Individual psychological determinants of stress resistance in rock climbers

Abstract

Athletes engaged in high-risk sports (skydiving, hang-gliding, paragliding, microlighting, and rock climbing)will
\nconfront significantly higher levels of stress. The purpose of our study is to define the individual psychological
\ncharacteristics that determine stress resistance inherent in climbers - sportsmenfacing high risks. 60 climbers
\nfrom the Kyiv branch of the Federation of Mountaineering and Climbing and the climbing section of the
\nNational Aviation University (26 women and 34 men, aged 18 to 30 years old, Mage= 24, SD = 1.57) are involved
\nin this study. The researchers have used the following tests: Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor
\nQuestionnaire,Eysenck Personality Inventory, Diagnostics of Stress-Resistance Level (‘Forecast’), the
\n"Personality Differential" technique. High and average levels of stress resistance were detected in 42 rock
\nclimbers (70%) while most adults involved in non-extreme sports had the average levels of stress resistance. It is
\nshown that climbers perceive a large number of situations as threatening and provoking the anxiety (the selfpreservation instinct). High psychological variability and adaptability to external conditions are associated with
\nlow levels of neuroticism, high stability, and lability. Increasing the self-esteem of athletes boosts stress
\nresistance. These research results allow us to conclude that the structure of stress resistance of athletes facing
\nhigh risks is balanced and defined by one’s systemic volitional capabilities (strength and stability), self-control
\nbehavior (self-esteem) and features of the nervous system which are characterized by susceptibility to external
\nevents (neuroticism).