Scuba Divers Ten Years Later

 

During the late 1980s, William Morgan conducted a Sea Grant-funded, nation-wide survey of scuba divers and found that over 50 percent of them had experienced some form of panic while diving. The figure was much higher than the diving community had realized, and panic is now regarded as the primary cause of the rapid ascents that lead to decompression sickness and fatalities.

Morgan, a professor of kinesiology at UW Madison, conducted a follow-up survey 10 years later. The results showed that 66 percent of the original survey participants are still diving at least once a year – an unusually high adherence rate for recreational sports, Morgan says.

The flip side of that figure, 34 percent of the original participants are no longer diving, indicates that traditional estimates of the risks of diving may be too low, Morgan says.

In calculating risks, diving organizations usually compare the number of fatalities reported each year to an estimated number of divers in the country. The number of divers in the country is taken to equal the number of current certifications.

"But our survey suggests that a substantial number of the individuals classified as active divers are no longer diving," Morgan said. "So the fatalities being reported are actually coming from a much smaller group of divers."

Morgan also notes that some divers have as many as 20 different certifications (for diving in caves, in deep water, at night, and other special circumstances). This further inflates traditional estimates of the number of divers, which in turn further underestimates the risk.

Morgan’s survey collected other details about divers, too. It revealed that men and women scuba divers were remarkably similar on all of the variables studied. This included personality, mood states, panic behavior, and diving behavior in general.

The survey also showed that active divers tend to be more active in other areas than those who have stopped diving, and they tend to have more positive mood states.

With support from UW Sea Grant, Morgan is currently devising means of quantifying stress responses in experienced divers under controlled conditions. He is also evaluating techniques such as self-induced relaxation and hypnosis that might reduce divers’ panic responses.

For more information, email William Morgan or call him at (608) 262-7737.

- John Karl

Back to News Room | Go to UW Sea Grant homepage

To be added to the Littoral Drift mailing list, contact:

Linda Campbell / Communications Office
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute
Goodnight Hall, 1975 Willow Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1103, U.S.A.
Telephone (608) 263-3259
FAX (608) 262-0591

or email us at lecampbe@seagrant.wisc.edu

Last updated 28 March 2000 by Karl
All contents copyright 1999 University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/Communications/news/LDstories/morgan.html