Swinburne University

Compared to other life periods, adolescence is characterized by a heightened potential for risky behaviors. This study reports the systematic development and psychometric evaluation of a comprehensive Adolescent Risk-Taking Questionnaire (ARQ). It was developed using reports of 570 adolescents and was psychometrically evaluated with a sample of 925 adolescents between 11 and 18 years of age. Principal components analy-ses yielded a four-factor risk structure, and these factors were substantiated via a confir-matory factor analysis. One week test-retest and internal consistency indices were dem-onstrated to be sound. Age and gender differences were found to be consistent with reported trends in accident data. Older adolescents and boys reported lower risk percep-tions and a higher frequency of risky behaviors than younger adolescents and girls, respectively, supporting the validity of the ARQ. Furthermore, consistent with past research, perceiving higher levels of risk typically related to lower levels of engaging in the respective behaviors. Adolescent behaviors that have potentially dangerous or even fatal out-comes have received a substantial amount of research attention (e.g., Arnett