difficultpersontest

Form DPT-45Scale: Risk Taking5 items

Risk taking

Seeking danger and thrills, sometimes at real cost.

What does risk taking look like?

These are typical examples, written by us to illustrate the statements below — not a checklist for diagnosing anyone.

  • Choosing the dangerous option because it's exciting
  • Pulling others into risks they didn't agree to
  • Getting bored when things are safe

Where does this trait come from in the research?

Risk taking is one of seven factors that emerged when researchers analyzed 234 antagonism items from seven questionnaires (Sleep et al., 2021) (the study's label was “risk taking”). The statements used here come from the “Risk Taking” scale of the CAT-PD static form, a personality-disorder trait measure built in a project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (Simms et al., 2011), published in the public-domain International Personality Item Pool.

The item pool reports internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for this scale of 0.84 in a community sample and 0.84 in a patient sample. Values above about .80 mean the statements hang together well; it does not by itself show the scale measures what it claims. Validation studies found the static-form scales relate to other trait measures as expected (Long et al., 2021).

Which statements measure risk taking?

ItemSelf-report wordingScored
1956Love dangerous situations.As answered
1891Like to do frightening things.As answered
1324Get a thrill out of doing things that might kill me.As answered
2769Would do anything to get an adrenaline rush.As answered
2200Prefer safety over risk.Reversed (6 − answer)

Your risk taking score is the average of these 5 answers, after reversing the one item worded in the opposite direction. Item numbers are the item pool's own identifiers.

If you scored high

  • Separate risks to you from risks to others; get explicit agreement before involving anyone else.
  • Channel thrill-seeking into structured settings with safety rules.
  • Before a risky choice, ask: what's the worst realistic outcome, and who carries it?

If it's someone you deal with

  • Say clearly which risks you will and won't take part in.
  • Don't let excitement substitute for your consent; decide on your own timeline.
  • Where money or safety is shared, agree limits in advance.

These suggestions are our editorial judgment, not tested interventions. For the research on whether people can change these traits, read how to be less difficult; for others, dealing with a difficult person.

Take the full testRate someone

The other six traits

  1. 01

    Callousness

  2. 02

    Grandiosity

  3. 03

    Domineering

  4. 04

    Manipulativeness

  5. 05

    Mistrust

  6. 06

    Hostile aggression

Sources

  1. Sleep CE, Crowe ML, Carter NT, Lynam DR, Miller JD (2021). Uncovering the structure of antagonism. Personal Disord 12(4), 300-311. PubMed 34323587 · doiCross-sectional factor analysis. 532 university students answered 234 antagonism items from seven trait measures; a seven-factor solution emerged: callousness, grandiosity, domineering, manipulation, suspiciousness, aggression and risk taking. Limits: One student sample, self-report only. Checked against the abstract only, October 26, 2026.
  2. Simms LJ, Goldberg LR, Roberts JE, Watson D, Welte J, Rotterman JH (2011). Computerized adaptive assessment of personality disorder: introducing the CAT-PD project. J Pers Assess 93(4), 380-9. PubMed 22804677 · doiMeasure development. Describes the NIMH-funded project that built the CAT-PD trait model and item pool (59 candidate traits, 2,589 initial items). Limits: Early-phase report. Checked against the abstract only, October 26, 2026.
  3. Long TA, Reinhard E, Sellbom M, Anderson JL (2021). An Examination of the Reliability and Validity of the Comprehensive Assessment of Traits Relevant to Personality Disorder-Static Form (CAT-PD-SF). Assessment 28(5), 1345-1357. PubMed 32125172 · doiValidation study. CAT-PD static-form scores related to other personality measures in expected ways and moderately to functional impairment. Limits: The five-factor structure fit only marginally. Checked against the abstract only, October 26, 2026.

Item text and reliability values: International Personality Item Pool (IPIP): CAT-PD-SF v1.1 scale keys, retrieved 2026-10-26. Public domain (IPIP): use for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, is pre-granted.