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

Background - 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. Methods: 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. Results: 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). Conclusions: 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.