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.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Texas at Arlington, 2009.

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. / Education, Faculty of / Kinesiology, School of / Graduate

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<p>In everyday life we perform motor behaviours that have no apparent instrumental function. Are these correlated to sensation seeking and do they differ depending on what situations we are in? University students in Örebro (N=108), participated in the study. The participants were asked to fill out a double questionnaire containing the sensation seeking scale and another one for measuring non-productive motor behaviours. The non-productive motor behaviours were not correlated to the sensation seeking scale. The behaviours where reported in a way that suggest that they are more than just random occurrences. We tend to perform more of these behaviours if we need to make an effort to stay concentrated.</p> / <p>Vi utför i vårt vardagliga liv motoriska beteenden som inte har någon uppenbar instrumentell funktion. Är dessa korrelerade till sensation seeking och skiljer de sig beroende på i vilken situation vi är i? Universitetsstudenter i Örebro (N=108) deltog i studien. Deltagarna ombads att fylla i ett dubbelt frågeformulär innehållande sensation seeking skalan samt ytterligare ett formulär för att mäta icke-produktiva motoriska beteenden. De icke-produktiva beteendena visade sig inte vara korrelerade till sensation seeking. Beteendena rapporterades på ett sätt som tyder på att de är mer än slumpmässiga företeelser. Vi tenderar att utföra fler av dessa beteende ju mer vi behöver anstränga oss för att koncentrera oss.</p>

In everyday life we perform motor behaviours that have no apparent instrumental function. Are these correlated to sensation seeking and do they differ depending on what situations we are in? University students in Örebro (N=108), participated in the study. The participants were asked to fill out a double questionnaire containing the sensation seeking scale and another one for measuring non-productive motor behaviours. The non-productive motor behaviours were not correlated to the sensation seeking scale. The behaviours where reported in a way that suggest that they are more than just random occurrences. We tend to perform more of these behaviours if we need to make an effort to stay concentrated. / Vi utför i vårt vardagliga liv motoriska beteenden som inte har någon uppenbar instrumentell funktion. Är dessa korrelerade till sensation seeking och skiljer de sig beroende på i vilken situation vi är i? Universitetsstudenter i Örebro (N=108) deltog i studien. Deltagarna ombads att fylla i ett dubbelt frågeformulär innehållande sensation seeking skalan samt ytterligare ett formulär för att mäta icke-produktiva motoriska beteenden. De icke-produktiva beteendena visade sig inte vara korrelerade till sensation seeking. Beteendena rapporterades på ett sätt som tyder på att de är mer än slumpmässiga företeelser. Vi tenderar att utföra fler av dessa beteende ju mer vi behöver anstränga oss för att koncentrera oss.

Är dykare spänningssökare? Är män mer spänningssökande än kvinnor? 51 dykare, 27 män och 24 kvinnor, läts fylla i enkäten Sensation seeking scale version 5 (SSS-V). Sensation seeking scale har utvecklats av Marvin Zuckerman med kollegor sedan 1960-talet och mäter graden av spänningssökande personlighetsdrag, på engelska: sensation seeking. Enkäten har visat sig valid på flera hundra studier men har bara testats på dykare ett fåtal gånger. Hypoteserna är att dykare är mer spänningssökande än normalpopulationen (H1) och att dykande män är mer spänningssökande än dykande kvinnor (H2). Kontrollgruppen består av psykologistudenter från Delware University mellan år 1986 och 1992, 410 män och 807 kvinnor. Resultatet visar med statistisk signifikant säkerhet att dykare är mer spänningssökande än normalpopulationen och att dykande män är mer spänningssökande än dykande kvinnor. Validitet och alternativ till Sensation seeking scale m.m. tas upp i diskussionsdelen.

In the first part, diploma thesis presents theoretical background of well-being and sensation seeking tendency concepts. By analysing available resources in Czech and foreign literature it presents current theoretical understanding of these concepts and discusses their relationship to other psyche phenomena. In the empirical part, research hypotheses about existence of the relationship between well-being represented by SWLS questionnaire (Satisfaction With Life Scale; Diener et al., 1985) and sensation seeking tendency represented by SSS V scale (Sensation Seeking Scale V; Zuckerman, 1979) are examined. As support, Ten-item personality inventory TIPI (Gosling et al., 2003) is used. Two groups of respondents participated in the study: Czech (N = 137) and Slovak (N = 181) which were considered one sample (N = 318). Pearson correlation and hierarchical regression analysis showed negligible significant relationship (r = 0,12; p < 0,05) between sub-scale Experience Seeking (ES) and SWLS. However, EC score did not predict SWLS variance. Overall, study failed to accept hypothesis of existence of the relationship between SWLS and SSS V and hypothesis of mutual independence was accepted. Furthermore, the thesis deals with closer analysis of the results and personality predictors of SWLS. Keywords:...

Human adolescents exhibit higher levels of sensation seeking behaviour than younger or older individuals, and sensation seeking is higher in males than females from adolescence onwards. Data suggest that changes in gonadal hormone levels during adolescence and differences in the dopamine neurotransmitter system are the bases for why some people exhibit sensation seeking behaviour while others do not. However, causal relationships between physiology and behaviour have been difficult to establish in humans. In order to explore the physiological influences on novelty-seeking behaviour, we looked at response to novelty in a laboratory rodent. This research examined responses to novelty in the conditioned place preference (CPP) task and the novel object recognition (NOR) task in Lister-hooded rats, and assessed the benefits and limitations of each methodology. While the CPP task was not found to provide a reliable measure of response to novelty, the NOR task was more successful. In order to understand the ontogeny of sex differences in novelty responses, both males and females were tested from adolescence through to adulthood. While no sex difference was found in adults in the NOR test, mid-adolescent males exhibited higher novelty preference behaviour than either younger or older males, or females at each stage of development. Since gonadal hormones levels rise during adolescence, a pharmacological agent (a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone antagonist) was used to suppress gonadal hormone levels from early adolescence before again examining responses on the NOR test at mid-adolescence. Gonadal hormone suppression from early adolescence onwards eliminated the sex difference in the NOR test at mid-adolescence by reducing the male response to novelty, while no difference was measured in the female animals. These findings suggest that gonadal hormones play a significant role in the development of response to novelty, especially in males, and the implications for our understanding of human sensation-seeking behaviour are discussed.

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.