Abstract

TRANSLATION, CULTURAL ADAPTATION AND LINGUISTIC VALIDATION OF MOTIVES FOR RISK-TAKING SCALE

Understanding motivations for high risk behaviors is an important yet neglected area in Pakistan. Although, most research on motives for risky behaviors has been done in western cultures but few studies determined its cultural diversity reflecting significant, cultural differences. To enhance the understanding of various motives for risk-taking in eastern culture, this study realized the need of a culturally valid and reliable measure to assess different motivations to engage in high risk behaviors for vulnerable population in Pakistan. This study sets out to investigate perceived motivations involved in actual risks in a sample of emerging adult destitute women (N=400) between 18-25 years approached through various shelter-homes in Pakistan. For this, a measurement scale to assess motivations to engage in high risk behaviors was translated, adapted and culturally validated. For the empirical evaluation, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) performed through SPSS. 21 that reported excellent validity and reliability estimates. Moreover, it became obvious that motives to engage in risky behaviors were slightly different for Pakistani culture as compared to the existing model. All the previously explored motives reported in MRT (1. Audience Controlled, 2. Irresponsibility 3. Thrill seeking, 4. Hedonistic motivation 5. Calculated risk) were nicely emerged in the subsequent model while, few other motives also emerged in the present study which made a distinct category (Authority Defying Motives) reflecting that motivations to engage in risk-taking behaviors are somehow reliant on cultural context. All the factors showed good internal consistency ranging from α=.70-.82. To conclude, MRT is a valid and reliable measure for Pakistani population having strong psychometric properties, linguistic and cultural acceptability, which paves the ways for practitioners to better understand the motivations for engaging in high risk behaviors by using the available indigenous measure.

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