Preliminary Studies on the Psychological Adjustment in the Italian Antarctic Summer Campaigns

Abstract

Up until now, no significant emotional or cognitive modifications have been found in psychological studies performed during Italian Antarctic summer campaigns, which last from 2 to 5 months. A substantial emotional stability and a general satisfactory adjustment of the expedition participants emerged in the research. To investigate the coping strategies used to deal with the Antarctic environment, the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the Ways of Coping Inventory were administered to a group of 11 Italian expeditioners before leaving and before returning from the campaign. The results confirm the emotional stability found in the previous studies and show a decrease of several ways of coping. Particularly, there was a decrease in seeking social support and in problem-focused coping. The discussion and interpretation of the findings are reported, and the hypothesis of a frozen reactivity mediated by a possible perceptual defense is suggested.