University of Twente Student Theses
An Investigation into the Role of Risk Opportunity in the Relationship between Delinquency and Extraversion
Homann, Julia (2019) An Investigation into the Role of Risk Opportunity in the Relationship between Delinquency and Extraversion.
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| Abstract: | While the link of some personality traits to adolescent delinquency is well-established, the relationship between extraversion and delinquency seems to be ambiguous. A possible reason why studies have not found evidence for this relationship between extraversion and delinquency might be that a third variable, namely risk opportunity to engage in delinquency, influences this relationship in a substantial manner. Thus, the current study combined a mediation hypothesis with a moderation hypothesis in order to shed more light onto the role of risk opportunity. First, it was investigated whether risk opportunity might play a mediating role in the relationship between extraversion and delinquency. Second, to experimentally test and manipulate the amount of risk opportunity a participant experiences, the Columbia Card Task (‘CCT’; Figner, Mackinlay, Wilkening & Weber, 2009) was used. It was hypothesised that, independent of the risk opportunity condition, extraverted people take more risks on the CCT than introverted people. For extraverts, there is an increase in CCT risk taking from the low to the high risk condition whereas for introverts, the amount of CCT risk taking remains equal across the low and the high risk condition. To test this, participants (N= 68, Mage= 17.79) first filled in a self-report questionnaire concerning questions about delinquency, risk opportunity to delinquency and extraversion. Afterwards, the CCT was played, for which participants were randomly distributed across the high risk and the low risk opportunity conditions. No mediating effect of extraversion in the relationship between risk opportunity to delinquency was found (B= -.01, SE= .02, CI [-.06, .04]). Additionally, risk taking on the CCT did not significantly differ between the low risk and the high risk condition (p= .31). Neither, was there any evidence for the moderating role of extraversion in the relationship between CCT risk condition and CCT risk taking [F (1,56)= .90, p= .35]. The current study suggested that delinquency operates independently from the personality trait extraversion, as well as from the risk opportunity to engage in delinquency. Also for the CCT, risk opportunity condition and the level of extraversion seemed irrelevant for the amount of risk taking. However, in the current study it was questionable whether the manipulation on the CCT worked as intended. Still, the current study added valuable methodological insights for future researchers through the idea to investigate risk taking in a multi-modal way. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 70 social sciences in general, 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/78301 |
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