The Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale lacks convergence with alternative risk-taking propensity measures

The domain-specific evaluative approach to risk-taking propensity allows people to differentiate situations in which they will approach risk-related decisions from situations in which they will avoid them. The Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale (DOSPERT) is the most widely used measure of such evaluations. The current study of the DOSPERT tests alternatives to the assumed five-domain structure, explores associations between the DOSPERT and alternative risk-taking measures, and tests the incremental validity of the DOSPERT in predicting both self-reported risky behavior and risky behavior in the lab. Analyses show that the DOSPERT would benefit from a six-factor structure rather than five factors, the DOSPERT domains are weakly correlated with the majority of alternative risk-taking propensity measures, and the DOSPERT can predict variance in certain self-reported risky behaviors, but not risky behaviors in the lab, after accounting for alternative measures