Abstract
Using two behavioral risk tasks (Balloon Analogue Risk Task BART; Lejuez
et al. 2002 and Columbia Card Task, CCT; Figner et al. 2009) that mimic important features
of real-world risk taking behaviors, we investigated the effects of different types of negative
affect on risk taking. Methods: Participants (N¼50) were first administered the Hospital
Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Zigmond et al. 1983). One month later, they completed
the BART and the cold CCT, in counterbalanced order. State mood was assessed before
participants played the CCT and BART. Findings: Higher levels of anxiety were associated
with less risk taking in both tasks; depression was unrelated to risk taking. Hierarchical
regression analysis showed that these findings were robust to mood effects. Discussion:
Findings from the current study indicated that healthy subjects’ risk taking tendencies vary
between anxiety and depression. Implications for prevention of health risks are discussed.
194 EHPS 2012 abstracts
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