A 13-item adult risk taking scale was selected by factor analysis and internal reliability testing from 25 items administered to 270 urban adults (56% Black; 33% White; 11% Hispanic/other) stratified by socioeconomic status. Chronbach's alpha equaled 0.77. Five items refer to risk of injury, five to risk of illness, one to gambling, and two to general risk taking propensity. Items were measured on a six-point scale representing "Strongly Agree" to "Strongly Disagree." The resulting Bush-Iannotti Adult Risk Taking Scale (BIARTS) was correlated with socioeconomic status indicators, psychosocial and health-related variables, alcohol use, and risk of injury and risk of illness scales of the subjects' children. In addition to its proven utility in a model to predict expected medicine use for common health problems, the BIARTS may have utility for areas of health behavior such as disease prevention and compliance with physician directives. Pilot questions for the risk-taking scale are included, with item correlations. (Author/SLD)