Where your DNA places you among other people, and the studies behind it.
Not tailored to your result, and not medical advice
Channel Sensation-Seeking Into Structured Outlets: Sensation-seeking and impulsivity are normal dimensions of personality that can be directed in lower-harm ways. Structured outlets - adventure sports, entrepreneurship, competitive athletics, or creative challenges - can satisfy a drive for novelty and stimulation within manageable bounds. The aim is purposeful, bounded risk rather than suppressing the disposition. Journal of Research on Adolescence
Build In Deliberation Before Big Decisions: Impulsive choices often favor immediate rewards over later ones. A systematic review and meta-analysis found that impulsive decision-making, though fairly trait-like, can be reduced through training and structured techniques. Practical habits - pausing before major choices, consulting trusted advisors, and using explicit cost-benefit comparisons - can support more deliberate decisions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
Be Mindful of Alcohol's Disinhibiting Effects: Risk tolerance is genetically correlated with substance use, though this reflects shared influences rather than one causing the other. Separately, laboratory studies show that alcohol acutely impairs inhibitory control, and people higher in sensation-seeking tend to start from lower baseline inhibition. If novelty- and risk-seeking come easily to you, it can help to be especially aware of how alcohol lowers the brakes further. Drug and Alcohol Dependence
Use Loss Framing to Calibrate Risk: People generally weigh potential losses differently from equivalent gains, and how a choice is framed shifts willingness to take risks. Awareness of these framing effects - and tools from behavioral economics such as pre-commitment and reframing decisions in terms of what could be lost - can help calibrate risk assessment in finances and health. Academy of Management Journal
Stay Physically Active: Physical exercise is associated with stronger executive functions, including inhibitory control - the brain processes that help regulate impulsive behavior. A network meta-analysis found that exercise interventions improved these functions and reduced hyperactivity and impulsivity. For people who enjoy stimulation and challenge, competitive or vigorous exercise can also be a satisfying, low-harm outlet for sensation-seeking. Frontiers in Public Health (network meta-analysis)
How much of this is genetic?
Genetics explains 30% of why people differ in this trait. The rest is environment, daily habits and chance.
Heritability estimate: Karlsson Linnér et al. 2019, Nat Genet
Background and further reading
Risk-taking is a behavioral tendency rather than a disease. It spans a spectrum of related dispositions - sensation-seeking, impulsivity, novelty preference, and tolerance for ambiguity. A measure researchers call general risk tolerance captures a person's overall willingness to take risks, and it correlates with risk-taking across specific domains such as driving, drinking, smoking, and sexual behavior [1]. Some degree of risk-taking is adaptive, supporting exploration, entrepreneurship, and achievement, while persistently high risk-taking is associated with substance use, gambling, and accidents. Individual differences in risk propensity tend to be fairly stable across adulthood.
Genetic Basis: Twin studies suggest risk tolerance is only moderately heritable, with estimates clustering around 30% and varying considerably between studies [1]. The largest genome-wide association study, in roughly one million people, identified 99 genetic loci linked to general risk tolerance; the strongest signal sits in the gene CADM2, which is involved in synaptic function [1]. The effect of any single variant is tiny, and together the common variants measured in that study explained only about 4.5% of the variation in risk tolerance - its SNP-based heritability [1]. Notably, the study found no support for previously popular candidate genes, including dopamine-system genes such as DRD2 and DRD4; instead the strongest biological signals pointed to glutamatergic and GABAergic neurotransmission [1]. Risk tolerance is genetically correlated (roughly 0.25 to 0.50) with a range of risky behaviors, and shares genetic influences with ADHD, bipolar disorder, and substance use [1][2].
Environmental Modulators: Genetics explains only a small fraction of the differences between people, so environment and circumstance carry most of the weight. Peer influence during adolescence is a particularly potent amplifier of risky behavior, while family structure, parental monitoring, socioeconomic context, and cultural norms can either constrain or encourage risk propensity. The same disposition can be directed toward constructive ends - entrepreneurship, athletic competition, creative pursuits - when channeled through supportive environments and structured opportunities. Because the trait is associational rather than deterministic, a genetic score is best read as one modest input among many, not a prediction of how any individual will behave.
The published research behind your score, and the variants it draws on.
1 published score from 1 study
The risk-taking behavior score combines 1 polygenic score drawn from 1 published study.
These traits are influenced by some of the same genes and variants as this one
Content updated August 2026.
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