The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships among sensation seeking, burnout, injury, and job satisfaction among firefighters. Participants included 93 firefighters from a southeastern fire department. Each participant was asked to fill out a packet of self-report surveys including a demographic form, Sensation Seeking Scale Form V, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Job Satisfaction Survey, Absenteeism form, and an On-The-Job Injury form. This exploratory study provided an initial assessment of personality in relation to burnout and injuries in firefighters. The information from this study will hopefully help fire chiefs and administrators to better understand firefighters and the factors influencing their burnout, injuries, and job satisfaction. This information may, in turn, be useful in developing strategies to reduce burnout and better identify risk-factors affecting burnout and job performance in this population.

Amongst the personality dispositions, sensation seeking (SS) has special relevance in explaining and predicting types of risk-related behaviours, such as participation in sports containing high risk and even danger. The prevalence of risk-taking in the context of sport, and the impact of gender, was the objective of the present study. All subjects were administered the Sensation-Seeking Scales of Zuckerman Form II and V (SSS-II & V). The results show that male sports participants are higher risk-takers than female participants, thus concurring with the general profile of male and female tendencies concerning sensation seeking behaviour. The resulting data are discussed and explained within the context of Zuckerman's sensation-seeking model.

Är poliser mer spänningssökande än andra? Det är frågan som ligger till grund för studien där syftet är att jämföra poliser med lärare i vilken utsträckning de söker spänning. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av ett frågeformulär bestående av 28 påståenden som kommer ifrån redan vedertagna skalor. Dessa är Eysenck Personality Inventory och Zuckerman’s Sensation Seeking Scale. 62 personer deltog i studienvarav hälften var lärare och hälften poliser. Poliserna fick signifikant högre poäng än lärarna på de påståenden som handlade om att ta risker och fatta snabba beslut. Lärarna fick i sin tur signifikant högre poäng på de påståenden som handlar om impulsivitet gällande resor. Den slutsats man kan dra av denna studie är att poliser söker sig till arbeten som i sig innebär mer spänning medan lärare i större utsträckning söker spänning utanför arbetet.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.129-146).

Einleitung: Das Persönlichkeitsmerkmal Sensation Seeking (SS) zeichnet sich durch die Suche nach Spannung, Abwechslung und neuen Erlebnissen sowie der Vermeidung von Langeweile aus. In der Literatur wird diskutiert, dass sich unterschiedlich starke Ausprägungen darin auf einem individuellen optimalen Erregungsniveau begründen, das ständig angestrebt wird. Die körperliche Betätigung dient dabei als Möglichkeit, dieses Niveau zu erreichen. Ziel dieser Studie war die Untersuchung des Zusammenhangs zwischen SS und dem körperlichen Aktivitätslevel, welches mit einem Aktometer gemessen wurde. Methoden: Es wurden 51 körperlich und psychisch gesunde Probanden im Alter von 18 bis 59 Jahren untersucht. Zur Erfassung des Traits SS wurde das Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS) eingesetzt, welches keinerlei sport- bzw. aktivitätsspezifische Items beinhaltet und in die Subskalen Intensität und Neuigkeit unterteilt ist. Als objektives Maß der körperlichen Aktivität wurde der gesamte und aktive Energieumsatz benutzt, der anhand des Aktometers SenseWear PRO2 der Firma BodyMedia gemessen wurde und in Kalorien angegeben wird. Zur Berechnung des Zusammenhangs zwischen SS und körperlicher Aktivität wurden sowohl bivariate als auch partielle Korrelationen verwendet, wobei bei letzterem der BMI als Kontrollvariable diente. Zur Berechnung der AISS-Scores kamen für Alter und Geschlecht normierte T-Werte zum Einsatz. Ergebnisse: Signifikante Werte fanden sich bei beiden Korrelationsanalysen zwischen dem gesamten Energieumsatz und der Gesamtskala des AISS (partiell: r = 0,279; p < 0,05) sowie der Subskala Intensität (partiell: r = 0,363; p < 0,009). Der aktive Energieumsatz zeigte keinen signifikanten Zusammenhang zu SS. Diskussion: Die Ergebnisse stimmen mit den Aussagen vorangegangener Studien überein, die bereits Zusammenhänge zwischen SS und sportlicher Aktivität berichteten. SS scheint also nicht nur mit riskanten Sportarten assoziiert zu sein, sondern vielmehr mit einem generell erhöhten Aktivitätsniveau. Dieser Zusammenhang zeigt sich in der vorliegenden Studie vor allem im niedrigeren Aktivitätsbereich und deutet daher auf eine erhöhte Grundaktivität hin. Es konnte weiterhin gezeigt werden, dass der Zusammenhang nicht auf die Verwendung sport- bzw. aktivitätsspezifischer Items in den Fragebögen zurückzuführen ist. Kritisch anzumerken sei der geringe Stichprobenumfang der Studie von N = 51. Der Vorteil dieser Studie ist die in der SS-Forschung erstmalige Verwendung eines Aktometers zur Erhebung objektiver Aktivitätswerte.

Warnings are intended to improve safety (decreasing injury, illness and loss) by communicating the presence and nature of a potential hazard and encouraging behaviour that will minimise or avoid a negative outcome. Warnings can be seen as representations of risk, therefore it is likely that an individual’s attitude towards risk, their risk-taking propensity, may affect the way they perceive warnings. Establishing this relationship has important practical implications. If high risk-taking propensity can predict non-compliance, then attempts may be made to increase compliance within high risk-takers by tailoring warnings to such individuals. This thesis aims to explore empirically the relationship between measures of risk-taking propensity and warnings, with potential application to the prevention of hazardous behaviours. Study One investigated the potential relationship between risk-taking propensity and warning perception using an exploratory approach. The results confirmed that various measures of risk-taking propensity predicted warning perceptions, in particular on intentions to comply with the warnings. Studies Two and Three revealed that the relationship between risk-taking and warning perception is domain specific to a certain extent and that it is stronger when contextual information about a hazard is provided. Study Four explored potential underlying mechanisms and revealed that while the mental simulation of positive outcomes of non-compliance was found to be influential, anticipated regret significantly mediated the relationship between risk-taking propensity and intended compliance. Study Five attempted to minimise the discrepancy between high and low risk-takers through warning design manipulation. Despite a strong effect of sensation seeking on intended compliance the warning manipulations implemented had no effect on warning perceptions. This thesis offers a significant contribution to the literature, by establishing empirically the effect of risk propensity on warnings perception and by providing insight into the theoretical underpinnings of this relationship.

Inactivity and its negative implications on health, well-being and quality of life are a global issue with around 40% of adults in the UK not meeting physical activity guidelines currently set out by the government. Modern sedentary lifestyle behaviours, such as excessive Internet and video game participation, are contributing factors to this issue. With the rise of households having accessibility to high speed connectivity and devices with the ability to access the Internet and play video games these behaviours are likely to increase. Motivation, Addiction and Sensation Seeking were measured in gamers and surfers using a self-report questionnaire survey. It was thought that both gamers and surfers would share facets of these psychological aspects although participation in their chosen activities usually require different energy expenditures and take place in contrasting environments. Gamers and surfers do share similarities in eight out of the ten aspects of Motivation, Addiction and Sensation Seeking that were measured and showed significantly higher results in measures of Sensation Seeking and Intrinsic Motivation when compared to wider population norms. These findings suggest that both gamers and surfers, in this study, have similar psychological make ups and both groups could be described as intrinsically motivated sensation seekers who have similar levels of risk of addiction to their chosen activities. Therefore the activity of surfing could potentially be used as an intervention or therapeutic lifestyle change that would fulfil important psychological requirements. This would assist in enhancing the health, through exercise, the well-being, through participation in the outdoors environment and therefore the overall quality of life of individuals participating in a sedentary lifestyle behaviour, such as excessive Internet or video gaming.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 129 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-109).

Previous research has shown a large genetic influence over personality traits, especially sensation seeking. One gene thought to influence this behavioural trait is the dopamine-4-receptor gene (DRD4), in which variants have been associated with sensation seeking and novelty seeking in some, but not all studies. The inconsistencies between studies may be due to heterogeneity in both the behaviours and the populations being assessed. Some studies included only males and few studies have a priori analyzed males and females separately. SS has been associated with high-risk sports, including skiing; however, this is the first study to address the possibility that genetics may play a role in individuals’ inclination towards SS in sport. Using the Contextual Sensation Seeking Questionnaire for Skiing (CSSQ-S), developed and validated for this study, and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ), levels of SS in males and females were analyzed in association with the alleles of a polymorphism in the dopamine-4-receptor, -521 C/T (a C or a T at position -521). Behavioural analysis of skiers (N = 200) revealed a significant correlation (r²= .506, p < .001) between skier behaviour (CSSQ-S) and skier personality score (ZKPQ) for sensation seeking. Genotype analysis (N = 74) revealed allele frequencies of .58 C and .42 T and an over-representation of the C allele was found in the population of skiers compared with a general Caucasian population (p < .01). In females, a significant association was found between the homozygous C/C genotype and high levels of contextual skiing SS behaviour (N = 36, p = .006, η² = .2), along with a non-significant trend between ZKPQ impulsive SS scores and the alleles of -521 C/T (p = .086). No association, however, was found in males (N=38, p ZKPQ = .473, p CSSQ-S = .345). This study supports the hypothesis that alleles of the DRD4 -521 C/T polymorphism are associated with context-specific SS behaviours, however only in females. Social pressures may differentially influence male and female sensation-seeking behaviour which may explain the lack of association in males, though this hypothesis requires further investigation.

The purpose of this study was to identify a relationship between sensation seeking and underachievement. Archival data of seventy seven students of the Indiana Academy were collected. It was hypothesized that scores on the Sensation Seeking Scale would negatively correlate with grade point average. It was also hypothesized that Sensation Seeking Scale scores would be associated with incidents of academic probation, behavioral problems, and withdrawal from the Indiana Academy. A weak yet significant negative correlation was found between Total Sensation Seeking scores and grade point average. A slightly stronger negative correlation was found between the Disinhibition subscale of the Sensation Seeking Scale and grade point average. Total Sensation Seeking scores were associated with incidents of behavioral problems, but were not associated with incidents of academic probation or withdrawal from the Indiana Academy. Disinhibition subscale scores were associated with incidents of behavioral problems and withdrawal from the Indiana Academy. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services