Facebook: The risk-taking attitude amongst Emerging Adults

This study investigates students, or “Emerging Adults”, in the South African tertiary environment; and their risk-taking attitudes towards Facebook. The general risk attitude and behaviour of students has been researched from various angles and even in online and social environments as well. This study however focuses on Facebook due to its popularity and widespread adoption amongst students and particularly the disclosure of Personal Identifiable Information (PII) in the South African context. Preliminary results reveal that South African students tend to divulge PII on their profiles and are therefore considered as risk-takers. Students tend to disclose various aspects of their life, and this risk attitude has also been found to be influenced by age; wherein younger students choose to disclose PII such as their phone number more easily in comparison to older students. Whilst students have adopted a risk-taker attitude on Facebook by opting to disclose PII, there is a dichotomy between this attitude and their choice of Facebook friends access privileges; this is evidence of the gap between students´ risk-taking attitude and their reported behaviour.