PERSONALITY-CHANGE PRODUCED BY EXPEDITION STRESS - A CONTROLLED-STUDY

Previous uncontrolled research has shown that participation by young p eople in an international expedition organized by the British Schools Exploring Society was associated with positive change in a variety of self-report personality dimensions. The present study was a controlled investigation of the hypothesis that such positive personality change would be confined to expeditioners, and not be found in controls (i.e . friends of the same age and sex supplied by the expeditioners). This study also found positive personality change in the expeditioners, wh ile the controls showed (non-significant) personality deterioration ov er the comparable time period. Marginally significantly positive chang es were seen most clearly in 'ascendancy' and 'sociability'. Evidence from self-report measures that expedition stress is associated with po sitive personality change is sufficiently promising to justify an obse rvational study of whether changes in social behaviour are produced.