Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is related to suboptimal decision making in experimental tasks and to real‐life risk‐taking behavior (RTB) such as substance abuse and unsafe traffic conduct. In this preregistered study, we tested whether these associations are mediated by need for cognition—the extent to which one tends towards, and enjoys, analytical thought. In a large sample of young adults (N = 463, M_age = 19.7 years), we tested whether need for cognition mediated the association between self‐reported ADHD symptoms on the one hand and decision‐making strategy complexity on an experimental gambling task and self‐reported real‐life RTB on the other hand. Preregistered confirmatory analyses indicated first that ADHD symptoms were positively associated with real‐life RTB, but the association was not mediated by need for cognition. Second, ADHD symptoms were not related to decision‐making strategy complexity, and need for cognition was not a significant mediator. Explorative analyses revealed that (a) need for cognition was associated with higher decision‐making accuracy and slower reaction time; (b) need for cognition was related to inattentive but not to hyperactive/impulsive ADHD symptoms; (c) need for cognition was associated with health‐related RTB but not interpersonal RTB; and (4) only the association between inattention and health‐related RTB was mediated by need for cognition. We conclude that need for cognition is not a mediator in the association between ADHD symptoms and RTB. Additionally, we conclude that neither ADHD symptoms nor need for cognition predict decision‐making strategy complexity. Implications for both future research and clinical practice are discussed.

中文翻译：

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风险决策与注意缺陷/多动障碍症状之间的关联：预先注册的对认知需求的评估为潜在机制

注意缺陷/多动障碍（ADHD）与实验任务中的次优决策以及与现实生活中的冒险行为（RTB）有关，例如药物滥用和不安全的交通行为。在这项预先注册的研究中，我们测试了这些关联是否是由认知需求所介导的，认知需求是人们倾向于并享受分析性思维的程度。在大量的年轻人中（N = 463，M_年龄）= 19.7年），我们测试了认知需求是否介导了自我报告的ADHD症状与实验性赌博任务的决策策略复杂性以及自我报告的现实RTB之间的关联。预注册的验证性分析首先表明，ADHD症状与现实生活中的RTB呈正相关，但这种相关性并非由认知需求所介导。其次，ADHD症状与决策策略的复杂性无关，对认知的需求也不是重要的中介。探索性分析表明：（a）认知需求与较高的决策准确性和较慢的反应时间相关；（b）认知需求与注意力不集中有关，与多动/冲动性多动症症状无关；（c）认知需求与健康相关的实时出价有关，但与人际关系无关；（4）只有注意力不集中和与健康相关的实时出价之间的关联才由认知需求来介导。我们得出结论，对认知的需求并不是ADHD症状与RTB之间关联的中介。此外，我们得出结论，ADHD症状和认知需求均无法预测决策策略的复杂性。讨论了对未来研究和临床实践的影响。