The Impact Of Environmental Severity And Unpredictability Early In Life On The Risk-taking Behaviour Of University Students

University students are at a critical point in their transition from late adolescence to adulthood,where their physical and mental development is immature and the social sphere of life is rapidly expanding as they enter university life,making them more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviour.This risk-taking behaviour includes both positive and negative risk-taking behaviours.However,positive and negative risk-taking behaviours are not two completely separate systems from each other and individuals may engage in both positive and negative risk-taking behaviours,suggesting a common association between the two types of risk-taking behaviour.Evolutionary psychology is the science of studying individual psychology and behaviour from a new perspective.In particular,life history theory suggests that the environment in which an individual lives early in life can have a significant impact on the choice of life history strategies and on risk-taking and problem behaviour.The more severe and unpredictable the early life environment,the more likely an individual is to choose fast life history strategies and engage in more risk-taking behaviour.Self-determination theory suggests that the parental autonomy support that individuals perceive early in life can,to a certain extent,satisfy their basic psychological needs,thus facilitating their autonomous choices and promoting the development of autonomous abilities and behaviours.The higher the perceived parental support of university students early in life,the better the individual is able to adapt and cope with the threats of the external environment through his or her own autonomous behaviour,and the more novel and adventurous the individual is motivated to pursue.Therefore,this study investigates the influence and mechanism of action of early life environment on college students’ risk-taking behaviour from the life history theory in evolutionary psychology and in conjunction with self-determination theory.The results of the study of a localised revision of the Risk-taking Behaviour Questionnaire in a group of university students showed that(1)Exploratory factor analysis yielded 2 factors for positive risk-taking and negative risk-taking;validated factor analysis showed a good fit for the two-factor structure.(2)The internal consistency of the positive risk-taking dimension ranged from0.940 to 0.942,with a retest reliability of 0.861;the internal consistency of the negative risk-taking dimension ranged from 0.926 to 0.945,with a retest reliability of0.823;both positive and negative risk-taking were statistically significant in relation to the school standard.The above results show that the reliability and validity of the risk-taking behaviour questionnaire in the Chinese context are good and meet the measurement requirementsIn Study 2,in order to further explore the influence mechanisms of risk-taking behaviour,a questionnaire survey was conducted on 951 university students using the Environmental Severity and Unpredictability in Early Life Questionnaire,the Risk-taking Behaviour Questionnaire,the Self-Control Questionnaire and the Parental Autonomy Support Questionnaire.(1)Environmental severity in early life was negatively associated with positive risk-taking behaviour among university students.(2)Environmental severity and unpredictability in early life were negatively associated with self-control and positively associated with negative risk-taking behaviour,and self-control was negatively associated with negative risk-taking behaviour in college students.(3)The mediating role of self-control was influenced by the moderating role of parental autonomy support,with environmental severity and unpredictability in early life being more predictive of self-control at high levels of parental autonomy support compared to low levels of parental autonomy support.This study focuses on the impact of adverse environments early in life on the risk-taking behaviour of university students,and compares and contrasts the psychological mechanisms by which individuals engage in risk-taking behaviour,as well as the differences between positive and negative risk-taking behaviour,in order to suggest effective suggestions for better regulation and improvement of their psychological mechanisms.