BACKGROUND Since 2011, we have witnessed the rise of 'dark net' drug marketplaces known as cryptomarkets. Cryptomarkets operate on the same model as eBay as they provide a platform where authorized vendors can set up a virtual shop and place listings. Building on a growing body of literature that seeks to understand cryptomarket participants, this paper seeks to explain the decision of cryptoma...

BACKGROUND Older adults face important risky decisions about their health, their financial future, and their social environment. We examine age differences in risk-taking behaviors in multiple risk domains across the adult life span. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in which 528 participants from 18 to 93 years of age completed the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking (DOSPERT) scale, a s...

Neurodevelopmental theories of risk behavior hypothesize that low behavioral control in combination with high reward sensitivity explains adolescents' risk behavior. However, empirical studies examining this hypothesis while including actual risk taking behavior in adolescence are lacking. In this study we tested whether the imbalance between behavioral control and reward sensitivity underlies ...

The Behavioral Approach System (BAS) hypersensitivity theory of bipolar disorder (BD; Alloy & Abramson, 2010; Depue & Iacono, 1989) suggests that hyperreactivity in the BAS results in the extreme fluctuations of mood characteristic of BD. In addition to risk conferred by BAS hypersensitivity, cognitive and personality variables may play a role in determining risk. We evaluated relationships amo...

Adolescents make more reckless decisions when with peers than when alone, which poses a challenge for organizations that place adolescents in situations in which risky and myopic decision making is problematic. We asked whether the effect of peers on adolescents' decision making is mitigated by the presence of a slightly older adult. We examined whether target subjects' risk taking was greater ...