Abstract
The article presents the results of an investigation where the main purpose was to see how willingness to take risks is distributed in the general adult population relative to socio-demographic background and personality. A representative sample (n = 1000) of the population 15 years and older was interviewed about socio-demographic background, personality type (Big Five, EPQ, Sensation Seeking) and willingness to take risks. We used a new scale containing eight dimensions, covering social, intellectual, achievement, political, economic, physical, ethical and existential types of risk. The results showed that people in general were risk averse in relation to physical, ethical, economic and existential risks but had a balanced bell-shaped distribution of scores on the other risk dimensions. There was a moderate to low positive correlation between all eight risk-taking dimensions except achievement risk versus ethical risk. Males were more willing to take risks than females on six of eight dimensions. Younger were more willing than older to take risks on all eight risk dimensions. Higher educational level influenced risk-taking positively in more than half of the dimensions, not only one’s own educational level but also father’s and even more mother’s educational level. There was a positive correlation with household income on three dimensions. All sensation seeking subscales and total sensation seeking correlated positively with all risk-taking dimensions. There were positive correlations with most risk-taking scales on EPQ’s Extraversion and Psychoticism and Big Five’s Extraversion, Stableness and Openness. Agreeableness and Conscientiousness had negative correlation with several risk-taking dimensions. A logistic regression model, identifying the 25 percent highest scorers on total risk-taking, found that being male and scoring high on sensation seeking were the most important predictors. Furthermore, high scores on the Big Five sub-scales Extraversion and Openness, as well as the Eysenck EPQ sub-scales Extraversion and Psychoticism predicted high willingness to take risks.
Highlights
The concepts of ‘risk’ and ‘risk-taking’ have become important for understanding attitudes and behavior in present societies
In an earlier article we looked at how the personality construct ‘Sensation Seeking’, which we found important in military contexts, was related to risktaking in the general population (Breivik, Sand, and Sookermany 2017)
We found that in the general population Sensation Seeking was intimately associated with various forms of risk-taking attitudes and behaviors
Summary
The concepts of ‘risk’ and ‘risk-taking’ have become important for understanding attitudes and behavior in present societies. The purpose of the present study was to find out how the general adult population reacts to risk and risk-taking in various areas of life. In our study we have used a representative sample of the Norwegian population aged 15 years and above. Important in the project was to find out how military attitudes to risk and risk-taking differ from attitudes in the general population. We found that in the general population Sensation Seeking was intimately associated with various forms of risk-taking attitudes and behaviors. In the present article the focus is broader; looking at whether risk-taking attitudes and behaviors in the general population are associated with specific personality factors as well as socio-demographic background
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
