Risk taking is a key component of several psychiatric disorders and may influence lifestyle choices such as smoking, alcohol consumption and diet.
Risk tendency
Risk tolerance is defined as the willingness to take risks, usually for some reward, and varies substantially among humans. Common activities that have been associated with risk-taking and general risk tolerance include adventurism (defined as the self-reported tendency to be adventurous versus cautious) and risk-taking behaviors in the areas of driving, alcohol consumption, smoking, and sexual intercourse.
Historically, a taste for risk has been linked to several biological pathways, including the steroid hormone cortisol, the monoamines dopamine and serotonin, and the sex steroid hormones estrogen and testosterone.
In addition, some of the main components of the cortical-basal ganglia circuit, which is known as the reward system in human and non-human primates, and which is involved in learning, motivation and decision making, have also been linked. The immune system has also been linked, but needs more research into what kind of linkage exists. However, it is not clear to what extent both the reward system and the immune system affect risk-taking tendencies.
In addition to the genetic factor of general risk tolerance and risk-taking behaviors, environmental and demographic factors explain a substantial part of the variation in this trait. Factors such as gender and age have been significantly associated with general risk tolerance, as well as the type of life experiences individuals have had.
Number of observed variants
13.5 million variants
Number of risk loci
306 loci
Genes analyzed
Bibliography
Karlsson L.R., Biroli P., et al . Genome-wide association analyses of risk tolerance and risky behaviors in over 1 million individuals identify hundreds of loci and shared genetic influences. Nature Genetics, 14 Jan 2019, 51(2):245-257.
Strawbridge R.J., Ward J., et al . Genome-wide analysis of self-reported risk-taking behaviour and cross-disorder genetic correlations in the UK Biobank cohort. Translational Psychiatry, 02 Feb 2018, 8(1):39.
Dohmen T., Falk A., et al . Individual Risk Attitudes: Measurement, Determinants, and Behavioral Consequences. Journal of the European Economic Association, Volume 9, Issue 3, 1 June 2011, Pages 522-550.