Feeling Good and Taking a Chance? Associations of Hypomania Risk with Cognitive and Behavioral Risk Taking

Abstract Although elevated impulsivity among individuals at risk for or with a clinical history of mania has been identified in prior work, questions remain regarding ways in which impulsivity may manifest as risky decision-making and behavior. The present investigation examined how hypomania risk, measured using the Hypomanic Personality Scale, was associated with two facets of risk-taking: cognitive appraisals of risks and benefits that will result from risk-taking, and behavioral risk-taking on a validated task and self-report measures. Hypomania risk was associated with appraising future risk-taking as having less costs, but was unrelated to appraising future risk-taking as having more benefits. On behavioral risk measures, it was associated with increased expectations of engagement in risky behavior over the next 6 months, yet also with markers of lower risk-taking on the BART. The present findings have implications for understanding precise cognitive and behavioral factors that underlie the relationship between hypomania risk and risk-taking.
Source: Cognitive Therapy and Research - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research