Construction and validation of the prosocial adolescent risk-taking questionnaire (PAR-Q)
Abstract While negative risk-taking behavior in adolescents is a classic topic, extant research has long spent little attention to the positive aspects of adolescents’ development. One topic that started to gain more research focus is prosocial risk-taking behavior—defined as behavior where an indiv...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-06034-5 |
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| author | Rebecca van Rijn Paul A. M. van Lange Lydia Krabbendam Barbara R. Braams |
| author_facet | Rebecca van Rijn Paul A. M. van Lange Lydia Krabbendam Barbara R. Braams |
| author_sort | Rebecca van Rijn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract While negative risk-taking behavior in adolescents is a classic topic, extant research has long spent little attention to the positive aspects of adolescents’ development. One topic that started to gain more research focus is prosocial risk-taking behavior—defined as behavior where an individual takes a risk to help someone else. However, validated measures are still limitedly available. The goal of the study is to construct and validate a multifaceted measure to assess prosocial risk-taking in adolescents. A sample of 234 Dutch adolescents (149 girls) aged 14–17 filled in the unvalidated prosocial adolescent risk-taking questionnaire (PAR-Q) to perform iterative exploratory factor analyses to indicate initial factor structure. A separate data sample of 357 Dutch adolescents (208 girls) aged 14–17 filled in the PAR-Q to confirm this factor structure with iterative confirmatory factor analyses and additional questionnaires for convergent validity. In this sample, also test–retest reliability was assessed. The final two-factor structure, which represented Social and Material prosocial risk subscales, exhibited acceptable internal consistency and excellent test–retest reliability. The PAR-Q correlated positively with prosocial behaviors and empathy. The PAR-Q is a newly validated measure with adequate psychometric properties that can be used to gain more information on prosocial risk-taking behavior in adolescents. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1c5be35e86e248c1bbd42823581bbcfb |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-1c5be35e86e248c1bbd42823581bbcfb2025-08-20T03:03:36ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111310.1038/s41598-025-06034-5Construction and validation of the prosocial adolescent risk-taking questionnaire (PAR-Q)Rebecca van Rijn0Paul A. M. van Lange1Lydia Krabbendam2Barbara R. Braams3Section of Clinical Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamDepartment of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamSection of Clinical Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamSection of Clinical Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamAbstract While negative risk-taking behavior in adolescents is a classic topic, extant research has long spent little attention to the positive aspects of adolescents’ development. One topic that started to gain more research focus is prosocial risk-taking behavior—defined as behavior where an individual takes a risk to help someone else. However, validated measures are still limitedly available. The goal of the study is to construct and validate a multifaceted measure to assess prosocial risk-taking in adolescents. A sample of 234 Dutch adolescents (149 girls) aged 14–17 filled in the unvalidated prosocial adolescent risk-taking questionnaire (PAR-Q) to perform iterative exploratory factor analyses to indicate initial factor structure. A separate data sample of 357 Dutch adolescents (208 girls) aged 14–17 filled in the PAR-Q to confirm this factor structure with iterative confirmatory factor analyses and additional questionnaires for convergent validity. In this sample, also test–retest reliability was assessed. The final two-factor structure, which represented Social and Material prosocial risk subscales, exhibited acceptable internal consistency and excellent test–retest reliability. The PAR-Q correlated positively with prosocial behaviors and empathy. The PAR-Q is a newly validated measure with adequate psychometric properties that can be used to gain more information on prosocial risk-taking behavior in adolescents.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-06034-5AdolescenceProsocial risk-takingRisk-takingProsocial behaviorScale constructionHelping |
| spellingShingle | Rebecca van Rijn Paul A. M. van Lange Lydia Krabbendam Barbara R. Braams Construction and validation of the prosocial adolescent risk-taking questionnaire (PAR-Q) Scientific Reports Adolescence Prosocial risk-taking Risk-taking Prosocial behavior Scale construction Helping |
| title | Construction and validation of the prosocial adolescent risk-taking questionnaire (PAR-Q) |
| title_full | Construction and validation of the prosocial adolescent risk-taking questionnaire (PAR-Q) |
| title_fullStr | Construction and validation of the prosocial adolescent risk-taking questionnaire (PAR-Q) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Construction and validation of the prosocial adolescent risk-taking questionnaire (PAR-Q) |
| title_short | Construction and validation of the prosocial adolescent risk-taking questionnaire (PAR-Q) |
| title_sort | construction and validation of the prosocial adolescent risk taking questionnaire par q |
| topic | Adolescence Prosocial risk-taking Risk-taking Prosocial behavior Scale construction Helping |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-06034-5 |
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