摘要: Abstract Recently, much attention has been given to participation in high risk sport and recreation activities. Psychologists attribute innate personality traits sociologists suggest that social structure is influential. This paper adopts a life span perspective investigate patterns of preference for leisure-based tourist role called the Thrill Seeker. A purposive sample 1277 New England (USA) residents were surveyed; 124 males 107 females report taking thrill seeking vacations. Crosstabulations employed identify Seeker men women over course. Stepwise discriminant function analysis was used develop profiles male female seekers. The results peaks Early Adulthood declines thereafter. findings are discussed within context Levinson et al. (1978) model adult