Conduites à risques et variation de l’estime de soi chez les adolescents : l’exemple du parkour

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between general self-esteem, physical self-worth, sport competence, physical condition, an attractive body, physical strength and the involvement in a risk-taking sport: The parkour. This sport may be included in gymnastics and acrobatics but it is practised outside of the gymnasium. Indeed, serious parkouristes are tremendous athletes who practice their stunts in a controlled environment such as a gymnasium, with mats, pads and foam pits. Many of these participants have some gymnastics or martial arts training, and they are also fully aware of the risks involved in practicing this sport. It consists of finding new and potentially dangerous ways to traverse the city landscape. Parkour is said to be the art of moving fluidly from one part of the environment to another. It may also be known as: the art of movement, free running, urban-running or obstacle coursing. This activity is a way of using obstacles in one's path in order to jump and perform acrobatics. It involves the scaling of walls, roof-running and leaping from building to building. These multiple acrobatics are submitted to peers appreciation considering fluidity, aesthetics and originality. Self-perception is of great importance in the construction of self-esteem. This concept has been identified as a state which evolved depending on spatiotemporal factors of the environmental context. It can be measured with the Physical-Self Inventory (PSI). This is a six-item questionnaire especially developed for repeated measurements. It measures six dimensions hierarchically organized Global Self-Esteem (GSE), Physical Self-Worth (PSW), Physical Condition (PC), Sport Competence (SC), Attractive Body (AB), Physical Strength (PS). Seventy-six male participants were asked to take part in the study: Group 1: Parkour ( n = 32, M age = 15.07 years, E.t. = 1.98) and Group 2: acrobatics ( n = 41, M age = 14.96 years, E.t. = 2.01). The PSI-6 was taken at three different times: Time 1 (T1, pre-test before practicing parkour), Time 2 (T2, just after having stopped the parkour), Time 3 (T3, two hours after T2). As expected, and with the exception of PC and PS, the data confirmed the prediction that, compared to Group 2, Group 1 would score significantly higher on each subscale of the PSI, including GSE, PSW, SC, and AB. That is to say, skydiving could de used as a way to regulate self-esteem, this confirms our assumption. Self-esteem has recurrently been invoked as a contributing or explanatory factor for socially problematic behavioural outcomes (i.e., risk-taking behaviours such as restrictive or dysfunctional eating, substance abuse, aggression). In relation to our results, sports could bring an extra dimension to studies on risk-taking especially among adolescents. Indeed, risk-taking sports are usually perceived as an intrinsically gratifying practice that is socially adapted and accepted. However, benefits in self-esteem regulation derived from an engagement in a risk-taking sport must be put into perspective. Although the results indicated for Group 1: a lower level of self-esteem before practice and a higher level after, the retention test shows that these results do not last more than two hours. This finding suggests that, even if the emotion regulation produced by parkour is positive, one session is not enough for adolescents to experience positive rewards from their engagement in a risk-taking behavior. Thus, in order to recreate the positive emotional state they were in, they may possibly put themselves in another risk-taking situation. However, the link with addiction cannot be made directly as it implies several factors which have not been measured in this study. Future research should take this interesting point in account and use a longitudinal methodology. This will authorize authors to draw out our assumptions and emphasize the possible link between addiction and risk-taking sports.