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. 2023 Jun;33(2):680-700.
doi: 10.1111/jora.12807. Epub 2022 Nov 10.

A Mixed-Methods Approach to Refining and Measuring the Construct of Positive Risk-Taking in Adolescence

Megan W Patterson  1 , Lilla Pivnick  2   3 , Frank D Mann  4 , Andrew D Grotzinger  5 , Kathryn C Monahan  6 , Laurence D Steinberg  7 , Benjamin Oosterhoff  8 , Jennifer L Tackett  9 , Elliot M Tucker-Drob  10 , K Paige Harden  10
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A Mixed-Methods Approach to Refining and Measuring the Construct of Positive Risk-Taking in Adolescence

Megan W Patterson et al. J Res Adolesc. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Adolescence is a peak period for risk-taking, but research has largely overlooked positive manifestations of adolescent risk-taking due to ambiguity regarding operationalization and measurement of positive risk-taking. We address this limitation using a mixed-methods approach. We elicited free responses from contemporary college students (N = 74, Mage = 20.1 years) describing a time they took a risk. Qualitative analysis informed the construction of a self-report positive risk-taking scale, which was administered to a population-based sample of adolescents (N = 1,249, Mage = 16 years) for quantitative validation and examination of associations with normative and impulsive personality. Sensation seeking predicted negative and positive risk-taking, whereas extraversion and openness were predominantly related to positive risk-taking. Results provide promising evidence for a valid measure of adolescents' engagement in positive risks.

Keywords: negative risk-taking; personality; positive risk-taking.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to authorship or the publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Pipeline of qualitative and quantitative methods applied to create and validate the positive risk-taking measure.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Model estimates and standard errors from personality and risk-taking SEM. * = p < .05, ** = p < .01, *** = p < .001
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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