Risk taking, perceived risks, and perceived benefits across adolescence: A domain-specific risk-return approach

Adolescence is a phase of heightened risk taking compared to childhood and adulthood, which is even more prominent for specific adolescent populations, such as youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Until now little is known about how perceived risks and benefits relate to adolescent risk taking. Here, we used the adolescent version of the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking (DoSpeRT) scale to investigate the likelihood of risk taking, perceived risks, perceived benefits, and their tradeoff in two studies. In the first longitudinal study, 375 11-to-23-year-olds completed the DOSPERT one up to three times. A second biannual longitudinal study included 180 11-to-20-year old boys diagnosed with ADHD (N=81), and an IQ and age-matched control group (N=99). Using mixed-effects models, we found a peak in likelihood of risk taking in mid-to-late adolescence, but only in the health/safety, ethical, and social domains of risk taking, with similar curvilinear patterns in perceived benefits (peaks) and perceived risks (dips). In both cohorts, perceived risks and benefits were significant predictors of risk taking in all domains, and perceived benefits related more strongly to risk taking than perceived risks. Moreover, perceived benefits increasingly related to risk taking across adolescence, a pattern that was found in recreational risk taking in both studies. Generally, we observed little differences in risk taking, and perceived risks and benefits between the ADHD and control group. However, risk-return models indicated that adolescents with ADHD displayed a heightened likelihood of risk-taking behavior in the social domain, and their perceived risks related less strongly to risk taking, relative to typically developing adolescents. Taken together, our results are consistent with the developmental peak in risk taking observed in real life and highlight the role of perceived risks and benefits in risk taking. These findings provide tentative entry points for possible prevention and intervention.