A Developmental Analysis of Warning Signs: The Case of Familiarity and Gender

Abstract

Three NO DIVING signs were placed at one middle and one high school in suburban Buffalo and one middle and one high school served as controls (no signs). A total of 864 students participated in the study. It was found that males were more likely than females to notice the signs, but that males tended to perceive less danger associated with shallow water diving than females. High school males were much more likely than females to dive into the shallow end of their school's pool, especially when the NO DIVING signs were present. In addition, students with a history of diving into the shallow end of their school's pool were much more likely to notice the NO DIVING signs than students who never dove into the shallow end of the pool. Moreover, compared to students who never dove into the shallow end of their school's pool, students with a history of diving into the shallow end of their school's pool tended to perceive less danger and were more likely to dive into the shallow end of the pool again. It appears that warning signs are less effective with high school students than with middle school students.