Risk taking behaviors and perceptions as a predictor of college students reactivity to drug related stimuli

Reactivity measures and drug cues have been used to assess cognitive and attentional biases in non-addicted drug and alcohol users (Cepeda-Benito & Tiffany, 1997; Sayette & Hufford, 1994). In this context, one factor that has received little attention, but may indicate a propensity to engage in drug taking behaviors, is risk perception. The present study examined if levels of risk perceptions/taking behaviors in a college population were associated with students' reactivity to drug-related stimuli. Specifically, 91 undergraduate college students were given a drug cue reactivity task in conjunction with a risk-taking/perception questionnaire and a drug survey. Participants were presented with drug- or nature-related photographs for 1500 ms for 50 trials. Following this presentation, the accuracy and time to identify the color of a randomly placed neutral word was recorded. The Domain Specific Risk Taking Scale (DOSPERT-R) was used to evaluate the tendency to take and perceive risk across five domains (i.e., social interactions, ethical dilemmas, recreational activities, health/safety concerns and financial conditions) using a 7-point rating scale. The Revised Monitoring the Future Survey (v3r) Drug Assessment was used to evaluate the tendency to take and perceive drug related risk. For cue reactivity, participants took significantly longer to identify word color when drug-related pictures were presented. The difference between drug and neutral response time was significantly and uniformly positively correlated with drug risk taking. Response time to drug-only stimuli was also positively correlated with social risk perception and recreational risk perception. This data suggests that disposition to both take and perceive risk across multiple life domains may predict reactivity to drug-related stimuli.