Abstract
ABSTRACT The dual systems theory of health risk behaviors posits that maladaptive behaviors during late adolescence and early adulthood are the result of differential developmental trajectories of a cognitive control system and socioemotional system. The divergence or “gap” between these two systems was modeled as two Latent Gap Scores (LGS) in a sample of college undergraduates (N = 7,109) and associations with health risk behavior were tested. Robust associations were found between these latent scores and engagement in substance misuse, risky sexual behavior, and non-suicidal self-injury. These results provide support for dual systems theory and represent a novel assessment of personality factors with respect to engagement in health-risk behaviors.
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