Alexithymia, verbal intellectual deficit, and neurological dysfunction in relation to risk-taking behavior |
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Authors: | Dawn J Tuminaro and Nathaniel J Pallone |
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Institution: | (1) University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, USA;(2) Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, USA;(3) Behavioral Health Center, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, 195 New Street, 08901 New Brunswick, NJ, USA |
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Abstract: | This study explored relationships between alexithymia (measured through the Toronto Alexithymia Scale), probable neurological
dysfunction (Stroop Color Word Test), and “Verbal” and “Abstraction” IQ scores (Hartford-Shipley Institute for Living Scale)
in relation to risk-taking behavior. Subjects were “anti-social” risk-takers (criminal offenders undergoing court-related
residential drug treatment), “adventurous” risktakers (college students who regularly engage in such sports as rock-climbing
and spelunking), or “normals” (college students who were neither adventurous risk-takers nor criminal offenders). Principal
findings reveal that clinically relevant alexithymia is observed among risk-takers of either anti-social or adventurous variety
less frequently, but among “normals” more frequently, than chance would predict; that the “verbal deficit pattern” in intellectual
functioning is observed more frequently among adventurous risk-takers, less frequently among “normals,” and no more frequently
among anti-social risk-takers than chance would predict; and that probable neurological dysfunction is observed more frequently
among anti-social risk-takers but less frequently among adventurous risk-takers or “normals” than chance would predict. Results
support only in part the Pallone-Hennessy (1999) conceptual model of the genesis and correlates of risk-taking in respect
of anti-social, but not in respect of adventurous risk-takers.
This study was supported by grants from the Henry Rutgers Scholars Program, Rutgers College, and the Fund for Correctional
Psychology, Center of Alcohol Studies. Deep gratitude is expressed to Eric Workowski, Charles Rouse, and Joni Lepore for their
invaluable assistance. |
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