Background: ADHD is highly prevalent in adolescents. ADHD is characterized by heightened impulsive behavior and is often associated with increased risk-taking behavior in adolescence. Previous research has mostly focused on negative aspects of risk-taking behavior. However, recently two other types of risk-taking behavior have been identified: positive and prosocial risk-taking.
Objective: Here, we tested whether youth with ADHD are more inclined toward positive and prosocial risk-taking.
Methods: We assessed the self-reported likelihood of engaging in negative, positive, and prosocial risk-taking in a sample of 50 adolescents with ADHD (Mage = 16.3, SD = 1.18) and 54 typically developing adolescents (Mage = 16.9, SD = 0.73). Regardless of group, we found that positive, prosocial, and negative risk-taking behavior were positively correlated, higher risk-taking in one domain was associated with higher levels of risk-taking in another.
Results: Crucially, we found that adolescents with ADHD were more likely to engage in prosocial risk-taking behavior compared to typically developing adolescents. We did not find group differences for negative and positive risk-taking behavior.
Conclusion: Together, these results show a first indication of the upside of risk-taking in ADHD.
Keywords: ADHD; adolescence; negative; positive; prosocial; risk-taking behavior.