Risk-taking propensity and (un)healthy behavior in Germany.

Abstract

Earlier research in South Africa (Szrek et al., 2012) confirmed the one-item Dohmen measure (Dohmen et al., 2011) to be a significant predictor of risky health behavior. The present study investigated the relationship of the Dohmen measure with other measures of risk-taking propensity (e.g., Domain-Specific Risk-Taking scale), and its predictive power for smoking, problematic drinking, problematic car driving, and problematic sexual behavior, in a sample of 63 patients of psychiatric clinics and 102 healthy participants in Germany. The Dohmen measure was significantly positively related to other involved instruments. It served as predictor of two of the four investigated risky health activities (i.e., smoking, problematic drinking). The Dohmen measure seems to be a valid and time efficient instrument to assess general risk-taking propensity, as well as specific propensity for smoking and problematic drinking in Germany.