Adrenalin Junkies
Why Soldiers Return from War Wanting More
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2340964 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Morten Brænder (0000-0003-4996-1008, Aarhus University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 3-25 |
| Publication date | 2016-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Armed Forces & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0095-327X • E-ISSN: 1556-0848 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0095327x15569296 |
| OpenAlex | W2148264504 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 16 |
| References cited | 4 |
This article calls for military sociologists to contribute to the study of excitement motivation. Bravery has always played a dominant role in depictions of soldiers in popular culture, and the importance of concepts similar to excitement has been recognized in disciplines adjacent to sociology for decades. Given the transgressive nature of combat, we would intuitively expect soldiers to have their need for thrilling experiences satisfied during deployment, and hence their level of excitement motivation to have decreased when they return from war. However, the opposite seems to be the case. Soldiers return wanting more, and we lack a theoretical explanation why this is the case. This article starts closing this gap by offering one possible reason. And, most importantly, it calls for other researchers to offer other explanations as well. The explanation suggested here is that just like real drug addicts build up a physiological tolerance to narcotics, soldiers can become 'adrenalin junkies' because their tolerance toward excitement is 'pushed upward' by being exposed to danger. This explanation is tested, and finds partial support, using panel data with soldiers from two Danish companies, serving in Helmand, Afghanistan in 2011
Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Business · Closing (real estate · Political science · Sociology · Software deployment · Adventure Sports and Sensation Seeking · Computer Science · History · Law · Leadership, Courage, and Heroism Studies · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
Transgression within boundaries
Attraction and attrition under extreme conditions– integrating insights on PSM, SOC-R, SOC and excitement motivation
Escaping the Clinic
Risk-Taking and Sensation Seeking in Military Contexts
Lifetime trauma, mental well-being, alcohol and help-seeking; the phenomenological experience of veterans residing in Northern Ireland
Human misconnection ? A response to Beuthin and Bruce on medical assistance in dying providers’ lived experience
Relations between type of army service, incidental emotions and risk perceptions
Emotions, economic expectations and risk attitudes among soldiers during a military operation
Enemy of my enemy is my friend
A Time of War’
The General’s Intuition
Towards a Soldier-Based View in Research on The Military
Get real
The Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society 70 Years Later
Moral Coping or Simply Uncomplicated Soldiering? How Soldiers Avoid Moral Injury Through Simplification, Justification, Rationalization, and Compartmentalization
How Afghanistan Influenced the Content of Armed Forces & Society
| Unique citing works | 16 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,78 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 15 |