Effects of hazards and sensation‐seeking on intermediate swimming college students’ hazard perceptions

Abstract Background According to the Global Report on Drowning: Preventing a Leading Killer and Preventing Drowning : An Implementation Guide , two documents released by the World Health Organization in 2014 and 2017, respectively, 372,000 people drown each year globally (approximately 42 per hour), half of whom are below 25 years old. Chinese adolescents aged 18–24 years are the main victim group. Intermediate swimming college students are more susceptible to risk‐taking behavior and drowning while swimming. In particular, college students with high‐sensation‐seeking levels have greater confidence in their swimming ability. Consequently, they tend to overestimate their skills and pursue exciting experiences while underestimating or ignoring the risk factors in the situation. The scores of college students in sensation‐seeking show a significant positive correlation with highly risky swimming behavior. However, the correlation with the reaction time to hazards is unclear. In this study, using previous theories, the sensation‐seeking scale, and the measurement of the reaction time to hazards, we clearly explain why “college students with higher levels of sensation‐seeking have a higher risk of drowning.” We examined the reaction time to hazards and eye movement data of intermediate swimming college students with different sensation‐seeking levels, while controlling the obviousness of hazards in the videos for the experiment. Methods We utilized 16 videos of students swimming as experimental stimuli and employed a mixed experimental design of 2 (sensation‐seeking: high, low) × 2 (hazard type: obvious hazard, hidden hazard). Sensation‐seeking, the between‐subjects variable, was categorized into two levels (high and low). The hazard type, the within‐subjects variable, was also divided into two categories (obvious and hidden). We analyzed the disparities in reaction time to hazards and eye‐movement data between intermediate swimming college students with high ( N = 28) or low ( N = 28) levels of sensation‐seeking. Results Intermediate swimming college students with high levels of sensation‐seeking exhibited significantly longer reaction times to both obvious ( F = 6.251, p = .000 < .001) and hidden ( F = 49.438, p = .000 < .001) hazards compared to their low‐sensation‐seeking counterparts. The first fixation duration of intermediate swimming college students on obvious hazards was shorter than that on hidden hazards ( F = 13.596, p = .000 < .001), and the average fixation duration of intermediate swimming college students with high levels of sensation‐seeking on hidden hazards proved to be significantly shorter ( F = 5.498, p = .000 < .001). Conclusions and implications High‐sensation‐seeking intermediate swimming college students exhibited longer reaction times to hidden hazards compared to their low‐sensation‐seeking peers. These findings indicate that a high‐sensation‐seeking tendency can result in delayed reaction times and a disregard for response measures among intermediate swimming college students.