Seven studies explored the relationships between risk-taking predispositions and health attitudes, beliefs, and involvement. Data were gathered from surveys, and from lab and field experiments on 1,323 subjects. Findings indicated five risk-taking factors: adventurousness, rebelliousness, impulsiveness, physical risk taking, and unconventional risk taking. These factors vary systematically with risky behavior, cognitive and affective involvement, health locus of control, conviction, need for cognition, media use, source confidence, and demographics. The risk-taking indices are positively correlated with both smoking behavior and speeding. Positive feelings about health are positively associated with adventurous and physical risk taking and negatively associated with impulsive risk taking. Adventurous and physical risk taking are also positively correlated with conviction. Need for cognition is positively related to adventurousness and negatively related to impulsiveness. Generally, use of media for health information is unrelated or negatively related to risk taking, but radio exposure tends to be high for risk takers. A theoretical discussion explores potential hypotheses for the effects of these risk-taking constructs for information processing. (Eleven tables of data are included, and 65 references are attached.) (Author/SR)