Do fathers and mothers socialize physical risk taking differently in sons and daughters?

Socialization of physical risk-taking is critical for healthy development. However, little is known about whether fathers and mothers socialize physical risk taking differently in sons and daughters. This study examines how parent and child gender impact parent-child conversations about physical risk taking in middle childhood. Parents and their 8- to 10-year-old children (<i>N</i> = 104; 54% male; 89% White, 8% Multiracial, 2% Asian, and 1% Black) discussed and rated the safety of 12 photographs depicting a same-age, same-gender child engaged in a variety of potentially risky physical activities. Parents also completed questionnaires about their own risk tolerance and the child's injury history. Coding of the conversations focused on disagreements about the safety of activities and how disagreements were resolved. Additionally, we coded how parents and children supported their ratings through references to specific dangerous and non-dangerous features of the activity and to potential outcomes that might arise from the activity. Fathers treated sons and daughters similarly when discussing the safety of the activities, which may be explained by fathers' higher self-reported risk tolerance. Mothers were significantly more likely to disagree about safety ratings when paired with sons than daughters. Mothers also worked to resolve disagreements in their own favor when they judged an activity as more dangerous than did their sons. Mothers and fathers may play complementary roles in teaching children about physical risk taking, with fathers encouraging sons and daughters to safely engage in potentially risky physical activities and mothers teaching sons about potential danger.