title: Risk-perception and dangerous driving among adolescents: Outcome- and behavior-focused questions yield opposite results.
abstract: While some studies have found that those who perceive a behavior to be more risky are less likely to engage in it, others have found that those who engage in more risky behaviors see themselves as being more at-risk. Using an online questionnaire we investigated whether such conflicting findings may be due to the types of risk-questions employed in past studies. We assessed risk-perception using outcome-focused questions (e.g. the likelihood of being in an accident) and a behavior-focused question (the riskiness of speeding). Participants who reported engaging in more risky driving gave higher estimates of their chances of experiencing a negative outcome. However, those same participants gave lower estimates of the general riskiness of risky driving. Drivers may think about the risks of risky driving in different ways depending on the focus of the questions.
authors: Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, 6100 Executive Blvd, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Electronic address: obrienfk@tcd.ie.
authors: Fearghal
authors: F
authors: O'Brien
authors: School of Psychology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Gormley
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012306:Risk; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012309:Risk-Taking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescence; Dangerous driving; Question focus; Risk perception; Risk taking