Examining a new prosocial risk-taking scale in a longitudinal sample of ethnically diverse adolescents

The Upside of ADHD-related Risk-taking: Adolescents With ADHD Report a Higher Likelihood of Engaging in Prosocial Risk-taking Behavior Than Typically Developing Adolescents

BACKGROUND

ADHD is highly prevalent in adolescents. ADHD is characterized by heightened impulsive behavior and is often associated with increased risk-taking behavior in adolescence. Previous research has mostly focused on negative aspects of risk-taking behavior. However, recently two other types of risk-taking behavior have been identified: positive and prosocial risk-taking.

OBJECTIVE

Here, we tested whether youth with ADHD are more inclined toward positive and prosocial risk-taking.

METHODS

We assessed the self-reported likelihood of engaging in negative, positive, and prosocial risk-taking in a sample of 50 adolescents with ADHD (Mage = 16.3, SD = 1.18) and 54 typically developing adolescents (Mage = 16.9, SD = 0.73). Regardless of group, we found that positive, prosocial, and negative risk-taking behavior were positively correlated, higher risk-taking in one domain was associated with higher levels of risk-taking in another.

RESULTS

Crucially, we found that adolescents with ADHD were more likely to engage in prosocial risk-taking behavior compared to typically developing adolescents. We did not find group differences for negative and positive risk-taking behavior.

CONCLUSION

Together, these results show a first indication of the upside of risk-taking in ADHD.

Job satisfaction has differential associations with delay discounting and risk-taking

Low job satisfaction has been associated with both negative health and negative organizational outcomes. Knowledge on which factors influence job satisfaction remains limited. This study assesses the associations between job satisfaction and three personality traits related to cognitive- and inhibitory control: delay discounting, risk-taking and sensation seeking (DRS-traits). Delay discounting and sensation seeking were inferred using self-reported behavioral data and health measurements for 80,676 participants in the UK Biobank. Multiple linear regression analysis produced beta coefficients and confidence intervals for each DRS-trait and job satisfaction. Analyses were adjusted for age, socioeconomic status and sleep quality. A combination of the three DRS-traits (CDRS) was assessed as well. Delay discounting and risk-taking were associated with, respectively, lower and higher job satisfaction in both sexes. Sensation seeking had no significant association with job satisfaction for either sex. The combined score, CDRS, was only negatively associated with job satisfaction in females but not in males. We discuss that the negative association between delay discounting and job satisfaction may be due to career related delay discounting effects, but also highlight that low job satisfaction itself may also lead to increased delay discounting. Additionally, we discuss why increased risk-taking behavior may have a positive effect on job satisfaction.

Are you more risk-seeking when helping others? Effects of situational urgency and peer presence on prosocial risky behavior

Introduction

Prosocial risky behavior (PRB) proposes that individuals take risks for others' benefits or social welfare, and that this may involve trade-offs between risk and social preferences. However, little is known about the underlying cognitive mechanisms of risk-seeking or aversion during PRB.

Methods

This study adopted the dilemma-priming paradigm to examine the interaction between the risk levels of personal cost and situational urgency on PRB (Experiment 1, N  = 88), and it further uncovered the modulation of the risk levels of failure (Experiment 2, N  = 65) and peer presence (Experiment 3, N  = 80) when helping others.

Results

In Experiment 1, the participants involved in risky dilemmas made more altruistic choices for strangers in urgent situations compared to those for strangers in non-urgent situations. However, increasing the risk levels of personal cost decreased the frequencies of help offered to strangers in urgent situations. Experiment 2 further established that, similar to the risk of personal cost, increasing the risk levels of failure when helping others also decreased the frequencies of help offered to strangers in urgent situations. Furthermore, in dilemmas involving a low-risk personal cost, Experiment 3 showed that peer presence encouraged the participants to make more altruistic choices when providing help to strangers in non-urgent situations.

Discussion

Individuals demonstrate obvious risk-seeking behavior when helping others and that both non-urgent situations and peer presence weaken the effect of increased risk aversion on PRB in a limited manner.

Adolescents Are More Likely to Help Others on Days They Take Risks and Crave Social Connections

This study examined how adolescents' risk-taking behaviors were related to their prosocial behaviors on a daily level and how this association differed depending on adolescents' daily and average levels of sensation seeking and social craving. Adolescents (N = 212; Mage  = 15 years) completed daily diaries for 14 days. Adolescents were more likely to engage in prosocial behavior on days when they also took risks, but only when they also felt high levels of social craving. The daily link between risk-taking and prosocial behavior did not vary based on daily or individual differences in sensation seeking. Results suggest that when adolescents feel highly motivated to connect with others, their risk-taking and prosocial tendencies co-occur on a daily basis.