Retrospective Risk-Taking Questionnaire

Retrospective questionnaire measures

This questionnaire was created to retrospectively assess the sensation seeking, risk-taking, and impulsive behaviors in a longitudinal neuroimaging (MRI) cohort. As no behavioral markers of risk-taking were collected from participants concomitantly with the MRI data, we collected retrospective information of these behaviors using this written questionnaire.

Participants were mailed this two-part questionnaire in 2013 to self-assess retrospectively their behaviors during adolescence. The first part of the questionnaire included three questions relating to the individual’s general recall of their own teenage behavior: i) How old were you when you engaged in the most risky behavior? ii) Compared to your peers, how much risky behavior did you engage in as a teenager? iii) Please describe the types of risky behaviors you engaged in as a teenager. Risky behavior was defined in the questionnaire as ‘behavior that is unsafe or might result in negative consequences.’ The second part of the questionnaire included adaptations of the following measures: Sensation-seeking Scale (SSS), Cognitive Appraisal of Risky Events (CARE) Questionnaire, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS), and Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Approach System Scales.