Life Skills as Predictors of Risk-Taking Behaviour Among Prospective Teachers

In the present study, an attempt was made to explore life skills as predictors of risk-taking behaviour among prospective teachers. The data were collected from 200 prospective teachers of Moga district of Punjab, studying in B.Ed. colleges affiliated with Panjab University, Chandigarh through Life Skills Assessment Scale (LSAS) and Adolescent Exploratory and Risk Behavior Rating Scale. The results of the study revealed significant gender differences in life skills among prospective teachers. Further, female prospective teachers were found to possess significantly higher life skills than their male counterparts. The results also revealed that there was significant and positive correlation of 'effective communication' and 'problem solving' dimensions of life skills with risk-taking behaviour among prospective teachers. There was significant and negative correlation of 'self-awareness' 'empathy', 'critical thinking', 'decision making', 'coping with emotions' and 'coping with stress' dimensions of life skills as well as total life skills with risk-taking behaviour among prospective teachers. Further, there was no significant correlation of 'interpersonal relationships' and 'creative thinking' dimensions of life skills with risk-taking behaviour among prospective teachers. The results of step-wise multiple regression analysis revealed that total life skills and 'effective communication' dimension of life skills emerged out to be the most significant predictors of risk-taking behavior among prospective teachers. Implications of the results have been discussed.