The sensation seeker and anxiety reactivity: relationships between the sensation-seeking scales and the activity preference questionnaire.

The five scales of the Zuckerman Sensation-Seeking Scale and Lykken's Activity Preference Questionnaire were administered to 83 male and female college students to test the hypothesis that there is an inverse relationship between sensation seeking and anxiety reactivity. The data were intercorrelated separately for males and females. Results were, in general, consistent with expectations: individuals high in optimal level of stimulation are low in anxiety reactivity in situations that involve physical danger and in situations related to social fears or embarrassment. This relationship was found for most of the dimensions of sensation seeking for males, but was confined to specific subscales for females.