Rémi Ajcardi and Pierre Therme
Faculté des Sciences du Sport, Aix-Marseille 2 University, France
Citation
Ajcardi, R., Therme, P. (2008). Sensation seeking, affective profile, and sports behavior in the prediction of risk. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 39(4), 356-372.
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between sensation seeking, affective profile, skiing behavior, and risk perception in skiing, with a sample of French participants (N = 417). Our main hypothesis was that dispositional variables and skiing behavior predict risk perception. Hierachical multiple regressions indicated that (1) high scores on positive and negative affect scales (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) and no skiing experience predicted significantly high perceived risk (2), off-piste skiing experience predicted significantly low awareness of exposure to risk, and (3) high scores on the thrill and adventure seeking scale (Zuckerman, Eysenck, & Eysenck, 1978) predicted significantly high controllability of risk. These results are discussed mainly in relation to the literature on sensation seeking, affective profile, and risk perception, and suggest that thrill and adventure seeking, positive and negative affect, and sports behavior are involved in the cognitive appraisal of risk. The limitations of the current study are also discussed.
Keywords: Affective Profile, Risk Appraisal, Sensation Seeking, Sports Behavior