Synonyms
Definitions
Risk factors are factors that increase the chances of an untoward event.
Introduction
Understanding of health and illness remains incomplete without the consideration of risk factors. As risk factors are present much before the outcome, their understanding will help in promoting health and preventing development of illness. Outcome of the risk factors in the context of health refers to illness, disease, or disorder. For a given health-related adverse outcome in different individuals, the profile of risk factors in those individuals is not the same. This is because multiple risk factors interact among each other, as well as with the protective factors, in a highly complex manner to cause disease. The strength of association of risk factors with the index individual is also very important for understanding a particular outcome. For example, positive family history of schizophrenia increases the risk of development of...
References
Bernard, L. C., & Krupat, E. (1994). Health psychology: Biopsychosocial factors in health and illness. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
Burt, B. A. (2001). Definitions of risk. Journal of Dental Education, 65(10), 1007–1008.
James, W. P. T., Nelson, M., Ralph, A., & Leather, S. (1997). Socioeconomic determinants of health: The contribution of nutrition to inequalities in health. BMJ, 314(7093), 1545. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.314.7093.1545.
Offord, D. R., & Kraemer, H. C. (2000). Risk factors and prevention. Evidence-Based Mental Health, 3(3), 70–71. https://doi.org/10.1136/ebmh.3.3.70.
Schooling, C. M., & Jones, H. E. (2018). Clarifying questions about “risk factors”: Predictors versus explanation. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, 15(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12982-018-0080-z.
World Health Organization (Ed.). (2009). Global health risks: Mortality and burden of disease attributable to selected major risks. Geneva: World Health Organization.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Kar, S.K., Tripathy, S. (2019). Risk Factors. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_800-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_800-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
eBook Packages: Living Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences