The main issue of this paper concerns the mediating role of risk appraisal in the relation between past and future behavior. Results of three test of the mediation hypothesis showed that past behavior was strongly related to future behavior; people who behaved hazardously in the ast indicated that they tend to do so in the future. Generally, the expected relation between past behavior and risk appraisal was supported. Results also indicated a relation between risk appraisal and future behavior, but in the opposite direction as predicted. In a few cases risk appraisal still predicted future behavior when past behavior was controlled for. Unfortunately, these cases showed the opposite relation; i.e. heightened risk appraisal was related to more risky future behavior. Implications of these findings for research on the role of risk appraisal will be discussed.
Samenvatting