Risky Business

Observations on the Nature of Death in Hazardous Sports

Dados Bibliográficos

ID13628014
AutoresKenneth J Doka (0000-0002-4266-3748, College of New Rochelle, autor correspondente), Eric Schwarz (College of New Rochelle), Eric E Schwarz, Catherine Schwarz (College of New Rochelle)
Ano1990
Volume21
Fascículo3
Páginas215-223
Data de publicação1990-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoOMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0030-2228 • E-ISSN: 1541-3764
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2190/jjnj-qe2y-a0c3-2l95
OpenAlexW2025272959
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas6

The little existing research on risky sports tends to concentrate on the demographic and psychological characteristics of individuals who participate in high-risk sports such as scuba diving, parachuting, spelunking, auto racing, mountain climbing, and hang gliding. This study considers another dimension: most risky sports are group sports. They involve other people as partners or members of support groups. A death, then, affects others. The study asks two questions: How do participants involved in the death itself handle such an event? In what ways does the death impact upon other members of the sporting community? Through interviews and official reports, the authors studied scuba divers' responses to four fatal accidents and found that accounts of deaths frequently blame the victim for the fatality, emphasizing and centering on perceived errors of judgment and skill. These accounts serve as mortality tales and as disclaimers of personal responsibility that mitigate grief and support continued participation in the sport

Advertising · Blame · Business · Climbing · Grief · Psychiatry · Scuba diving · Adventure Sports and Sensation Seeking · Engineering · Injury Epidemiology and Prevention · Psychology · Social Psychology