Abstract des Autors

The purpose of the study was to examine personality, sensation seeking needs and risk taking in the Norwegian Everest expedition of 1985 where all 7 members except one reached the top. Norwegian elite climbers, n=38, sports students, n=43, and military recruits, n=26, were used as reference groups. The results on Cattell 16 PF showed the expedition members to be strong in drive factors (E+, M+, Factor IV), weak in stop-factors (G-, O-, Q4-, Factor I-) and with good stability (C+, Q1+, Q2+). In relation to Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale V (SSS V) the expedition members had very high sensation seeking scores on three of four subscales (TAS, ES, BS) and in total score. In general the expedition had more extreme scores than other climbers on relevant scales of Cattell 16 PF and SSS V. They were more willing to take risks (Breivik Risk Test 5) than sports students in situations related to economical, political/military and physical matters, but not in achievement-related, intellectual and social matters. It is concluded that there is a definitive high risk athlete profile that may be identified both on more general personality tests, more specific and relevant trait tests and on risk taking questionnaires. Verf.-Referat