Conducted 3 experiments using a series of photographs of children in situations of varying degrees of risk to determine whether males and females perceive risk to a child differently and whether males and females would intervene in the same way to risky situations. In the pilot study, 9 mothers (mean age 23 yrs), 9 female caregivers (mean age 22 yrs), 6 fathers (mean age 24 yrs), and 6 male caregivers (mean age 22 yrs) ranked a series of photographs in terms of riskiness. 20 sets of 21-35 yr old parents (Study 1) and 84 female and 54 male undergraduates (Study 2) ranked photographs and reported whether or not they would intervene in the risky situations. Overall results indicate that the rankings of risk behaviors were similar in all 3 studies, suggesting that males and females, regardless of experience, use the same scale to rate risks and show high levels of agreement in both rankings and absolute ratings. Experienced females were more likely to intervene and more likely to report that they would physically stop the risky behavior than were males. There were no differences between the ratings of inexperienced males and females. Differential reactions to boys and girls in similar risky situations did not occur.