Examining the Role of Risk Compensation in Extreme Sports

in Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

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Megan M. Gardner Colorado State University

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Jeff T. Grimm Colorado State University

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Bradley T. Conner Colorado State University

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2020-0159
Keywords:
injury; impulsivity; sensation seeking
First Published Online:
20 Apr 2021
In Print:
Volume 43: Issue 3
Page Range:
215–222
Restricted access

This study explored the relations between sensation seeking, impulsivity, risk compensation, and extreme-sports injury to better understand contributing factors to risk taking in extreme sports and subsequent adverse outcomes. Data included cross-sectional survey responses from 1,107 college students (Mage = 19.47, SD = 2.14). Poisson, logistic, and negative binomial regressions were used to investigate the relations of interest. Results indicate that sensation seeking and impulsivity are significantly associated with both risk compensation and extreme-sports injury. Risk compensation is significantly and positively associated with extreme-sports injury in mountain biking and snowboarding. Risk compensation did not significantly moderate the relation between the personality constructs of interest and extreme-sports injury. These results show that the role of risk compensation in extreme-sports injury is highly sport-specific. These results highlight the importance of considering both personality and risk compensation in prevention and intervention efforts.

The authors are with the Dept. of Psychology—Counseling Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States.

Gardner (megan.gardner@colostate.edu) is corresponding author.
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