Psychological profile of high risk sports athlets

The research attempted to compose a psycjhological profile of high risk sports athletes, based on personality, values and sensation seeking. 38 high risk sports athletes participated in the research (alpinists, sky divers, parachute gliders, white water kayakers, downhill mountain bikers, motocross riders, downhill skiers and Nordic jumpers, the non risk sports athletes consisted of 38 swimmers, track athletes, sailers, still water kayakers, rowers, Nordic skiers, sports climbers and karate players, whereas non athletes were equalled with both groups in age and education and included 76 non athletes. We used the self descriptive scale Big five observer, Musek's Value scale and Zuckerman' Sensation seeking scale IV. The dimensions, obtained from the discrimination analysis, were named personality maturity and sensation seeking in a social environment. Our results show that high risk sports athletes are more mature personalities than non risk sports athletes and non athletes and that they do not attempt to find stimulation in social environments. We also suggest some possibilities for further research