Deliberation affects risk taking beyond sensation seeking

We examined the effects of sensation seeking and deliberation on risk taking activities in a large sample of college students. Students were asked to indicate how many times in the past year they had engaged in a number of risk taking activities. We hypothesized that deliberation would account for a unique portion of the variance in risk taking activities with negative outcomes beyond that of sensation seeking. From the pool of risk taking items, we constructed two internally consistent scales to assess risk taking with negative outcomes and risk taking with non-negative outcomes. Sensation seeking was significantly positively correlated with both types of risk taking. Deliberation accounted for a unique portion of the variance in risk taking with negative outcomes, beyond participation in activities with non-negative outcomes and sensation seeking. Deliberation may be a protective factor against choosing risk taking activities with negative outcomes.