Who are the risk takers? The intention to adopt risky behaviours among post-secondary students in Quebec
This paper presents the results of a study aiming to explore the propensity for risk-taking among post-secondary female students aged between 18 to 30 years. The propensity result is then compared to socio-demographic variables (age, civil status, life environment, education level). The sample consisted of 233 females students enrolled at a university or college X = 22,14 years, ET = 2,89 in the province of Quebec. Participants were recruited using billboards. They had to respond to a French electronic version of the DOSPERT revised scale for adults (Domain-Specific-Risk-Taking scale for adults ; Blais et Weber, 2006) assessing risk taking in five domains: health/safety, ethical, financial, social, and recreational. In addition to the questions of the DOSPERT revised scale for adults, eight supplementary questions were asked to the participants regarding the likelihood of risk-taking in terms of their sexuality, their substance use and their driving. These results revealed that a quarter of the sample of students (24.9 %) expected to voluntarily have a sexual encounter with someone they met a few hours earlier. Moreover, 15.1 % of the students would probably adopt sexual behaviors in a bar or party (such as getting undressed or adopting a teasing attitude) and the possibility increases to 25.4 % when the combination of substance use is added. Finally, 16.3 % of the participants indicated that they would voluntarily consume ecstasy. In general, results from the DSPERT scales indicated a higher propensity for risk-taking in regards to the health/safety, social and recreational domains rather than the ethical and financial domains among these students. Furthermore, risk taking propensity in specific domains varies according to civil status, parenthood, life environment, education level and risk taking per se.