Stimuli seeking and participation in risky activities have become popular in western cultures. The safer western life has become, the greater the individual's need for stimulating, risky activities. This study examined value differences between risky sports participants and non-participants. We use a stimuli-directed value dimension, which is one of three value dimensions (relation-directed and self-directed being the other two) to assess value differences between practitioners and nonpractitioners of high-risk sports. Our findings indicate that risky sports participants see security and self-respect as less important and excitement as more important than nonparticipants do. These findings are important for advertising strategy as these value profiles can be used implicitly and explicitly in designing such strategies.
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