Compared to other children, Mexican-American children seem less responsive in test-taking and classroom situations. This behavior may be due to a generalized tendency to be conservative risk-takers. This study investigates aspects of this problem by testing four hypotheses: (1) that Mexican-American preschoolers would take fewer chances on a risk-taking test than their Anglo-American or Negro peers, (2) that this inter-group difference would increase as the material value of the reward (candy, rather than praise) increased, (3) that fewer chances would be taken following failure than following success, and (4) that boys would take more chances than girls, regardless of ethnicity or reward. The subjects, 60 Negro, 79 Mexican-American, and 25 Anglo-American Head Start children, were all given a risk-taking task developed for this study. The subjects were assigned on a stratified random basis to one of three treatment groups based on reward: beads, candy, or verbal praise. Analysis of the data showed no significant differences between ethnic groups, sexes, treatments, or for effects of failure and success. However, as predicted, Mexican-Americans took significantly fewer chances with candy reward, while Negro and Anglo-Americans took fewer chances with bead and praise reward. (MH)