| As individuals, everyone has experienced different degrees of height fear during the past years. The most serious one who has a extremely unreasonable fear and worry about heights can be diagnosed as acrophobia in the DSM-Ⅳ. Acrophobia is a specific phobia which affects as many as1in20adults, but it has little social attention because not all of us do know about acrophobia and few of individuals with height phobia thought them need for professional treatment. Parachuting is a military training subject which is recognized as a high stress with high rate of wounds. The human body would be inevitably exposed to different heights in a long time during the parachuting training, and the recruits with serious height fear may endure more intense psychological stress than other ordinary recruits in the training. Perhaps the reason why it is very difficult to make the rate of parachuting wounds to be fundamentally controlled, is precisely because of the unclear existence of this special height fear group. This research attempted to discover the demography characteristics, cognition characters and behavior performances of the height-fearful recruits when they were exposed to different heights; and to discover the psychological characteristics when this group was under the most stressful training. We probed into the traits of how acrophobia happened and discussed the influencial factors of it. Then we analysed the relationship between height fear and parachuting stress; we gived constructive proposals for psychological selection of the airborne troops, and offered suggestions for protective measures during the parachuting training.All the participants were selected from a little more than1,000recruits who had joined the airborne troops in December,2010. Before the parachuting training,43recruits with serious height fear(experimental group) and46recruits with nearly no height fear(control group) were chosen to the experiment by strict screening which involved a self-comment and an exposure trial. We firstly made the two groups answered some questionnaires about their ordinary circumstances and the extent of reaction when they were exposed to different heights. Then, we took the experiment, let the recruits of the two groups expose to3kinds of different heights. Physiological indices such as pulse and systolic pressure were recorded as well as some certain evaluated targets of cognition and behavior. Finally, we investigated the psychological characteristics of the two groups using professional psychological scales, when they had been trained for several months and suffered from a heavy parachuting stress.Results:1. Recruits with serious height fear account for about4%in the whole number of the entire recruits. Among them,72.1%comes from the countryside;93%of their family has an income lower than5000Yuan monthly. There has notable differences between the two groups on family history of diseases and experiences of falling from high place.2. As compared to the control group, recruits with height fear displayed more intense anxiety and evasion when exposed to heithts, there was remarkable difference between the two groups(t=24.05,22.75;P<0.001); during the height exposure, the mean scores of this group’s pulse and systolic pressure were also higher than the control group(P<0.05). In the cognition aspect, recruits of the experimental group displayed lower confidence but much higher tension when campared with the control group; height-fearful recruits worried more about getting wounded in the training, and all of them thought the training wounds had close relation with their own tense mood; we also found that individuals in the experimental group overestimated the height more than the control group(P<0.001). In the behavior aspect, the recruits with height fear flinched and evaded during the exposure, their movements distorted uncontrollably, their posture maintained difficultly, and they were easy to get wounded in the parachuting training.3. In the16PF various factors, the scores of E, F, H, M and introvert-extravert of the recruits with height fear were significantly lower than the control group(t=-2.536,-2.277,-2.452,-2.313,-3.446;P=0.013,0.025,0.016,0.024,0.001); but scores of G, L, N, O, Q1, Q2, Q3and adaptability-anxiety were significantly higher than the control group(t=3.125,2.524,4.797,5.191,3.555,6.375,3.378,2.298;P=0.002,0.013,0.000,0.000,0.001,0.000,0.001,0.024).4. As compared with the control group, scores on all the SCL-90factors except obsessive-compulsive, hostility and psychoticism, were significantly higher in the experimental group(P<0.05); comparing the scores of self-consistency and congruence between the two groups, the total score(t=2.493, P=0.015) was significantly higher in the experimental group, means this group might be less consistent and less congruent than the control group; significant differences were also found in the scores on state anxiety(t=3.458,P=0.001) and trait anxiety(t=6.550,P<0.001); the most frequently used coping style by the recruits of experimental group was avoidance, but the control group mostly used seeking help as their coping style; there were no differences in mature and in-between defending styles between the two groups, but significant difference was found in the immature defending style between the groups(t=2.55, P=0.013).5. Scores on height anxiety and avoidance of the Acrophobia Questionnaire was positively correlated with the scores on many sub-factors of the SCL-90such as somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, terror, crankiness; and it was also positively correlated with the scores on self-inconsistency, self-flexibility and state-trait anxiety(P<0.01).Conclusions:1. The demographic characteristics indicate that acrophobia is more prevalent in the countryside than in the city; and its morbidity is concentrated in the low income crowd. The factors which influence the morbidity of acrophobia probably are familial diseases and personal experiences of falling from heights.2. Height-fearful recruits have low self-appraisal, deviated cognition, obvious physiological stress and they are accustomed to flinch or evade when exposed to heights. This group also displays lower confidence, immoderate caution, excessive self-analysis and they are exceedingly sensitive or anxious about the environment, it is very difficult for them to adapt themselves to the aversive situations of heights. These characteristics possibly compose the personality foundation of acrophobia.3. After consummated, the Acrophobia Questionnaire could be utilized in the psychological selecting of the airborne troops. The height-fearful recruits have withstood fierce psychological stress in the parachuting training, they are very difficult to adapt the training. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the psychological problem of the height-fearful recruits, so it is absolutely necessary to formulate reasonable and focused training plans, and it’s very important to take corresponding psychological measures to protect the recruits. |
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