gambling, driving, drug and alcohol use, physical tasks (Byrnes, Miller, & Schafer, 1999), and competitive scenarios (Crosen & Gneezy, 2009). Furthermore, a variety of theories and factors have been discussed to explain this gender difference (Byrnes et al, 1999; Weaver, et al., 2012). Throughout much of this literature, gender differences have been examined in behaviors that are obviously related to risk (e.g., gambling, physically dangerous activities). We designed this research to examine whether some gender differences in “every day” personal preferences – the types of choices that appear to be unrelated to risk - may indeed be correlated to subtle perceived associations with risk. Our hypothesis is that the gendered preferences across seemingly neutral arenas are correlated with risk perceptions. Method Participants Total: 389 adults, solicited through mturk and from a pool of college students. Gender: 224 were female, 163 male and 2 did not identify gender. Age: mean age was (SD = 11.06), with an age range from 18 to 81. The mean age for males was (SD = 10.15) and the mean age for females was (SD = 11.68, not a significant difference (p =.83). Racial diversity: 263 white, 18 African American, 24 Hispanic, 57 Asian, 16 multiracial, 2 Native American, 1 Pacific Islander, and 8 did not identify race. Materials and Procedure Primary Survey. An online survey measuring:  respondent characteristics such as gender, sexual orientation, age, race, relationship status, political party, and religion;  willingness to take risks;  personal preferences, including color, musical artists and genres, cars, food and drinks, leisure activities, and form of gambling. Personal preferences were measured with closed-ended items. The possible selections for each question were designed to provide participants with a reasonably wide range of choices. Risk Survey. A separate online survey, with a different sample of 106 participants, was conducted to measure perceptions of risk (physical, psychological, or financial) associated with 65 different items and behaviors, including each of the choices on the closed-ended items used on the survey described above using a 7-point scale, ranging from “No Risk” to “Extremely Risky.” The final sample for this survey included 46 females, 59 males, and 1 person not identifying gender. The mean age was (SD = 12.20), with an age range of 18 to 82. Results and Discussion In six of the eight areas in which significant or nearly significant gender differences in preferences had been found, the data show significant differences in the level of risk associated with the choices selected. Thus, differences in the perceived risks associated with everyday items map fairly well onto gender differences in preferences for those items. Males tended to prefer higher risk activities and items than did females Two exceptions to this pattern were in the areas of movie preferences and gambling. All forms of gambling were judged as risky, therefore there were no differences in risk scores for gambling by gender. Gender difference in gambling seemed to be associated with strategy vs. chance. Males preferred games of strategy (e.g., poker) while females preferred games of pure chance (e.g., slot machines), consistent with the literature on higher levels of competitive behavior in males across the life span (Mayr, et al., 2012). With respect to movies, females were more likely to prefer horror films than were males, and horror films were rated as associated with relatively high risk by the independent raters. Other gender differences in film preference supported the pattern that males like “riskier” genres. Gender Preferences and Risk Taking Donna Crawley and Richard Suarez Table 1. Gender Differences in Item Preferences and in the Risk Associated with Those Preferences Survey ItemGender Differences Significance of Means Risk ScoresSignificance of In PreferenceGender Differencesfor Each Gender*Gender Differences in Frequencies in PreferencesMean Risk Scores _______________________________________________________________________ Musical Artists Females showed less preference F mean = 3.00 Males preferred male singersp <.001M mean = 3.05t(318) = 4.52, p <.001 Music GenreFemales preferred rock and popF mean = 2.45 Males preferred rock and hip-hop/rapp =.007M mean = 2.50t(383) = 2.17, p =.03 DrinksFemales prefer water, coffee, juice, sodaF mean = 1.95 Males prefer soda, water, coffee, beerp <.001M mean = 2.65t(383) = 4.67, p <.001 Leisure Activity Females preferred concerts or moviesF mean = 2.79 Males preferred video games, outdoor activities p <.001M mean = 2.92t(384) = 1.95, p =.05 Make of CarFemales preferred Toyota, Honda, AudiF mean = 3.20 Males preferred Audi, Toyota, Ferrarip =.06M mean = 3.27t(384) = 2.53, p =.01 ReligionMales were more likely to identify as F mean = 2.52 atheist or agnostic than were femalesp <.001M mean = 2.58t(335) = 2.78, p =.006 Gambling Females preferred slot machinesF mean = 4.18 Males preferred poker, sports bets, black jack p <.001M mean = 4.18t(378) =.43, p =.66 Movie GenreFemales prefer comedy, drama, horrorF mean = 2.77 Males preferred comedy, action, science fictionp <.001M mean = 2.76t(383) =.13, p =.90 Abstract 389 male and female adult selected their preferred items and activities from a set of closed-ended items on a survey. A separate sample of 106 participants rated how risky they perceived each of the closed-ended choices. Results indicated that there was a strong association between gender preferences and risk taking even in these mundane activities of life. Male preferences held higher risk associations than female preferences.