Risk-taking and reasons for living in non-clinical Italian university students.

The associations between risk-taking, hopelessness, and reasons for living were explored in a sample of 312 Italian students. Respondents completed the Physical Risk Assessment Inventory, the Physical Risk-Taking Behavior Inventory, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and the Reasons for Living Inventory. Students with lower scores on the Reasons for Living Inventory and higher scores on the Beck Hopelessness Scale rated the risky activities as less risky and engaged in them more often. Women obtained higher scores on risk assessment, lower scores on personal risk-taking and higher scores on the Reasons for Living Inventory and most of its subscales. Men in general and people who take risks and perceive lower risk are more hopeless and relatively weak in reasons for living.