Risk perception, motives and behaviours in university students

Figures & data

Table 1 Risk intake and danger perception (RIPS) items (n = 31 items).

Items considered ‘dangerous’	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3	Factor 4	Factor 5	Factor 6	Factor 7	Cronbach's α
Nicking something from a shop	0.865							0.921
Stealing something in a restaurant	0.852
Damaging something such as a public phone	0.827
Cheating in a school project	0.713
Gambling for money	0.688
Defying authorities	0.640
Carrying weapons	0.605
Getting involved in a fight	0.575
Accepting ride from a stranger	0.507
Hitchhiking	0.491
Deliberately annoying somebody	0.462
Consuming cocaine	0.427
Taking chances in street traffic	0.409
Getting drunk		0.751						0.739
Driving after alcohol drinking		0.745
Being in a car with a drunk driver		0.634
Drinking alcohol		0.606
Defending an unpopular idea			0.841					0.700
Volunteering to speak in front of a group			0.798
Organising an activity for friends			0.730
Skipping courses				0.725				0.592
Cheating on an exam				0.608
Not studying on an exam				0.500
Taking a sunbath				0.481
Binge eating					0.731			0.440
Having sex with more than one person					0.651
Driving a car						0.821		0.521
Speeding in a car						0.622
Driving without a seatbelt						0.559
Smoking waterpipe							0.851	0.760
Smoking cigarettes							0.796
Correlation with total scale	0.896	0.538	0.263	0.695	0.517	0.444	0.487	p < 0.001 for all

Table 2 ARB items (n = 34 items).

Items considered ‘attractive’	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3	Factor 4	Factor 5	Factor 6	Factor 7	Factor 8	Cronbach's α
Nicking something from a shop	0.857								0.877
Stealing in a restaurant	0.801
Damaging something such as a public phone	0.778
Hitchhiking	0.656
Accepting ride from a stranger	0.651
Cheating in a school work	0.447
Contact sport participation		0.716							0.840
Carrying a weapon		0.701
Getting involved in a fight		0.681
Defying authorities		0.674
Riding a motorcycle		0.635
Taking chances in street traffic		0.630
Deliberately annoying somebody		0.618
Driving after alcohol drinking			0.720						0.825
Being in a car with a drunk driver			0.639
Getting drunk			0.589
Misusing prescription drugs			0.571
Consuming cocaine			0.554
Binge eating			0.540
Crash dieting or taking diet pills			0.528
Volunteering to speak in front of a group				0.812					0.745
Organising an activity for friends				0.750
Defending an unpopular idea				0.741
Having sex with a condom					0.871				0.635
Having sex without a condom					0.776
Having sex with more than one person					0.523
Smoking waterpipe						0.698			0.585
Smoking cigarettes						0.678
Taking a sunbath						0.458
Skipping courses							0.854		0.479
Cheating on exams							0.510
Driving a car								0.769	0.550
Speeding in a car								0.551
Driving without a seatbelt								0.434
Correlation with total scale	0.786	0.834	0.741	0.241	0.598	0.607	0.561	0.612	p < 0.001 for all

Table 3 MRT items (n = 26 items).

Items considered motives for risky behaviours	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3	Factor 4	Factor 5	Factor 6	Cronbach's α
When taking risks, nothing can go wrong	0.794						0.837
I do not care if I have to regret it later	0.775
Most of the times I do not believe I will get hurt	0.770
I believe risky behaviours will not hurt me at all	0.760
I care less about consequences of my behaviours	0.699
I hate being careful	0.599
I cannot stay away from these behaviours	0.522
These behaviours make my heart beat faster		0.974					0.874
These behaviours are thrilling		0.948
To feel the excitement is wonderful		0.914
These behaviours give me a kick		0.615
I do not want to miss enjoying the experience		0.496
These behaviours give me courage to try new things		0.473
Trying new things make me happy		0.423
I love to live the moment			0.887				0.703
Even though I would have to pay, it is important for me to live the moment			0.830
It is important to enjoy the moment			0.717
I only live once, and I want to try everything			0.430
With these behaviours, I get the attention of others				0.940			0.787
These behaviours let other people care for me				0.916
These behaviours let me impress others				0.734
Others expect me to behave like this				0.420
I want to achieve goals that lead to future success					0.930		0.674
I think it is important to achieve goals in the future					0.839
It is important for me to be popular						0.666	0.509
I enjoy acting ‘cool’						0.541
Correlation with total scale	0.767	0.885	0.676	0.667	0.279	0.510	p < 0.001 for all

Table 4 Risk perception, attractiveness and motives among university students.

Scales and factors	Boys, n = 1399 (41.3%)	Girls, n = 1980 (58.5%)	p-Value	Total, n = 3384 (100%)
Has motives for risky behaviours (MRT)	48.10 (17.54)	40.55 (15.63)	< 0.001	43.59 (16.84)
Risk perception (RIPS)	72.49 (19.83)	83.91 (15.57)	< 0.001	79.24 (18.33)
ARB	57.79 (22.44)	47.77 (25.83)	< 0.001	51.96 (24.96)
Irresponsibility (Motive 1)	8.52 (5.68)	6.54 (5.20)	< 0.001	7.34 (5.49)
Novelty seeking (Motive 2)	15.35 (6.60)	11.64 (6.24)	< 0.001	13.14 (6.64)
Seizing the moment (Motive 3)	9.84 (3.81)	9.24 (3.64)	< 0.001	9.48 (3.72)
Social desirability (Motive 4)	4.07 (3.30)	3.00 (2.86)	< 0.001	3.43 (3.09)
Goals achievement (Motive 5)	6.17 (2.09)	6.37 (1.89)	0.010	6.29 (1.98)
Popularity seeking (Motive 6)	3.87 (2.03)	3.61 (2.00)	< 0.001	3.72 (2.02)

Table 5 Multivariate analyses of risky behaviours.

Dependent	Independent variables	Adjusted OR [95% CI]	p-Value	Model
Current cigarette smoking	Studying in a private university	1.52 [1.10; 2.10]	0.011	Nagelkerke R^2 = 0.376
	Field of studies (health vs. others)	0.29 [0.18; 0.47]	< 0.001
	Older age in years	1.08 [1.01; 1.15]	0.036
	South Lebanon versus others	0.34 [0.17; 0.68]	0.002
	Mental distress (BDS22)	10.01 [1.00; 1.02]	0.010
	Female sex versus male	0.26 [0.19; 0.36]	< 0.001
	Higher socio-economic level	1.22 [1.07; 1.39]	0.003
	ARB	1.01 [1.00; 1.02]	< 0.001
	Risk perception (RIPS)	0.99 [0.98; 0.996]	0.003
	Irresponsibility (Motive 1)	1.08 [1.05; 1.10]	< 0.001
	Seizing the moment (Motive 3)	1.11 [1.06; 1.16]	< 0.001
	Goals achievement (Motive 5)	0.93 [0.87; 1.00]	0.052
Current waterpipe smoking	Field of studies (health vs. others)	0.59 [0.41; 0.85]	0.004	Nagelkerke R^2 = 0.126
	Female sex versus male	0.78 [0.60; 0.96]	0.023
	Northern Lebanon versus others	0.53 [0.34; 0.83]	0.005
	ARB	1.01 [1.005; 1.014]	< 0.001
	Seizing the moment (Motive 3)	1.11 [1.07; 1.15]	< 0.001
	Social desirability (Motive 4)	1.06 [1.02; 1.10]	0.001
	Goals achievement (Motive 5)	1.06 [1.00; 1.13]	0.072
		Adjusted β [95%CI]
Current cigarette dependence (YACD)	Risk perception (RIPS)	− 0.07 [ − 0.10; − 0.04]	< 0.001	Adjusted R^2 = 0.241
	Irresponsibility (Motive 1)	0.16 [0.05; 0.26]	0.003
	Social desirability (Motive 4)	0.21 [0.02; 0.40]	0.027
	Goals achievement (Motive 5)	− 0.38 [ − 0.67; − 0.10]	0.009
	Popularity seeking (Motive 6)	0.43 [0.17; 0.70]	0.001
Current waterpipe dependence (LWDS11)	Older age in years	0.65 [0.35; 0.94]	< 0.001	Adjusted R^2 = 0.189
	Female sex versus male	1.36 [0.26; 2.46]	0.016
	Risk perception (RIPS)	− 0.06 [ − 0.09; − 0.03]	< 0.001
	Novelty seeking (Motive 2)	0.30 [0.27; 0.38]	< 0.001
	Goals achievement (Motive 5)	− 0.32 [ − 0.61; − 0.03]	0.031
Problematic use of alcohol (ASSIST)	Female sex versus male	− 3.50 [ − 4.11; − 2.88]	< 0.001	Adjusted R^2 = 0.260
	Older age in years	− 0.26 [ − 0.40; − 0.11]	< 0.001
	Socio-economic status	0.81 [0.56; 1.07]	< 0.001
	Studying in a private university	1.72 [1.13; 2.32]	< 0.001
	ARB	0.02 [0.01; 0.03]	0.007
	Risk perception (RIPS)	− 0.02 [ − 0.04; − 0.01]	0.006
	Irresponsibility (Motive 1)	0.07 [0.003; 0.13]	0.041
	Novelty seeking (Motive 2)	0.08 [0.01; 0.14]	0.019
	Seizing the moment (Motive 3)	0.23 [0.13; 0.32]	< 0.001
	Social desirability (Motive 4)	0.19 [0.09; 0.30]	< 0.001
	Goals achievement (Motive 5)	− 0.15 [ − 0.30; − 0.04]	0.044
	Popularity seeking (Motive 6)	− 0.19 [ − 0.33; − 0.04]	0.014
	Mental distress (BDS22)	0.03 [0.01; 0.05]	0.015