Drug and Alcohol Dependence 72 (2003) 279–286 Brief measures of sensation seeking for screening and large-scale surveys Michael T. Stephenson a,∗ , Rick H. Hoyle b , Philip Palmgreen c , Michael D. Slater d a Department of Communication, Texas A&M University, 4234 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4234, USA b Department of Psychology, SHS, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0085, USA c Department of Communication, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0042, USA d Department of Journalism and Technical Communication, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1785, USA Received 8 April 2003; received in revised form 6 August 2003; accepted 7 August 2003 Abstract Sensation seeking is central to research on the prevention of risky health behaviors, but current measures of sensation seeking are fairly long, thereby reducing their chances of inclusion in some research projects. Hence, we developed and evaluated two brief indices of sensation seeking, a four-item measure that retains the framework of the Sensation Seeking Scale-Form V (SSS-V) and a shorter two-item measure focusing on the risk-taking elements of sensation seeking. We compared the performance of the new indices with that of two well documented but longer measures of sensation seeking. The evaluation was based on data provided by more than 5000 teens and pre-teens in grades 7 through 11. Psychometric analyses revealed that the internal consistency of the two new measures was very good overall and across grade and sex categories. Additionally, the new indices correlated as expected with a series of risk and protective factors as well as tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use. Both indices performed in ways remarkably similar to the established measures of sensation seeking and should prove useful for future research involving risky health behaviors. © 2003 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Sensation seeking measure; Risk factor; Protective factor; Marijuana use; Tobacco use 1. Introduction Sensation seeking is a personality trait believed to have a biological basis that expresses as a need for physiological arousal, novel experience, and a willingness to take social, physical, and financial risks to obtain such arousal (Bardo et al., 1996; Zuckerman, 1979, 1994). Sensation seeking is associated with a variety of illegal and/or risky behaviors such as the use of illicit drugs (Newcomb and McGee, 1991; Palmgreen et al., 2001; Stephenson et al., 2002; Zuckerman et al., 1993), sexual risk-taking (Donohew et al., 2000; Hoyle et al., 2000), reckless driving (Heino et al., 1996), smoking (Zuckerman et al., 1990), and alcohol use (Stacy et al., 1993). Until recently, virtually all research on sensation seeking assessed the construct using Form V of the Sensation Seek- ing Scale (SSS-V; Zuckerman et al., 1978), which consists of 40 items in forced-choice format. The SSS-V comprises four subscales that correspond to key features of the con- ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-979-458-8093; fax: +1-979-845-6594. E-mail address: mstephenson@tamu.edu (M.T. Stephenson). struct: experience seeking, disinhibition, thrill and adven- ture seeking, and boredom susceptibility. Some researchers have developed and tested predictions at the subscale level (Orlebeke et al., 1990), or used subscale scores as indicators of a latent variable (Newcomb and McGee, 1991). However, the preponderance of research on sensation seeking that has made use of the SSS-V has involved the computation of a single score based on responses to the complete set of 40 items. The present research was motivated by the need for more economical measures of sensation seeking. Of specific con- cern is the need to include measures of risk factors, such as sensation seeking, in large-scale survey studies of prob- lem behavior that influence prevention policy. These surveys typically tap many constructs using only one or two items. For instance, in a recent publication based on data from the Monitoring the Future National Survey, school bonding was measured with three items, school misbehavior was mea- sured by four items, and academic achievement was assessed with a single item (Bryant et al., 2000). A recent National Household Survey on Drug Abuse allocates a single item to measuring perceived risks associated with use of specific 0376-8716/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2003.08.003