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. 2018 Feb 28:9:225.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00225. eCollection 2018.

Aging Adventure Athletes Assess Achievements and Alter Aspirations to Maintain Self-Esteem

Ralf C Buckley  1
Affiliations

Aging Adventure Athletes Assess Achievements and Alter Aspirations to Maintain Self-Esteem

Ralf C Buckley. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Achievements and capabilities influence the self-esteem of skilled adventure athletes. Self-esteem affects individual mental health. Aging commonly reduces adventure capabilities. To avoid loss in self-esteem, aging adventure athletes are forced to adjust their aspirations. Here, I examine this process using participant observation, ethnographic and autoethnographic approaches. The qualitative data for this analysis are derived from 60 years' experience in outdoor adventure activities, and ∼30,000 person-hours of participant observation. I argue that individuals assess their own capabilities against a set of specific feats. For some activities, successful completion of a specific feat is known as nailing it. The selection of these feats depends on factors such as activity and geographic location, as well as individual experience and peer comparisons. I examine the detailed process using a single feat repeated over a period of decades, the bubble-line kayak run through Lava Falls on the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. I compare other examples of nail or fail to construct a general framework for self-esteem in aging adventure athletes, with both physical and psychological feedback loops. I also identify two key thresholds, as aging adventure athletes recognize their declining skills. These may apply to aging more broadly, beyond outdoor adventure.

Keywords: extreme; health; kayaking; nature; observation; outdoor; participant; rafting.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Nail or fail the Lava Falls bubble line.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
A generalized nail-or-fail model for aging adventure athletes.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Achievements, aspirations, and assessments.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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