Risk perception as a function of risk exposure amongst rock climbers.

Abstract Objectives The first objective was to examine the extent to which climbers' climbing safety perceived competence (CSPC) and perceived own absolute (POAR) and comparative (PCR) risk of getting seriously injured whilst climbing is related to risk exposure. The second objective was to examine which variables influence POAR and PCR. Method Two hundred and thirty-five climbers ( M  = 32, SD = 10.2 years of age) completed the following questionnaires: a CSPC scale specifically developed to assess perceived ability to practice climbing safely; indirect measures of PCR, consisting in the subtraction of the participants' assessment of their own risks from their assessment of other climbing referents' risks; and the Life Orientation Test-Revised, measuring dispositional optimism (DO). Participants were approached in their practices sites from Mediterranean regions, and were divided into groups based on their climbing practice's risk exposure; that is, high risk: traditional climbing (TRAD; n  = 42); moderate risk: leading (LEAD; n  = 89); and low risk: either top-roping (TOP; n  = 51) or indoor bouldering (IND; n  = 53). Results Analyses of variance showed that TRAD expressed higher CSPC and higher POAR than the other groups. PCR also differed amongst the groups. More specifically, TRAD expressed comparative pessimism and LEAD expressed comparative optimism, as their POAR was, respectively, higher and lower than their perceived average climber's risk. TOP and IND perceived their own risk in a similar way to that of the average climber. Regression analyses showed that DO did not influence POAR or PCR. Past injury episode was positively related to POAR and negatively related to the propensity to express comparative optimism, though only amongst TRAD and LEAD. Conclusions Climbers' risk perception accurately reflected their risk exposure. Climbers whose climbing modality involves higher risks acknowledged so when evaluating their own absolute and comparative risks of getting seriously injured whilst climbing.

[1]  John W Hafner,et al.  Injury patterns and safety practices of rock climbers. , 2006, The Journal of trauma.

[2]  A. Kontos.  Perceived risk, risk taking, estimation of ability and injury among adolescent sport participants. , 2004, Journal of pediatric psychology.

[3]  W. Klein,et al.  Dispositional, Unrealistic, and Comparative Optimism: Differential Relations with the Knowledge and Processing of Risk Information and Beliefs about Personal Risk , 2002 .

[4]  M L Matthews,et al.  Age differences in male drivers' perception of accident risk: the role of perceived driving ability. , 1986, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[5]  Jason Laurendeau.  “He Didn't Go in Doing a Skydive”: Sustaining the Illusion of Control in an Edgework Activity , 2006 .

[6]  Marie Helweg-Larsen,et al.  Perceived Control and the Optimistic Bias: A Meta-Analytic Review , 2002 .

[7]  B. Moen,et al.  Predictors of unrealistic optimism: a study of Norwegian risk takers , 2005 .

[8]  John R. Chambers,et al.  Biases in social comparative judgments: the role of nonmotivated factors in above-average and comparative-optimism effects. , 2004, Psychological bulletin.

[9]  D. Pargman,et al.  The relationship of self‐concept and locus of control to the severity of injury in freshmen collegiate football players , 1989 .

[10]  Dongo Rémi Kouabenan,et al.  Jugements comparatifs et absolus de deux risques routiers contexualisés et raisons invoquées quant à ces jugements , 2005 .

[11]  C. Hardy,et al.  The Role of Social Support in the Life Stress/Injury Relationship , 1991 .

[12]  Peter R. Harris,et al.  The impact of perceived experience on likelihood judgments for self and others: an experimental approach , 2007 .

[13]  John R. Hazle,et al.  Mountaineering : the freedom of the hills , 1973 .

[14]  Frank Einwag,et al.  Impact of taping after finger flexor tendon pulley ruptures in rock climbers. , 2007, Journal of applied biomechanics.

[15]  N. Weinstein.  Unrealistic optimism about susceptibility to health problems: Conclusions from a community-wide sample , 1987, Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

[16]  Charles S. Carver,et al.  Coping, Mood, and Aspects of Personality in Spanish Translation and Evidence of Convergence With English Versions , 2000, Journal of personality assessment.

[17]  L. Lavallee,et al.  The relationship of stress, competitive anxiety, mood state, and social support to athletic injury. , 1996, Journal of athletic training.

[18]  Kenneth M. Prkachin,et al.  Optimism and Unrealistic Optimism have an Interacting Impact on Health-Promoting Behavior and Knowledge Changes , 1997 .

[19]  P. Tonymon,et al.  Relationship of life stress to injury in intercollegiate volleyball. , 1986, Journal of human stress.

[20]  A. Bandura.  Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[21]  P. Harris,et al.  The illusion of control and optimism about health: on being less at risk but no more in control than others. , 1994, The British journal of social psychology.

[22]  Marie Helweg-Larsen,et al.  Do Moderators of the Optimistic Bias Affect Personal or Target Risk Estimates? A Review of the Literature , 2001 .

[23]  W. Klein,et al.  Objective standards are not enough: affective, self-evaluative, and behavioral responses to social comparison information. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[24]  M. Zuckerman,et al.  DEVELOPMENT OF A SENSATION-SEEKING SCALE. , 1964, Journal of consulting psychology.

[25]  K. Fontaine.  Effect of Dispositional Optimism on Comparative Risk Perceptions for Developing Aids , 1994, Psychological reports.

[26]  Jürgen M. Meisel.  Exploring the limits of the LAD , 2007 .

[27]  F P McKenna,et al.  Exploring the limits of optimism: the case of smokers' decision making. , 1993, British journal of psychology.

[28]  T. McGuine.  Sports Injuries in High School Athletes: A Review of Injury-Risk and Injury-Prevention Research , 2006, Clinical journal of sport medicine : official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine.

[29]  Tim Pitt,et al.  Physiology of Sport and Exercise , 2004 .

[30]  T. Petrie.  Coping Skills, Competitive Trait Anxiety, and Playing States: Moderating Effects an the Life Stress-Injury Relationship , 1993 .

[31]  N. Weinstein.  Unrealistic optimism about future life events , 1980 .

[32]  Kjell Erik Rudestam,et al.  Motivation and Disinhibition in High Risk Sports: Sensation Seeking and Self-Efficacy , 1997 .

[33]  Jean M. Williams,et al.  A Model of Stress and Athletic Injury: Prediction and Prevention , 1988 .

[34]  A J Logan,et al.  Acute hand and wrist injuries in experienced rock climbers , 2004, British Journal of Sports Medicine.

[35]  L. Perloff,et al.  Self–other judgments and perceived vulnerability to victimization. , 1986 .

[36]  S. Sultan,et al.  Quel optimisme en psychologie de la santé , 1999 .

[37]  Peter R. Harris,et al.  Sufficient grounds for optimism? The relationship between perceived controllability and optimistic bias , 1996 .

[38]  T. Meyer,et al.  Optimisme et pessimisme comparatifs consécutifs à l'exposition à plusieurs messages menaçants , 2007 .

[39]  Michael W. Bridges,et al.  Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): a reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[40]  James A. Shepperd,et al.  Exploring the causes of comparative optimism. , 2002 .

[41]  A. Bandura.  Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. , 1977, Psychology Review.

[42]  Timo Lajunen,et al.  Asymmetric relationship between driving and safety skills. , 2006, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[43]  Jason Laurendeau,et al.  Are perceived comparative risks realistic among high‐risk sports participants? , 2010 .

[44]  Xavier Sanchez,et al.  Individual differences and risk taking in rock climbing , 2008 .

[45]  D. W. Robinson.  A Descriptive Model of Enduring Risk Recreation Involvement , 1992 .

[46]  P. Mair,et al.  Pattern of Injury After Rock-Climbing Falls Is Not Determined by Harness Type , 2007, Wilderness & environmental medicine.

[47]  Xavier Sanchez,et al.  Self-efficacy, risk taking and performance in rock climbing , 2008 .

[48]  U. Johnson.  Psychosocial antecedents of sport injury, prevention, and intervention: An overview of theoretical approaches and empirical findings , 2007 .

[49]  D. Llewellyn,et al.  The epidemiology of rock-climbing injuries , 2007, British Journal of Sports Medicine.

[50]  A W Siegel,et al.  Risk-taking patterns of female adolescents: what they do and why. , 1998, Journal of adolescence.

[51]  J. Davis-berman,et al.  Risk and Anxiety in Adventure Programming , 2002 .

[52]  M. Bassi,et al.  Quality of Experience and Risk Perception in High-Altitude Rock Climbing , 2003 .

[53]  Montserrat Goma I Freixanet.  Personality profile of subjects engaged in high physical risk sports , 1991 .

[54]  A. Siegel,et al.  Adolescents' Perceptions of the Benefits and Risks of Their Own Risk Taking , 1994 .

[55]  D. Gerrard,et al.  The New Zealand Rugby Injury and Performance Project: II. Previous injury experience of a rugby-playing cohort. , 1994, British journal of sports medicine.

[56]  Gıyasettin Demirhan.  Mountaineers' Risk Perception in Outdoor-Adventure Sports: A Study of Sex and Sports Experience , 2005, Perceptual and motor skills.

[57]  C F Finch,et al.  How valid is a self reported 12 month sports injury history? , 2003, British journal of sports medicine.

[58]  F. McKenna,et al.  Factors underlying illusory self-assessment of driving skill in males and females. , 1991, Accident Analysis and Prevention.

[59]  L Quine,et al.  Perceptions of risk in motorcyclists: unrealistic optimism, relative realism and predictions of behaviour. , 1998, British journal of psychology.

[60]  C. Carver,et al.  Optimism, coping, and health: assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. , 2009, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[61]  K. Bennell,et al.  Isokinetic strength testing does not predict hamstring injury in Australian Rules footballers. , 1998, British journal of sports medicine.

[62]  Gıyasettin Demirhan,et al.  Psychological Profile of Turkish Rock Climbers: An Examination of Climbing Experience and Route Difficulty , 2007, Perceptual and motor skills.

[63]  Patricia Delhomme.  Evaluation d'actions possibles face a un risque : une approche experimentale de l'effet du controle subjectif sur l'optimisme absolu et comparatif , 2001 .

[64]  R. J. Vallerand,et al.  Vers une méthodologie de validation trans-culturelle de questionnaires psychologiques: Implications pour la recherche en langue française. , 1989 .

[65]  W. Otten,et al.  Risk and behavior: the mediating role of risk-appraisal , 1992 .

[66]  S. Lyng.  Edgework: A Social Psychological Analysis of Voluntary Risk Taking , 1990, American Journal of Sociology.

[67]  Youlian Hong,et al.  A Systematic Review on Ankle Injury and Ankle Sprain in Sports , 2007, Sports medicine.

[68]  M. Zuckerman.  Sensation seeking and sports , 1983 .

[69]  Frank P. McKenna,et al.  It won't happen to me: Unrealistic optimism or illusion of control? , 1993 .

[70]  Philip Schlesinger,et al.  Exploring the Limits: Europe’s Changing Communication Environment , 1997 .

[71]  G. Kolt,et al.  Injury in Australian female competitive gymnasts: A psychological perspective. , 1996, The Australian journal of physiotherapy.

[72]  D P MacKinnon,et al.  Injuries and use of protective equipment among college in-line skaters. , 1996, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[73]  Ian P. Albery,et al.  Does Unrealistic Optimism Change Following a Negative Experience?1 , 2001 .

[74]  J. Griffet,et al.  Sauter dans le vide : le base-jump, le jeu le plus sérieux du monde , 2006 .

[75]  B. Brewer,et al.  Predictors of perceived susceptibility to sport-related injury , 2007 .

[76]  M. Andersen,et al.  Athletic injury, psychosocial factors and perceptual changes during stress. , 1999, Journal of sports sciences.

[77]  S. Cox,et al.  Mountaineering : the freedom of the hills , 2003 .