Downward Comparison as an Intervention to Lower Self-Reported Risk-Taking Behaviors

This research investigated the utility of using first-person editorial-style stories as a means to lower the occurrence of self-reported risk-taking behaviors such as drunk driving and red-light running in undergraduate college students. This study assessed the frequency of risk-taking behaviors of college students before and after a three-week online intervention. Students were randomized into one of three conditions. Two risktaking treatment groups read and rated stories about a college student that had suffered a severe consequence from either drunk driving or red-light running. A third group received non-driving college stories that involved no health risk. The stories were presented one per week for three weeks through an online research provider. Participants' behavior change was assessed at a pretest and posttest by a modified Risk Involvement and Perception Scale - Revised (RIPS-R; Parsons, Siegel, & Cousins, 1997) that measured the frequency and attitudes toward various risk-taking behaviors. The stories were designed using elements found in recent social comparison literature (Lockwood, 2002) and risk-taking research (Parsons, Siegel & Cousins, 1997). The undergraduate participants were unaware that their behaviors are being inventoried to measure their change over time. Instead, they were under the assumption that their feedback and activities were necessary to develop realistic stories about a typical college student. Two hundred eighteen undergraduate college students participated, with 186 completing the final assessment (85.3%). Data analyses used mixed ANOV As for between and within group changes in risk-taking behavior and attitudes. Significance was not reached for the main effects for either treatment. Reported red light running reduced from 2.61 times within the initial three weeks surveyed at pre-test to 2.19 at post-test within the corresponding treatment group. Little change was found for the drunk driving condition due to low reports of any drinking and driving behavior across all conditions (n=31, 17%). However, correlations were found between many changes in risk-taking behaviors for both treatment conditions. Additionally, perceived risks were found to be a better predictor of the frequency of reported behavior than perceived benefits. These findings contributed additional information for further developing risk-taking interventions and preventative models.