Reported Risk Behaviors and Perceived Riskiness of Activities Using a Risk-Taking Scale by Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract

Human factors forensic consultants often need to evaluate the reasonableness of conduct in the course of their investigations. Many cases involve adolescents who, in general, have a reputation for being more likely to engage in risky behaviors. The present study evaluates and compares risk perception and risk-taking behaviors of adolescents and young adults. The Domain Specific Risk Taking Scale was used to obtain reported levels of risk-taking and perceived risk attitudes regarding four commonly encountered content domains: ethical, health/safety, social, and recreational; an additional subscale evaluating eating disordered behavior was created for this study. The results indicate that adolescents reported a higher likelihood of risk-taking behavior than young adults on the recreational subscale, but were no different than young adults for the health/safety, social and eating disorder subscales. Adolescents perceived unethical behavior as lower risk, and were more likely to participate in such behaviors. Adolescent risk perception for health/safety, recreational, social and eating disorders subscales were not found to be different than that reported by the young adults.