Modeling the relationships among emotional intelligence, sensation-seeking and risk-taking attitudes of university students in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study investigated the risk-taking attitudes of 305 Chinese university students in Hong Kong by the prediction of sensation-seeking. To further understand the prediction of sensation-seeking, emotional intelligence (EI) was applied. First, the 30-item DOPSERT scale was used to examine the risk-taking attitude of students in different domains (ethical, financial, health/safety, social, and recreational). Then, a 12-item sensation-seeking subscale taken from the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale was applied to examine the participants’ levels of sensation-seeking. In this study, sensation-seeking was divided into the categories of exciting activities seeking and novel activities seeking (NAS). Finally, the 16-item Wong and Law’s Emotional Intelligence Scale was applied to examine participants’ use of self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, use of emotion, and regulation of emotion. The results of this study showed that for this group of Chinese university students, the use of emotion and regulation of emotion could significantly predict exciting activities seeking. NAS, however, could predict recreational risk-taking attitude and health and safety risk-taking attitude. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model was applied to understand the relationships among EI, sensation-seeking and risk-taking attitudes. The variables of EI and sensation-seeking were considered as factors within an ontogenic system of the ecological model. Few studies to date have focused on the relationship between EI and risk-taking. The results of this study provided support for a clear relation between EI and risk-taking. To be more specific, the use of emotion and the regulation of emotion had an effect on exciting activities seeking. This study also indicated how educators and counselors can make use of the findings to better control the risk-taking attitudes of young people, so they will be less likely to engage in risky behaviors.