This study employed a psychometric paradigm to explore how young people think about risk. Forty-one high school students were asked to rate 30 activities on 14 characteristics such as personal risk, perceived control over the risk, peer influence, etc. The study also included a questionnaire on actual participation in each of the 30 activities. Furthermore, 28 selected items from Zuckerman's sensation seeking scale were included to determine a possible correlation between sensation seeking, perceived risk, and actual participation. Findings showed that those adolescents who engaged in a risky activity had very different perceptions on a wide variety of risk characteristics from those who did not. Also, those individuals who engaged in destructive behavior obtained higher scores on Zuckerman's sensation seeking scale. Implications for theory and future research are discussed. Four tables and three figures are included. (Author)