- Email: [email protected]
Emotional changes in skydivers in relation to experience
Personality and Individual Differences 38 (2005) 1203–1211 www.elsevier.com/locate/paid
Emotional changes in skydivers in relation to experience Ian R. Price *, Claire Bundesen School of Psychology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia Received 25 September 2003; received in revised form 22 June 2004; accepted 9 August 2004 Available online 10 December 2004
Abstract The nature of the change in emotional experience from before to after a skydiving jump is examined in relation to the experience of the skydiver. The relationship between emotional experience, personality variables, and an addiction construct, is also examined. The results indicate an experience based shift in the change of emotion from pre-jump to post-jump. Novice skydivers (N = 29) experience much greater emotional contrast from pre-jump to post-jump than more experienced skydivers (N = 34) who are much more stable. Skydivers with intermediate experience (N = 42) lie between these extremes. Greater ‘‘addiction’’ to skydiving is strongly associated with greater experience and is uniquely predicted from a lower level of anxiety before the impending jump. Results are discussed in relation to the findings of Celsi, Rose, and Leigh (1993). 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Skydiving; Emotional experience; Addiction; Personality
1. Introduction Recreational skydiving is a high-risk sport. Celsi et al. (1993) report that one death per every 700 participants occurred between 1978 and 1980. This compared to one death per 250
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 2 6773 2653; fax: +61 2 6773 3820. E-mail address: [email protected] (I.R. Price).
0191-8869/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2004.08.003
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participants for ultralight aircraft pilots or one per 1250 for hang glider pilots. Of course many serious injuries occur as well. Despite the physical risks (and the dollar costs) associated with the sport, many people continue to be fascinated by it and will forego other activities in order to experience the extreme emotions that it generates. The present study examines the nature of the emotional experience that maintains the behaviour and also examines how this emotional experience alters as the skydiver moves from a novice to an experienced skydiver. The reasons why some people engage in recreational skydiving have been elegantly examined by Celsi et al. (1993). In that paper, Celsi emphasises the importance of role transition in which acceptance into the skydiving community is marked by an experience-based shift from a novice skydiver to an experienced skydiver. Perceived competence is a critical factor in the social status of the skydiver and this is most closely related to the number of jumps experienced. Reasons for engaging in the behaviour change with experience. The initial decision to try skydiving is often motivated by curiosity, or by popular media representations, or by friends who already skydive. Continued involvement in the sport is maintained by a complex interplay between enhanced skill development, social recognition, and a common bond of skydiving experience. Throughout this progression from novice to experienced, the central feature of the jump remains paramount; the binding element in the skydiving community. But as the skydiver becomes more and more experienced, the nature of the emotions generated by the jump must also change. Celsi et al. describe the evolution of hedonic motives as moving from thrill seeking through pleasure and fun to experiences of ‘‘flow’’. While the excitement and ‘‘adrenalin rush’’ never entirely disappear, the ability of the jump to arouse to supranormal levels diminishes after a threshold of repetitive experience is reached. To maintain the behaviour, more abstract emotional experiences become desired end states, such as self-efficacy in managing risk, acquired competence, and social recognition. However, Celsi et al. acquired their data through interviews, self-experience, and immersion in the skydiving culture; no quantitative data to document the exact nature of change in emotional experience were provided. Celsi et al. also refer to SolomonÕs (1980) ‘‘opponent process’’ theory of acquired motivation as an explanation for the relationship between the intense anxiety experienced by initiate skydivers leading up to their jump and the ‘‘incredible high’’ or intense euphoria that follows the completion of the jump. Novice skydivers may experience this euphoria for a week or more after their first jump. With greater experience, habituation makes the initial positive process weaker and a discomforting craving begins to develop when the behaviour is no longer available. More experienced skydivers will increase access to skydiving stimulation in order to achieve something like the original experience. So more experienced skydivers try more extensive freefall experiences, more mid-air maneuvers, more complex relative work, night jumps, skyboarding, mid-air photography, or targeted landings, for example. These ‘‘riskier’’ variations are usually undertaken as skill level and mastery develop so that the overall risk of death or serious injury probably remains somewhat constant. Celsi et al. report that many skydivers, especially through the early to intermediate levels of experience, admit to being ‘‘addicted to the high’’, that they ‘‘canÕt get enough of it’’, or they ‘‘lose interest in other activities and things’’, and ‘‘spend all their money on skydiving’’. Skydiving like some other behaviours such as exercising and running develops elements of addiction (also see Cogan & Brown, 1999). The present study therefore also sought to examine the extent to which an addiction construct can be applied to skydiving.
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Other studies (Cogan & Brown, 1999; Cronin, 1991; Freixanet, 1991; Jack & Ronan, 1998; Rossi & Cereatti, 1993; Seff, Gecas, & Frey, 1993) have compared high-risk sports (such as skydiving, snowboarding, mountain climbing, mountain biking) to low-risk sports (such as swimming, golf, marathon running, badminton) in relation to various personality measures (such as sensation seeking, impulsiveness, EPQ measures, birth order). Participants in high-risk sports generally rate as higher in sensation seeking but there is disagreement about impulsiveness. As part of the evaluation of the role of personality in sport participation, Eysenck and EysenckÕs (1991) EPQ was incorporated into the present study.
2. Method 2.1. Participants One hundred and five skydivers (43 females, 62 males) ranging in age from 18 to 56 years (mean = 31.3, sd = 10.36) took part in the study. The skydivers were recruited from Aratula and Toogoolawah Drop Zones in Queensland, Australia. 2.2. Materials Experience with skydiving was assessed by self-report on the following scale: Tandem jump only, Under 10 jumps, Between 10 and 49 jumps, Between 50 and 500 jumps, and Greater than 500 jumps. Demographic information included age, gender, and the presence of family (close family relationships may inhibit greater involvement in skydiving). 2.3. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised (EPQ-R, Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991). This well-known 106 item true-false measure summarises personality on three dimensions of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. Supplementary measures of predisposition to addiction and criminality as well as impulsiveness, venturesomeness, and empathy are also available. Its reliability and validity is well established. 2.4. Addiction to Skydiving Scale ASS was designed to tap elements of pre-occupation and compulsion, the occurrence of physical injury, and the use of skydiving for emotional self-medication. Twenty-four items were developed using alcoholism scales (Allen et al., 1998; Colligan, Davis, & Morse, 1988) and reasons for smoking scales (Ho, 1989; Tate & Stanton, 1990) as models. Responses were on a five point scale from ‘‘Never’’ to ‘‘Always’’. Example items include: ‘‘Have you ever felt the need to cut down on your skydiving?’’, ‘‘Have you ever neglected your obligations, your family, or your work for 2 or more days in a row because you were skydiving?’’, ‘‘Have you ever been in hospital because of your skydiving?’’, and ‘‘I skydive when I am angry about something’’. The internal reliability of the Addiction to Skydiving measure improved from a = 0.784 to 0.84 by dropping item 2
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(‘‘Can you stop skydiving without a struggle?’’). Total score on the remaining 23 items served as a measure of addiction to skydiving. 2.5. Abbreviated Emotion Checklist (AEC) This 33 item measure of current emotional state was developed from the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist (MAACL, Zuckerman & Lubin, 1965; Zuckerman, Lubin, & Rinck, 1983). Higgins, Bond, Klein, and Strauman (1986) also used a modified version of the MAACL and showed it to be a reliable measure of momentary emotion. The current experience of each emotion was ticked on a five point scale from ‘‘Not at all’’ to ‘‘Very much’’. Example emotions include quiet, sad, cheerful, threatened, tense. The order of the emotions on the checklist was determined randomly. The emotion checklist variables were reduced to two components using standard factor analysis procedures (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001).
3. Procedure Questionnaire packages with identification codes were provided to skydivers in a pseudorandom manner. Information sheets were included and the project was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of New England. Signed consent forms were required. One emotion checklist was to be completed by all skydivers as soon as practicable before their next jump and the same checklist was completed as soon as practicable after the skydiver had landed from that same jump. The checklists had provision for the participant to record the anticipated time before the jump that the AEC was completed and the time since the landing that the second AEC was completed.
4. Results The data were examined for missing values and assumption requirements; all were considered satisfactory (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001). The distribution of experience with skydiving was: Tandem jump only (N = 20), Under 10 jumps (N = 9), Between 10 and 49 jumps (N = 16), Between 50 and 500 jumps (N = 26) and Over 500 jumps (N = 34). For the main comparison, three groups of participants were formed: Novice skydivers (tandem jump to under 10 jumps, N = 29), Intermediate skydivers (10–500 jumps, N = 42), and Experienced skydivers (greater than 500 jumps, N = 34). There was no difference between the three groups in the time before the jump that the AEC was completed nor in the time after the jump that the second AEC was completed. Time before jump and time after jump that the AEC was completed were unrelated to any other measure. Table 1 provides descriptive information on the main measures. The major emotional factors present in the skydiving population before the impending jump were determined empirically using principal components analysis with varimax rotation. Prior to reduction, the 33 emotion variables were examined for serious skewness problems and 11 were dropped from further analysis. For example, of 105 responses for ‘‘angry’’, 99 responses were 0, two were 1, two were 2, and two more were 3. Four components were extracted from the
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Table 1 Means (standard deviations) for main descriptive measures Variable
Novice
Intermediate
Experienced
EPQ-extraversion EPQ-neuroticism* EPQ-psychoticism EPQ-addiction* EPQ-impulsiveness EPQ-venturesomeness Addiction to skydiving*** Anxiety before jump*** Anxiety after jump** Happiness before jump Happiness after jump
16.5 (3.81) 10.4a (5.24) 7.7 (4.61) 11.5a (4.75) 10.3 (2.19) 8.3 (1.80) 31.8a (6.16) 1.90a (1.34) 0.64a (0.32) 2.53 (0.89) 3.32 (0.60)
17.3 (4.17) 9.4 (5.31) 8.6 (4.04) 10.6 (4.90) 10.3 (2.46) 7.9 (2.07) 43.8b (8.11) 1.20b (0.88) 0.59 (0.41) 2.75 (0.74) 3.19 (0.69)
15.5 (4.84) 6.7b (4.64) 7.8 (3.36) 8.4b (4.10) 9.1 (2.22) 7.2 (1.78) 46.0b (10.55) 0.54c (0.56) 0.36b (0.28) 2.88 (0.74) 3.11 (0.65)
*
p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Subscripts refer to within-row comparisons. Means with different subscripts are significantly different. If no subscript, that mean is not different to remaining means.
remaining 22 variables with eigenvalues >1.0 but the last two were ill-defined (only two variables for each). The first two components were retained and variables loading more than 0.5 on only one of the components were included. The first of these was described as anxiety and included afraid, worried, uneasy, nervous, tense, anxious, calm (reversed), relaxed (reversed), and safe (reversed) and explained 44.3% of the variance. The second component was labelled happiness and included happy, cheerful, pleasant, excited, satisfied, and loving and explained 13.0% of the variance. Average scores on each emotion component were computed for each person by adding their scores on the relevant emotion variables for that component (reversing where necessary) and dividing by the number of variables. CronbachÕs a for the anxiety component was 0.95, and for the happiness component was 0.81. The same emotions were used to produce an after-jump score on the same components. Descriptive information on the emotion scores are provided in Tables 1 and 2. The two components were correlated r(103) = 0.42 before the jump and
Table 2 Correlations between emotion measures and other variables Anxiety before
EPQ:
Age Experience Gendera Extraversion Neuroticism Psychoticism Impulsiveness Venturesome Addiction
**
0.29 0.57** 0.07 0.06 0.18 0.21* 0.03 0.06 0.03
Happiness before 0.13 0.25* 0.09 0.03 0.17 0.08 0.10 0.00 0.19
Abbreviation: ASS = Addiction to Skydiving Scale. a Female = 0, Male = 1.
Anxiety after 0.16 0.34** 0.13 0.03 0.26** 0.03 0.13 0.08 0.24*
Happiness after 0.12 0.16 0.14 0.11 0.05 0.05 0.01 0.05 0.17
ASS 0.13 0.57** 0.01 0.14 0.07 0.14 0.08 0.21* 0.01
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r(103) = 0.27 after the jump (both ps < 0.01). Average ratings for the happiness component were significantly higher than the average ratings for the anxiety component before and after the jump. The main analysis was a 3 (Novice/Intermediate/Experienced) · 2 (Before/After) mixed design MANOVA using the two component emotions as DVs with time before jump and time after jump as covariates. In each case a significant interaction was found. For anxiety, F(2,100) = 11.0, p < 0.001, g2 = 0.18, and for happiness, F(2,100) = 6.8, p = 0.002, g2 = 0.12. Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate the nature of these interactions. Less experienced skydivers show a much greater shift in emotional experience from before the jump to after the jump. Beginning with much greater anxiety
Fig. 1. Change in mean anxiety ratings from before jump to after jump.
Fig. 2. Change in mean happiness ratings from before jump to after jump.
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and much less happiness prior to the jump, the novice skydiversÕ emotions moved to be similar to the experienced skydivers after the jump. The experienced skydiversÕ emotions remained much more consistent from before to after. Skydivers with intermediate levels of experience showed emotional changes that were between the extremes represented by the Novice and Experienced groups. Skydivers who show greater compulsion or pre-occupation with skydiving obviously report a greater number of jumps compared to those less compulsively attached to the sport (Table 2). But in order to explain this ‘‘addiction’’ to skydiving by reference to variables that describe the person or describe their emotional response, the ASS was regressed onto three blocks of variables. The first included age, gender, and presence of family; the second included extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism; while the third included the anxiety and happiness emotions before and after the jump. The results indicated that the model was not significant until the third block (R2 = 21.9%) and there was only one uniquely significant predictor (sr2 = 6.3%). This was the anxiety emotion before the jump indicating that greater addiction to skydiving was predicted from less anxiety before the jump.
5. Discussion The main aim of the study was to investigate the nature of the change in emotion that occurs from pre-jump to post-jump in skydivers in relation to experience. The findings provide quantitative support for the observations of Celsi et al. (1993) by showing that the novice and experienced skydivers differ markedly in the emotional meaning of the jump. Novice skydivers experience high anxiety leading up to the impending jump but this anxiety dramatically decreases after the jump. Meanwhile positive emotions begin relatively low and increase dramatically after the jump. Experienced skydivers on the other hand report much less anxiety and a much higher level of happiness before their jump. According to Celsi et al. (1993), emotional experience moves through thrill to fun and pleasure to ‘‘flow’’ as the skydiver gains in experience. More experienced skydivers have minimised anxiety and maximised the positive emotions of fun, happiness, and pleasure. For both novice and experienced skydivers, the positive, happy-related emotions were rated more strongly than the negative anxiety-related emotions suggesting that the positive experiences associated with skydiving are felt most keenly, even in novice skydivers. The contrast in emotion for novice skydivers may play a central role in motivating novice skydivers to return. The intense euphoria experienced after the jump provides such a striking contrast to the intense pre-jump anxiety that the ‘‘jumping out of a plane’’ behaviour may be strongly reinforced in one trial. Of course, as Celsi et al. note, there are probably other reinforcers operating as well, such as the knowledge of achieving the feat, and belonging to a select group of people who have made at least one jump. The concept of addiction as defined by pre-occupation with and continued involvement in an activity despite negative consequences and the use of the activity in a self-medicating capacity was strongly and positively related to experience. Moreover, the only uniquely significant predictor of greater ‘‘addiction’’ was lower anxiety levels before the jump. This suggests that social recognition and status in the skydiving community might be best recognised by greater control of anxiety
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levels before a jump. Less experienced skydivers, who are experiencing marked anxiety, can recognise those among them that are remaining calmer and more serene. Such social recognition at a time when others are feeling life endangering fear and panic might again be a major reinforcing factor in the maintenance of skydiving behaviour in more experienced skydivers. The third main aim of the study was to investigate the relevance of major personality traits in those who become experienced skydivers. Traditional trait descriptors of personality showed only weak relationships with the emotions experienced by skydivers or whether a skydiver was a novice or a veteran. Both neuroticism and EPQ-addiction decreased with experience and both were positively related to anxiety ratings after the jump. The neuroticism and addiction measures derived from the EPQ share many items and are highly positively correlated (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991). Neuroticism includes being anxious and worrying and ‘‘reacting too strongly to all sorts of stimuli, and find[ing] it difficult to get back on an even keel after each emotionally arousing experience’’ (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991, p. 4). People high in neuroticism may find the concerns raised by skydiving too much to bear and hence select themselves out of continued involvement with the sport. Of those people who do continue, people higher in neuroticism experience greater residual anxiety after a jump and take longer to return to a calm stable state. The addiction construct derived from the EPQ was empirically derived by discriminating drug addicts from a normal population (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991). It was not specifically constructed to measure defining features of addiction and as such does not necessarily measure the same thing as the Addiction to Skydiving Scale. The two measures were unrelated in this study. More work needs to be done on how personality variables relate to the compulsion, pre-occupation, and selfmedication features of addiction. In summary, the present study provided quantitative support for some of the observations of Celsi et al. (1993). Celsi et al. considered many external and internal factors associated with high-risk behaviours and the present study only sought to examine a small part of their overall analysis. It remains to be seen if the emotional changes observed here with skydiving are relevant to other high-risk sport behaviours. References Allen, L. M., Nelson, C. J., Rouhbakhsh, P., Scifres, S. L., Greene, R. L., Kordinak, S. T., et al. (1998). Gender differences in factor structure of the Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54, 439–445. Celsi, R. L., Rose, R. L., & Leigh, T. W. (1993). An exploration of high-risk leisure consumption through skydiving. Journal of Consumer Research, 20, 1–23. Cogan, N., & Brown, R. I. F. (1999). Metamotivational dominance, states and injuries in risk and safe sports. Personality and Individual Differences, 27, 503–518. Colligan, R. C., Davis, L. T., & Morse, R. M. (1988). The Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test (SAAST): A userÕs guide. Rochester, MN: Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation. Cronin, C. (1991). Sensation seeking among mountain climbers. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 653–654. Eysenck, H. J., & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1991). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Scales. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Freixanet, M. G. (1991). Personality profile of subjects engaged in high physical risk sports. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 1087–1093. Higgins, E. T., Bond, R. N., Klein, R., & Strauman, T. (1986). Self-discrepancies and emotional vulnerability: How magnitude, accessibility, and type of discrepancy influence affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 5–15.
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Ho, R. (1989). Why do people smoke? Motives for the maintenance of smoking behaviour and its possible cessation. Australian Psychologist, 24, 385–400. Jack, S. J., & Ronan, K. R. (1998). Sensation seeking among high- and low-risk sports participants. Personality and Individual Differences, 25, 1063–1083. Rossi, B., & Cereatti, L. (1993). The sensation seeking in mountain athletes as assessed by ZuckermanÕs sensation seeking scale. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 24, 417–431. Seff, M. A., Gecas, V., & Frey, J. H. (1993). Birth order, self-concept, and participation in dangerous sports. The Journal of Psychology, 127, 221–232. Solomon, R. L. (1980). The opponent process theory of acquired motivation: The costs of pleasure and the benefits of pain. American Psychologist, 35, 691–712. Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics (4th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Tate, J. C., & Stanton, A. L. (1990). Assessment of the validity of the Reasons for Smoking scale. Addictive Behaviors, 15, 129–135. Zuckerman, M., & Lubin, B. (1965). Manual for the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist. San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Testing Service. Zuckerman, M., Lubin, B., & Rinck, C. M. (1983). Construction of new scales for the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. Journal of Behavioural Assessment, 5, 119–129.
Emotional changes in skydivers in relation to experience Ian R. Price *, Claire Bundesen School of Psychology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia Received 25 September 2003; received in revised form 22 June 2004; accepted 9 August 2004 Available online 10 December 2004
Abstract The nature of the change in emotional experience from before to after a skydiving jump is examined in relation to the experience of the skydiver. The relationship between emotional experience, personality variables, and an addiction construct, is also examined. The results indicate an experience based shift in the change of emotion from pre-jump to post-jump. Novice skydivers (N = 29) experience much greater emotional contrast from pre-jump to post-jump than more experienced skydivers (N = 34) who are much more stable. Skydivers with intermediate experience (N = 42) lie between these extremes. Greater ‘‘addiction’’ to skydiving is strongly associated with greater experience and is uniquely predicted from a lower level of anxiety before the impending jump. Results are discussed in relation to the findings of Celsi, Rose, and Leigh (1993). 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Skydiving; Emotional experience; Addiction; Personality
1. Introduction Recreational skydiving is a high-risk sport. Celsi et al. (1993) report that one death per every 700 participants occurred between 1978 and 1980. This compared to one death per 250
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 2 6773 2653; fax: +61 2 6773 3820. E-mail address: [email protected] (I.R. Price).
0191-8869/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2004.08.003
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participants for ultralight aircraft pilots or one per 1250 for hang glider pilots. Of course many serious injuries occur as well. Despite the physical risks (and the dollar costs) associated with the sport, many people continue to be fascinated by it and will forego other activities in order to experience the extreme emotions that it generates. The present study examines the nature of the emotional experience that maintains the behaviour and also examines how this emotional experience alters as the skydiver moves from a novice to an experienced skydiver. The reasons why some people engage in recreational skydiving have been elegantly examined by Celsi et al. (1993). In that paper, Celsi emphasises the importance of role transition in which acceptance into the skydiving community is marked by an experience-based shift from a novice skydiver to an experienced skydiver. Perceived competence is a critical factor in the social status of the skydiver and this is most closely related to the number of jumps experienced. Reasons for engaging in the behaviour change with experience. The initial decision to try skydiving is often motivated by curiosity, or by popular media representations, or by friends who already skydive. Continued involvement in the sport is maintained by a complex interplay between enhanced skill development, social recognition, and a common bond of skydiving experience. Throughout this progression from novice to experienced, the central feature of the jump remains paramount; the binding element in the skydiving community. But as the skydiver becomes more and more experienced, the nature of the emotions generated by the jump must also change. Celsi et al. describe the evolution of hedonic motives as moving from thrill seeking through pleasure and fun to experiences of ‘‘flow’’. While the excitement and ‘‘adrenalin rush’’ never entirely disappear, the ability of the jump to arouse to supranormal levels diminishes after a threshold of repetitive experience is reached. To maintain the behaviour, more abstract emotional experiences become desired end states, such as self-efficacy in managing risk, acquired competence, and social recognition. However, Celsi et al. acquired their data through interviews, self-experience, and immersion in the skydiving culture; no quantitative data to document the exact nature of change in emotional experience were provided. Celsi et al. also refer to SolomonÕs (1980) ‘‘opponent process’’ theory of acquired motivation as an explanation for the relationship between the intense anxiety experienced by initiate skydivers leading up to their jump and the ‘‘incredible high’’ or intense euphoria that follows the completion of the jump. Novice skydivers may experience this euphoria for a week or more after their first jump. With greater experience, habituation makes the initial positive process weaker and a discomforting craving begins to develop when the behaviour is no longer available. More experienced skydivers will increase access to skydiving stimulation in order to achieve something like the original experience. So more experienced skydivers try more extensive freefall experiences, more mid-air maneuvers, more complex relative work, night jumps, skyboarding, mid-air photography, or targeted landings, for example. These ‘‘riskier’’ variations are usually undertaken as skill level and mastery develop so that the overall risk of death or serious injury probably remains somewhat constant. Celsi et al. report that many skydivers, especially through the early to intermediate levels of experience, admit to being ‘‘addicted to the high’’, that they ‘‘canÕt get enough of it’’, or they ‘‘lose interest in other activities and things’’, and ‘‘spend all their money on skydiving’’. Skydiving like some other behaviours such as exercising and running develops elements of addiction (also see Cogan & Brown, 1999). The present study therefore also sought to examine the extent to which an addiction construct can be applied to skydiving.
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Other studies (Cogan & Brown, 1999; Cronin, 1991; Freixanet, 1991; Jack & Ronan, 1998; Rossi & Cereatti, 1993; Seff, Gecas, & Frey, 1993) have compared high-risk sports (such as skydiving, snowboarding, mountain climbing, mountain biking) to low-risk sports (such as swimming, golf, marathon running, badminton) in relation to various personality measures (such as sensation seeking, impulsiveness, EPQ measures, birth order). Participants in high-risk sports generally rate as higher in sensation seeking but there is disagreement about impulsiveness. As part of the evaluation of the role of personality in sport participation, Eysenck and EysenckÕs (1991) EPQ was incorporated into the present study.
2. Method 2.1. Participants One hundred and five skydivers (43 females, 62 males) ranging in age from 18 to 56 years (mean = 31.3, sd = 10.36) took part in the study. The skydivers were recruited from Aratula and Toogoolawah Drop Zones in Queensland, Australia. 2.2. Materials Experience with skydiving was assessed by self-report on the following scale: Tandem jump only, Under 10 jumps, Between 10 and 49 jumps, Between 50 and 500 jumps, and Greater than 500 jumps. Demographic information included age, gender, and the presence of family (close family relationships may inhibit greater involvement in skydiving). 2.3. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised (EPQ-R, Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991). This well-known 106 item true-false measure summarises personality on three dimensions of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. Supplementary measures of predisposition to addiction and criminality as well as impulsiveness, venturesomeness, and empathy are also available. Its reliability and validity is well established. 2.4. Addiction to Skydiving Scale ASS was designed to tap elements of pre-occupation and compulsion, the occurrence of physical injury, and the use of skydiving for emotional self-medication. Twenty-four items were developed using alcoholism scales (Allen et al., 1998; Colligan, Davis, & Morse, 1988) and reasons for smoking scales (Ho, 1989; Tate & Stanton, 1990) as models. Responses were on a five point scale from ‘‘Never’’ to ‘‘Always’’. Example items include: ‘‘Have you ever felt the need to cut down on your skydiving?’’, ‘‘Have you ever neglected your obligations, your family, or your work for 2 or more days in a row because you were skydiving?’’, ‘‘Have you ever been in hospital because of your skydiving?’’, and ‘‘I skydive when I am angry about something’’. The internal reliability of the Addiction to Skydiving measure improved from a = 0.784 to 0.84 by dropping item 2
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(‘‘Can you stop skydiving without a struggle?’’). Total score on the remaining 23 items served as a measure of addiction to skydiving. 2.5. Abbreviated Emotion Checklist (AEC) This 33 item measure of current emotional state was developed from the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist (MAACL, Zuckerman & Lubin, 1965; Zuckerman, Lubin, & Rinck, 1983). Higgins, Bond, Klein, and Strauman (1986) also used a modified version of the MAACL and showed it to be a reliable measure of momentary emotion. The current experience of each emotion was ticked on a five point scale from ‘‘Not at all’’ to ‘‘Very much’’. Example emotions include quiet, sad, cheerful, threatened, tense. The order of the emotions on the checklist was determined randomly. The emotion checklist variables were reduced to two components using standard factor analysis procedures (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001).
3. Procedure Questionnaire packages with identification codes were provided to skydivers in a pseudorandom manner. Information sheets were included and the project was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of New England. Signed consent forms were required. One emotion checklist was to be completed by all skydivers as soon as practicable before their next jump and the same checklist was completed as soon as practicable after the skydiver had landed from that same jump. The checklists had provision for the participant to record the anticipated time before the jump that the AEC was completed and the time since the landing that the second AEC was completed.
4. Results The data were examined for missing values and assumption requirements; all were considered satisfactory (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001). The distribution of experience with skydiving was: Tandem jump only (N = 20), Under 10 jumps (N = 9), Between 10 and 49 jumps (N = 16), Between 50 and 500 jumps (N = 26) and Over 500 jumps (N = 34). For the main comparison, three groups of participants were formed: Novice skydivers (tandem jump to under 10 jumps, N = 29), Intermediate skydivers (10–500 jumps, N = 42), and Experienced skydivers (greater than 500 jumps, N = 34). There was no difference between the three groups in the time before the jump that the AEC was completed nor in the time after the jump that the second AEC was completed. Time before jump and time after jump that the AEC was completed were unrelated to any other measure. Table 1 provides descriptive information on the main measures. The major emotional factors present in the skydiving population before the impending jump were determined empirically using principal components analysis with varimax rotation. Prior to reduction, the 33 emotion variables were examined for serious skewness problems and 11 were dropped from further analysis. For example, of 105 responses for ‘‘angry’’, 99 responses were 0, two were 1, two were 2, and two more were 3. Four components were extracted from the
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Table 1 Means (standard deviations) for main descriptive measures Variable
Novice
Intermediate
Experienced
EPQ-extraversion EPQ-neuroticism* EPQ-psychoticism EPQ-addiction* EPQ-impulsiveness EPQ-venturesomeness Addiction to skydiving*** Anxiety before jump*** Anxiety after jump** Happiness before jump Happiness after jump
16.5 (3.81) 10.4a (5.24) 7.7 (4.61) 11.5a (4.75) 10.3 (2.19) 8.3 (1.80) 31.8a (6.16) 1.90a (1.34) 0.64a (0.32) 2.53 (0.89) 3.32 (0.60)
17.3 (4.17) 9.4 (5.31) 8.6 (4.04) 10.6 (4.90) 10.3 (2.46) 7.9 (2.07) 43.8b (8.11) 1.20b (0.88) 0.59 (0.41) 2.75 (0.74) 3.19 (0.69)
15.5 (4.84) 6.7b (4.64) 7.8 (3.36) 8.4b (4.10) 9.1 (2.22) 7.2 (1.78) 46.0b (10.55) 0.54c (0.56) 0.36b (0.28) 2.88 (0.74) 3.11 (0.65)
*
p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Subscripts refer to within-row comparisons. Means with different subscripts are significantly different. If no subscript, that mean is not different to remaining means.
remaining 22 variables with eigenvalues >1.0 but the last two were ill-defined (only two variables for each). The first two components were retained and variables loading more than 0.5 on only one of the components were included. The first of these was described as anxiety and included afraid, worried, uneasy, nervous, tense, anxious, calm (reversed), relaxed (reversed), and safe (reversed) and explained 44.3% of the variance. The second component was labelled happiness and included happy, cheerful, pleasant, excited, satisfied, and loving and explained 13.0% of the variance. Average scores on each emotion component were computed for each person by adding their scores on the relevant emotion variables for that component (reversing where necessary) and dividing by the number of variables. CronbachÕs a for the anxiety component was 0.95, and for the happiness component was 0.81. The same emotions were used to produce an after-jump score on the same components. Descriptive information on the emotion scores are provided in Tables 1 and 2. The two components were correlated r(103) = 0.42 before the jump and
Table 2 Correlations between emotion measures and other variables Anxiety before
EPQ:
Age Experience Gendera Extraversion Neuroticism Psychoticism Impulsiveness Venturesome Addiction
**
0.29 0.57** 0.07 0.06 0.18 0.21* 0.03 0.06 0.03
Happiness before 0.13 0.25* 0.09 0.03 0.17 0.08 0.10 0.00 0.19
Abbreviation: ASS = Addiction to Skydiving Scale. a Female = 0, Male = 1.
Anxiety after 0.16 0.34** 0.13 0.03 0.26** 0.03 0.13 0.08 0.24*
Happiness after 0.12 0.16 0.14 0.11 0.05 0.05 0.01 0.05 0.17
ASS 0.13 0.57** 0.01 0.14 0.07 0.14 0.08 0.21* 0.01
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r(103) = 0.27 after the jump (both ps < 0.01). Average ratings for the happiness component were significantly higher than the average ratings for the anxiety component before and after the jump. The main analysis was a 3 (Novice/Intermediate/Experienced) · 2 (Before/After) mixed design MANOVA using the two component emotions as DVs with time before jump and time after jump as covariates. In each case a significant interaction was found. For anxiety, F(2,100) = 11.0, p < 0.001, g2 = 0.18, and for happiness, F(2,100) = 6.8, p = 0.002, g2 = 0.12. Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate the nature of these interactions. Less experienced skydivers show a much greater shift in emotional experience from before the jump to after the jump. Beginning with much greater anxiety
Fig. 1. Change in mean anxiety ratings from before jump to after jump.
Fig. 2. Change in mean happiness ratings from before jump to after jump.
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and much less happiness prior to the jump, the novice skydiversÕ emotions moved to be similar to the experienced skydivers after the jump. The experienced skydiversÕ emotions remained much more consistent from before to after. Skydivers with intermediate levels of experience showed emotional changes that were between the extremes represented by the Novice and Experienced groups. Skydivers who show greater compulsion or pre-occupation with skydiving obviously report a greater number of jumps compared to those less compulsively attached to the sport (Table 2). But in order to explain this ‘‘addiction’’ to skydiving by reference to variables that describe the person or describe their emotional response, the ASS was regressed onto three blocks of variables. The first included age, gender, and presence of family; the second included extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism; while the third included the anxiety and happiness emotions before and after the jump. The results indicated that the model was not significant until the third block (R2 = 21.9%) and there was only one uniquely significant predictor (sr2 = 6.3%). This was the anxiety emotion before the jump indicating that greater addiction to skydiving was predicted from less anxiety before the jump.
5. Discussion The main aim of the study was to investigate the nature of the change in emotion that occurs from pre-jump to post-jump in skydivers in relation to experience. The findings provide quantitative support for the observations of Celsi et al. (1993) by showing that the novice and experienced skydivers differ markedly in the emotional meaning of the jump. Novice skydivers experience high anxiety leading up to the impending jump but this anxiety dramatically decreases after the jump. Meanwhile positive emotions begin relatively low and increase dramatically after the jump. Experienced skydivers on the other hand report much less anxiety and a much higher level of happiness before their jump. According to Celsi et al. (1993), emotional experience moves through thrill to fun and pleasure to ‘‘flow’’ as the skydiver gains in experience. More experienced skydivers have minimised anxiety and maximised the positive emotions of fun, happiness, and pleasure. For both novice and experienced skydivers, the positive, happy-related emotions were rated more strongly than the negative anxiety-related emotions suggesting that the positive experiences associated with skydiving are felt most keenly, even in novice skydivers. The contrast in emotion for novice skydivers may play a central role in motivating novice skydivers to return. The intense euphoria experienced after the jump provides such a striking contrast to the intense pre-jump anxiety that the ‘‘jumping out of a plane’’ behaviour may be strongly reinforced in one trial. Of course, as Celsi et al. note, there are probably other reinforcers operating as well, such as the knowledge of achieving the feat, and belonging to a select group of people who have made at least one jump. The concept of addiction as defined by pre-occupation with and continued involvement in an activity despite negative consequences and the use of the activity in a self-medicating capacity was strongly and positively related to experience. Moreover, the only uniquely significant predictor of greater ‘‘addiction’’ was lower anxiety levels before the jump. This suggests that social recognition and status in the skydiving community might be best recognised by greater control of anxiety
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levels before a jump. Less experienced skydivers, who are experiencing marked anxiety, can recognise those among them that are remaining calmer and more serene. Such social recognition at a time when others are feeling life endangering fear and panic might again be a major reinforcing factor in the maintenance of skydiving behaviour in more experienced skydivers. The third main aim of the study was to investigate the relevance of major personality traits in those who become experienced skydivers. Traditional trait descriptors of personality showed only weak relationships with the emotions experienced by skydivers or whether a skydiver was a novice or a veteran. Both neuroticism and EPQ-addiction decreased with experience and both were positively related to anxiety ratings after the jump. The neuroticism and addiction measures derived from the EPQ share many items and are highly positively correlated (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991). Neuroticism includes being anxious and worrying and ‘‘reacting too strongly to all sorts of stimuli, and find[ing] it difficult to get back on an even keel after each emotionally arousing experience’’ (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991, p. 4). People high in neuroticism may find the concerns raised by skydiving too much to bear and hence select themselves out of continued involvement with the sport. Of those people who do continue, people higher in neuroticism experience greater residual anxiety after a jump and take longer to return to a calm stable state. The addiction construct derived from the EPQ was empirically derived by discriminating drug addicts from a normal population (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991). It was not specifically constructed to measure defining features of addiction and as such does not necessarily measure the same thing as the Addiction to Skydiving Scale. The two measures were unrelated in this study. More work needs to be done on how personality variables relate to the compulsion, pre-occupation, and selfmedication features of addiction. In summary, the present study provided quantitative support for some of the observations of Celsi et al. (1993). Celsi et al. considered many external and internal factors associated with high-risk behaviours and the present study only sought to examine a small part of their overall analysis. It remains to be seen if the emotional changes observed here with skydiving are relevant to other high-risk sport behaviours. References Allen, L. M., Nelson, C. J., Rouhbakhsh, P., Scifres, S. L., Greene, R. L., Kordinak, S. T., et al. (1998). Gender differences in factor structure of the Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54, 439–445. Celsi, R. L., Rose, R. L., & Leigh, T. W. (1993). An exploration of high-risk leisure consumption through skydiving. Journal of Consumer Research, 20, 1–23. Cogan, N., & Brown, R. I. F. (1999). Metamotivational dominance, states and injuries in risk and safe sports. Personality and Individual Differences, 27, 503–518. Colligan, R. C., Davis, L. T., & Morse, R. M. (1988). The Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test (SAAST): A userÕs guide. Rochester, MN: Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation. Cronin, C. (1991). Sensation seeking among mountain climbers. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 653–654. Eysenck, H. J., & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1991). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Scales. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Freixanet, M. G. (1991). Personality profile of subjects engaged in high physical risk sports. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 1087–1093. Higgins, E. T., Bond, R. N., Klein, R., & Strauman, T. (1986). Self-discrepancies and emotional vulnerability: How magnitude, accessibility, and type of discrepancy influence affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 5–15.
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