This study of a community sample of pre-adolescent youth identified early initiators of several risk behaviors described by a single factor, confirming the existence of a general risk-taking tendency at this early age. We also found evidence for a general tendency toward impulsive behavior defined by both sensation seeking and lack of thinking and planning when acting. Furthermore, consistent with our expectations concerning the importance of impulsivity as a precursor to early risk behavior, impulsivity was strongly related to risk behavior initiation. In addition, differences in externalizing and correlated internalizing problem behaviors were highly related to impulsivity, but these behaviors were not strongly related to risk taking once impulsivity was controlled. This finding suggests that impulsivity plays a large role in the emergence of both externalizing and health-risk behaviors. Both working memory performance and reversal learning (reward processing) were inversely related to impulsivity. However, none of the ECFs was directly related to risk behavior apart from relations with impulsivity, and as reflected in the small amount of variation explained in impulsivity, their relations with impulsivity were not strong. Performance on
