Studies indicate a high level of risk taking behavior among student-athletes in the college setting. There are questions as to whether risk-taking behaviors stem from the unique social and academic environment experienced by intercollegiate athletes, or due to other factors such as sensation seeking or other personality traits, perceived norms, peer influence or an amplification of the common college experience of experimentation. However, most research has focused on student-athletes from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). This study examined (1) health risk taking behaviors, (2) sensation seeking and (3) perceived norms among gender and sport-type (contact or non-contact) in a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) population. Participants (N=63) completed a 78-item questionnaire and reported on risk-taking behaviors (alcohol, marijuana, gambling and sexual risks, for a 12 month period), sensation seeking and perceived norms. Findings from this research indicate that non-contact athletes are more likely than contact athletes to use alcohol during the season of competition. Male and female athletes showed not significant differences in alcohol use, marijuana use and sexual risk behaviors, they did however, have significant differences in gambling behavior. High sensation seekers show strong, positive correlations with alcohol frequency and quantity during the off-season. Perceptions of others (athletes/teammates and general college population) health risk-taking behaviors are higher than their own behaviors. Additional research is needed in many of these domains to further elucidate the relationships and significance of these findings. / text

During the past decade, there has been increased attention on the role of mood on risk-taking and judgment. According to Isen¡¯s (1987) mood-maintenance hypothesis, individuals in a negative mood state tend to take greater risks than individuals in a neutral or positive mood state in order to improve their mood. In contrast, however, theorizing and research derived from an information-processing perspective indicates that individuals in a negative mood are more likely to engage in deliberate cognitive processes directed toward avoiding risk. This study seeks to resolve the discrepancy between these two perspectives by examining the influence of systematic cognitive processing as a mood regulation strategy (Forgas, 1998). Negative mood states were induced using a standardized film clip procedure. Participants then completed a risk-taking questionnaire either immediately following the induction, after performing a moderately difficult word anagram task, or after a delay period. As expected, participants in the anagram task condition showed lower levels of risk-taking preference than participants in the immediate judgment and delayed task conditions. Implications and future research directions for research in risk-taking and mood regulation are discussed.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 100 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-64).

Choices made in highly uncertain settings problematise the concept of rationality in decisions-making. Notably, educational choices are conducted on uncertain ground as future prospects in labour markets are always risky. Educational choices should also correspond to values of self-actualisation – derived from ideologies of High modernity (individualisation) –which in turn makes the decision even harder. Many studies have researched risk-taking and economic risk assessments in educational choices. Studies have also shown the effects of individualisation and capitalisation in modern societies. However, few studies on education take both economic and self-developing values into consideration, and even fewer examine the rationality in self-actualisation. This dissertation analyses rationality derived from social circumstances – in this case academia – in order to explain how students make their educational decisions and how they are affected by academic settings during their studies. To investigate this, a survey was constructed and sent to students. Statistical (correlation; group comparisons) and qualitative content analysis was used to interpret the data. The findings suggest that rationality in educational decisions mainly derives from self-interest, but also that academic settings promote this approach. This implicates that uncertainty is dealt with in social environments, and that rationality is essentially a social construction built and harboured within institutional settings.

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The relationship between adolescents’ health decisions and their coping reactions to threat has been the focus of some empirical research. A relevant theoretical perspective is the Conflict-Theory Model (Janis, 1983) which specifies several modes by which people cope with threat, including vigilance (objective appraisals), defensive avoidance (evasion of anxiety) and hypervigilance (panic). Developed to explain adult decision making, Conflict-Theory postulates were applied to health decisions in adolescents, thus extending the model to a new population. Conflict-Theory proposes that coping styles moderate relations between health beliefs and decisions, such that perceptions of threat and response-efficacy better predict health decisions in persons high on vigilance, or low on defensive avoidance or hypervigilance. These postulates were tested in a large-scale cross-sectional survey (Umeh, in press). The study involved 885 adolescents (aged 13-17 years) and focused on several important health behaviours (substance use, regular exercise, dietary fat consumption, unsafe sex). There was little evidence that dispositional coping styles moderate relations between health beliefs and decisions. Beliefs about the efficacy of using protection during sexual intercourse predicted intentions to have unprotected sex as a function of vigilance. However, the pattern of this moderator effect contradicted Conflict- Theory postulates: efficacy beliefs better predicted intentions in participants low on vigilance. There was no evidence that relations between health beliefs and decision are affected by levels of defensive avoidance or hypervigilance. Each coping style predicted intentions to exercise regularly and (vigilance only) have unprotected sex, independent of health beliefs. Conflict-Theory also proposes that high levels of vigilance relate to low levels of health risk-taking, whereas high levels of defensive avoidance and hypervigilance relate to high levels of health risk-taking. These postulates were tested in a secondary survey focusing on cigarette use (using a subsample of 104 participants from the main study). Coping patterns were associated with health risk-taking in accordance with Conflict-Theory. Overall, there was no evidence that the proposed role of coping styles in belief-decision relations apply to adolescents. However, there was some evidence for vigilance as a moderator, and coping styles as predictors of decisions irrespective of health beliefs. Coping also relates to health risk-taking. Overall, the importance of Conflict-Theory coping styles in adolescents’ health decisions, whether as moderator or predictor variables, varies across coping constructs and health behaviours

In this study, we use a sample of 228 financial firms over the period of 2007-2012 to examine the impact of voluntary adoption of clawback provisions on these firms’ risk-taking behavior. We find that financial firms exhibit a significant reduction in risk after adopting clawback provisions. The financial firms also exhibit a significant decrease in the volatility of ROE, total return risk and idiosyncratic risk. The reduction in risk is mainly driven by the improvement in the volatility of return on assets and subsample of banks and brokers. In addition, we find that financial firms are less likely to adopt clawback provisions with higher management and director ownership, more insiders on the board, and whose CEO is not the chairman of the board. / February 2017

Objective: To investigate whether traumatic brain injury (TBI) plays a role in impulsivity, risk-taking, aggression and other behaviour problems in young offenders. Setting: Youth Offending Teams in the South West of England. Participants: Participants were 21 young offenders with community sentences, aged between 14 and 18 years old. Design: A cross-sectional correlational design. Main measures: A background questionnaire gathered information about the frequency and severity of TBIs, which was used to calculate the “TBI dose”. The Stoplight task and the Stroop test provided behavioural measures of risk-taking and interference control respectively. Self-report questionnaires provided measures of impulsivity (UPPS Impulsivity Scale), aggression (Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire) and behaviour (Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire). Results: Seventy-six per cent of the sample reported at least one TBI. TBI was not significantly correlated with either any of the other variables. Impulsivity was significantly positively correlated with reactive aggression. Conclusion: This exploratory study concludes that, in the current sample, TBI is not associated with impulsivity or risk-taking. Therefore, it is equally possible that impulsivity and reactive aggression pre-exist TBI. Future research should use a longitudinal design and a larger sample.

We attempted to identify the psychobiological mechanisms that mediate the process by which the sensation seeking trait culminates in behavior. We used the Sensation Seeking Scales to assess the SS trait in individuals who expressed a desire to skydive. We obtained measures of autonomic (heart rate) and endocrine (salivary cortisol) activity before, during and after skydiving. To distinguish the contribution of novelty, we compared novices (N=29) to experienced jumpers (N=15). All jumpers exhibited HPA-axis activation; novices exhibited a prolonged response and more extreme peak in cortisol compared to experienced jumpers, suggesting that novelty contributes to an intense pattern of stress responding. Both groups displayed increases in heart rate; there were no significant differences between the groups, indicating that repeated exposure to the stressor did not habituate this system. We provided evidence that the stress response systems instantiate novelty and risk to motivate and reward behavioral expressions of the SS trait.