comparis posit negat experien antarctic winter station

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ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES

IS IT REALLY SO BAD?

A Comparison of Positive and Negative

Experiences in Antarctic Winter Stations

JOANNA WOOD is a visiting scientist at NASAs Johnson Space Center, where she

conducts psychological research. She earned her Ph.D. in applied experimental psy-

chology at Southern Illinois University. Her research interests include group adapta-

tionin extreme environments,socialcognition, andresponsesto psychological stress.

SYLVIA J. HYSONG is a graduate student in industrial/organizational psychology

at Rice University and a research scientist at WyleLife SciencesPsychology andBe-

havior Laboratory.

DESMOND J. LUGG is a graduate in medicine with a doctorate for Antarctic re-

search. He heads polar medicine at the Australian Antarctic Division and is the pro-

gram leader for ANARE Human Biology. Since 1962, he has wintered in Antarctica,

led manyexpeditions, and written numerous papers on polar subjects. He is currently

the chair of the SCAR Working Group on Human Biology and Medicine.

DEBORAH L. HARM is the head of the Neuroscience Laboratories at Johnson

Space Center. Her research deals primarily with space flight and neurosensory and

perceptual motor functions, as well as autonomic mechanisms involved in space

motion sickness and manual control.

ABSTRACT: Thisstudy examined therange of positive andnegative themes reported

by 104 Australian Antarctic winter personnel at four stations during two austral win-

ters. Reports from the expeditioners were subjected to a content analysis using the

TextSmart software from SPSS, Inc. Results indicated that, although the list of nega-

tive experiences is lengthy, most events are relatively rare. On the other hand,

although the list of positive experiences is short, the frequencies with which they are

reported are much greater than for most of the problems. Possible explanations for

these themes and for future directions are discussed.

Polar psychology has evolved appreciably as a discipline during the last

three decades. What began as a collection of observations and anecdotes has

84

ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR, Vol. 32 No. 1, January 2000 84-110

2000 Sage Publications, Inc.


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now grown into a body of empirical research. Collectively, this research has

been influential in dispelling numerous myths about life in the Earths polar

regions. Two themes in particular, (a) the focus on psychological symptoms

resultingfrom Antarcticlife and (b)the searchfora third-quarter effect, have

developedover theyearsand continue torecur throughout theliterature. Each

of these is discussed in turn.

FOCUS ON SYMPTOMS

In the early days of polar exploration, potential expeditioners were not

screened for psychopathology. According to Rasmussen (1973), the begin-

nings of programmatic psychological research in isolation and confinement

can be traced to an incident during the 1957 International Geophysical Year,when one of the U.S. expeditioners developed a severe schizophrenic illness

in themiddle of winter. Polar exploration, saturation diving, andspaceexplo-

rationprogramsall have thepragmatic need to prevent disruptive incidents in

their respective programs and have added to the impetus to study small

groups in isolation.

Early research focused on documenting symptoms of physical or psycho-

logical distress. Some of the most reported symptoms included sleep prob-

lems, loneliness, irritability, feeling critical of others (Gunderson & Nelson,

1963), superiority complexes, headaches, low morale, anxiety (Law, 1960),

problems of individual adjustment, poor concentration, and psychomotor

retardation (Palmai, 1963b). Despite advances in screening and selection

procedures, this line of research is still quite popular. Palinkas (1991)

reported a group of symptoms that he labeled the winter-over syndrome;symptoms includeddepression, irritability and hostility, insomnia,and cog-

nitive impairment, including difficulty in concentration and the occurrence

of mild fugue states known as long eye or the Antarctic stare (Palinkas,

Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 85

AUTHORSNOTE: The work reported on in this article is part of an on-going study

of psychological adaptation to extreme environments, and it is supported by a NASA

NRA grant and by the Australian Antarctic Division. The authors wish to thank the

doctors and communications officers at the ANARE stations who maintained our

computers and handled the data transfers. Without their assistance, this research

could not have been completed. The authors also wish to thank Peter Sullivan, Stephen

VanderArk, and Daniel Eksuzian for their editorial comments. Correspondence con-

cerning this article should be addressed to JoAnna Wood, KRUG Life Sciences Inc.,

Psychology and BehaviorLaboratory, 1290 Hercules, Suite 120, Houston,TX 77058.

Electronic mail may be sent to [email protected]


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1991, p. 784). Similar psychological symptoms continue to be reported in

recent literature (Palinkas, 1991; Palinkas, Cravalho, & Browner, 1995; Pal-

inkas, Suedfeld, & Steel, 1995).

THE THIRD-QUARTER EFFECT

A second theme that reappears in the literature is that of the third-quarter

effecta significant decrease in mood and morale, and increase in psycho-

logical symptoms during the third quarter of any mission, purportedly

because it is far enoughinto themission that theexpeditionersare burned out,

but not far enoughalong to look forward to theend. Evidenceof theexistence

of this phenomenon is mixed at best. Palinkas (1991) found a decrease in the

incidence of winter-over symptoms during the later stages of polar expedi-tions; however, this effect was moderated by the size of the station and the

severity of the physical conditions. Similarly, Rivolier and Bachelard (1983)

reviewed more than 20 years of French Antarctic research, in which they

describe thethreephases of winteringmental syndrome,whichtheystate that

almost all winterers experience. In the simplest cases, these phases progress

from alarm reaction (feeling a lack of privacy, frustration, questioning the

reasons for being there) through resistance (aggression, querulousness,

depression) and finally to exhaustion (tolerance, indifference, emotionalvul-

nerability). They also describe acute and chronic manifestations, corre-

sponding to more extreme symptoms and more severely disturbed behavior.

Palmai (1963a) reports the existence of a decrease in morale and an increase

in irritabilityduring the third quarter, followedby an increase in tolerancefor

fellow crew members during the fourth quarter. Palmais data,however, wereobtained from the medical officers psychological log and not directly from

the individual expeditioners. Steel and Suedfeld (1991) tested for the exis-

tence of a third-quarter effect indata collectedfrom fiveresearch participants

whowere isolated fornearly 2 monthsin theArctic; they found nosignificant

third-quarter effects. Similarly, Wood, Lugg, Hysong, & Harm (1999) found

no significant changes in group tensions, individual morale, emotional state,

or cognitive readiness during the third quarter among 7 groups of Antarctic

expeditioners and two short-duration life-support facility studies at Johnson

Space Center. Their data did, however, suggest that some individuals may

experience such third-quarter changes. In short, the literature seems to sug-

gest that, if there is a third-quarter effect, it is not universally experienced by

all individuals in an extreme environment.

86 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000


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IN SEARCH OF BALANCE

Parallel to the traditional symptom-oriented school of thought, a new

growing body of current literature suggests that the physical environment is

not as salient a factor as once believed. Lugg (1977) reported a ready adapta-

tion to station life in the Antarctic that was mainly attributable to individual

motivation and group achievement. While studying anxiety and coping

mechanisms, Mocellin (1995) found no significant changes over time in the

anxiety levels of expeditioners. Palinkas, Suedfeld, et al. (1995) found that

the same mechanisms used to cope with everyday stressors are used to cope

with thestresses of life in theAntarctic. They also found a significant decline

in negative effects as the expedition progressed.

What appear to be conflicting findings may indicate that the phenomena

under study are group dependent. That is, subjects are always nested withinthe isolated group. Most of these studies examined members of only one or

two small groups. Members of some groups fared considerably better than

did members of other groups.

Events with serious or potentially serious outcomes have been reported in

both thescientific andpopular press.Williams(1989) noted an acute anxiety

reaction in one expeditioner who presented no symptoms for the first 11

months of his stay. One of Woods research computers was destroyed in a

moment of anger at an Antarctic station (Wood, Lugg, Harm, & Eksuzian,

1996).Certainly, thepopular press made much of tworecent events: a mutiny

at one Australian Antarctic station and a fight between two cooks at the U.S.

McMurdo station (Spielmann, 1996). Such rare events give little clue to the

normal climate on Antarctic stations during most expeditions; however, they

do indicate the extent to which interpersonal tensions can escalate and the

potential danger if they do. On the other hand, the number of returning win-

terers (e.g., 25% of the Australians return for two or more winters) suggests

that their year in theAntarcticwas gratifying enough that they want to repeat

the experience.

We clearly have evidence that the normal aspects of Antarctic life can be

quitepleasant (hencethe returnees) andthat extreme events canand dooccur.

This article is an effort toward having balance in understanding life in small,

Antarctic winter groups. To understand the negative impacts of living and

working in such an environment, we must also understand andappreciate the

positive aspects, and how they help to ameliorate the negative effects. To

achieve this balance, we will explore the verbal descriptions of both positive

and negative events collected from Antarctic expeditioners living in eight



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small groups. This approach allows respondents to present whatever

thoughts they think are relevant and express them in their own words.

Content analysisprovidesa consistent method for categorizingandorgan-

izing the verbal responses. This is ideally suited for the exploratory research

presented here. Thus, in conducting this research, the authors attempted to

maintainanopen mind andmadeno a priorihypotheses about thethemes that

would emerge. However, in conducting our analyses, we tried to answer four

basic questions.

1. Do positive and negative experiences co-occur?

2. Are there seasonal variations in the salient experiences of the participants?

3. Are the same issues important to all groups?

4. Is there a higher density of positive experiences than negativeexperiences, orvice versa?

METHODS

SUBJECTS

Subjects were recruited from the Australian National Antarctic Research

Expeditions (ANARE) expeditioners at four stations during 1996 and 1997.

Each winter party consisted of 15 to 20 expeditioners. Of the 104 volunteer

participants, 15 were female, and 89 were male. Ages ranged from early 20s

to late 50s. Prior Antarctic experience ranged from none to several previouswinters. Occupations included scientists, support personnel (station leaders,

medical officers, chefs, and tradespeople), and meteorological observers.

STATION LIFE

There are four permanent ANARE stations: Mawson, Davis, Casey

(locatedon rockyoutcrops on theedgeof theAntarctic iceplateau), andMac-

quarie Island (sub-Antarctic). Each station has buildings housingcrew quar-

ters with a mess, a kitchen, recreation and expeditioners rooms, physical

plants, medical facilities, workshops, stores, communications facilities, and

scientific laboratories. Remote field groups can live for extended periods in

huts,traverse vans, and temporaryfieldaccommodationsthat are inland, near

the mountains.TheAntarcticclimate is quitevariable across seasons.Summer andwinter

see extreme changes in temperature of more than 50C. Blizzards of up to 90



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knots occur year-round. The ice can extend out hundreds of kilometers from

land during the austral winter. During summer, daylight can extend to 24

hours of sunlight. Winters areharsh, with temperatures well below 30C and

strongwinds. Darkness canlast more than 20hours a day, with daylight being

more like twilight.

During winter, the station is staffed by 15 to 20 crewmembers; during the

summermonths, thenumbermayincrease to around100with theaddition of

scientists andother support, includingair crew andshipscomplements. Sci-

entists studying geoscience, biological sciences, glaciology, atmospheric

sciences, oceanography, human impacts, and human biology are supported

by a station leader, doctor, chef, and communications, technical, and trade

personnel. Although individuals are initially selected to fulfill specific roles,

in the physically and socially isolated environment,distinctions between sci-ence and support can lose significance. Everyone assists with group tasks,

takes turns assisting the chef, and cooks when the chef has a day off. At meal

times, some stations form rigid social hierarchies, whereas others have a

more informal structure.

All of the stations are physically isolated when the last ship leaves at the

end of the austral summer. No crew, equipment, or food is flown in to any of

these stations.Thetemperature, ranging from 10 Cto 40C,along with the

extremely low humidity, also provides a form of biological isolation. The

only animal or insect species indigenous to the continent year-round are

Emperor penguins andmites. Allotherspecies, other than humans, live in the

water or migrate. Plant species are also extremely limited, although many

types of lichen are present year-round.

The ANARE stations, their locations, and conditions are described ingreater detail in Bowden (1997). The reader is also referred to Williams

(1989) for a detailed description of lifestyle, living conditions, and activities

on ANARE stations.

EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURE

Each station was equipped with twoIBM ThinkPad notebook computers,

which were used to administer a research questionnaire to each participant

twice per week. Responses were stored in a database that was periodically

electronically returned to the principal investigator. The questionnaire com-

prisedof 48quantitative items,2 checklists, and4 open-ended questions. The

questionnaire administration software permitted users to type in as much, or

as little, text as they chose foreachof theopen-ended items.Responses varied

in length, froma wordor short phrase tomorethan a page for a singleanswer.

In addition, personality data, as measured by the Sixteen Personality Factor



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Questionnaire (16PF) (Institute for Personality and Ability Testing, 1991),

were obtained for 35 of the participants.

Analyses of quantitative responses have been reported elsewhere (see

Wood, 1997; Wood, Lugg, Eksuzian,& Harm, 1997; Wood, Lugg, Eksuzian,

Harm, & Shepanek, 1997; Wood et al., 1996; Wood et al., 1999). However,

resource limitations had precluded us from analyzing the open-ended verbal

portion of the data until now. Therefore, this article addresses only the con-

tent analysis of two open-ended items: please tell us about any positive or

pleasant experience since your last report(positive), and please tell us

about any negative or unpleasant experience since your last report (nega-

tive). These two questions provide the participants with a significant deal of

latitude in their responses andallow them to discuss issues that arenot other-

wise prompted for in thequestionnaire. This has twoimportant effects on thedata: (a) it provides the opportunity for unforeseen variables to emerge, and

(b) it provides the opportunity for issues to emerge from different perspec-

tives. Because the questionnaires are completed by each of the responding

expeditioners, the data are not subject to the intense condensation or editing

that inevitably occurs when one person (sometimes untrained in observa-

tional research) is asked to chronicle the events experienced by a group of

people. Furthermore, because the questionnaires are completed at regular

intervals, wearemore likelyto obtainconsistent data over time than wouldbe

expected of an unstructured journal.

The two other qualitative items, Stress (tell us about a stressful event

since the last report) andMiscellaneous (tell us about anythingelse) were

excluded from this study. In the case of the Stress items, we found that, in

approximately 65% of thecases, the respondents hadeither nothing to reportor had done so under the negative experiences category. In the case of the

Miscellaneous items, we found that the respondents used this space to either

write about world events or about goals and aspirations, a sort of diary as it

were. Neither one of these items, then, was appropriate for the findings pre-

sented here.

CONTENT ANALYSIS

Responsesto thetwo items of interest were exported to a word-processing

file, where they were checked for spelling and formatted for analysis.

TextSmart, a new software package from SPSS, Inc. (1997), was used to sort

and categorize individual responses according to the themes expressed in

each. The 104 subjects who participated in the study provided 788 usable

responses to each question.



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TextSmart windows display a list of responses, a list of included words

andsynonyms, a list of excludedterms (words that have littlesemanticvalue,

such as the, are, andpronouns), anda list of categories.Categorizationwas an

iterative process in which onekey term or phrase that indicatesa theme (such

as station leaderor sex) was identified, and a new category was created. The

included word list was then searched for related terms to be included in that

category. Uncategorized responses were examined to identify a new theme.

This process was repeated until all responses were categorized. Categorized

responses were given a final reading to ensure that no themes were over-

looked and that no responses were erroneously categorized. In the few cases

in which responses were ambiguous, the two analysts discussed the

responses until they reached an agreement. Because open-ended responses

could contain many themes, only the no problems negative responses andthe nothing special positive responses were exclusive; that is, they could

not occur in a response containing any other theme. In the 788 positive

responses, 1,382 theme statements were identified, reflecting 21 themes. In

the 788 negative responses, 1,348 theme statements were identified, reflect-

ing 38 themes. The TextSmart categorization data were exported into SPSS

for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

The data consist of frequency counts for a certain number of categories.

Given a finite number of instances to categorize, the number of instances in

any one category will decrease as the total number of categories increases.

This results in a positive skew in thedata. Therefore, because thedata violate

the assumptions of normality required for standard parametric statistics, a

combination of descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests of significance

wasused to analyze thedata. Figures 1 and2 graphically present theabsolute

frequencies of all response themes to the negative and positive questions,

respectively. Most obvious in these figures is that thenothing responses (no

problemsandnothing special)arethe most common. Thefirstquestionto

be addressed is whether the negative and positive nothing statements are co-

occurring. If they, in fact,doco-occur, it wouldsuggest that thingsare normal

and that there have been no significant events, either positive or negative. It

could be argued that thepresence of so many nothing statements implies that

the subjects are responding only casually to the questionnaire, or notresponding at all. However, there are10% fewer qualitative than quantitative

responses to the questionnaire, because the participants turned off the



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computer after the quantitative portion. This leads us to believe that partici-

pants are responding honestly to the questionnaire, and that they have


Figure 1: Frequencies of Negative Response ThemesNOTE: Descriptions of each of the themes may be found in the appendix.


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nothingsignificant to report. Further examinationof thedatareveals thatonly

seven individuals never reported any positive or negative events.

Because the nothing responses are exclusive and the categorization data

are counts of occurrences by subject and date, a cross-tabulation and chi-

square statistic can be used to answer the question (see Table 1 for expected

and observed totals), 2(1) = 181.747, p < .000. Of the 778 reports (one sub-

jects responses to both positive and negative questions), 28.3% (vs. the

17.06% expected) were noproblem andnothing special, whereas 43.3%(vs. the 32.04% expected) of the responses included both positive and nega-

tive experiences.


Figure 2: Frequencies of Positive Response ThemesNOTE: Descriptions of each of the themes may be found in the appendix.


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The second question to be posed concerning these data is whether there

are seasonal or monthly variations in the responses. Due to large monthlyvariations in reporting(workload, trips off thestation, lulls in subject compli-

ance), statistical tests for this question are not suitable with this data set.

However, Table 2 lists the top five positive and negative themes for each

month. In the positive themes, the only unusual item is Festivities, which

appears in Junethemonthwhen thestationshold elaboratemidwinter cele-

brations. The November list of negative themes is particularly sparse.

November is the month when a major transition begins. Some expeditioners

leaveon thefirst ship outto Australia, whereas therest must finish theirwork,

get a last field trip or two, and begin the process of saying good-bye to fellow

expeditioners.

The third question to be addressed in these data concerns group differ-

ences. Are the same issues important in all of the groups? The information

presented in Tables 3 and 4 indicate that such is not the case. Among thegroups with more than 100 responses (G1, G2, G3, and G6), one group (G1)

had many more negative reports concerning the station leader, and G6 had

many fewer reports of antagonisms or irritation than the other groups.

Although there were only 75 responses from G5, there were 14 negative

statements concerning sexual behaviors on the station. A Kruskal-Wallis H

statistic confirms this. As seen in Table 5, there are significant differences

among groups in the incidences of complaints about the head office, moods,

station life, technology, and general unhappiness. On the positive side, there

are significant differences among groups in the incidence of celebrations,

family issues, comments about love and relationships, positive attributions,

reports about photography, and field trips (jollies).

The final issue to be explored in these data is that of quantity. Do the peo-

ple in these eight groups report the same number of issues to the positiveand

negative questions?Table6 displays themeanthemes-per-response ratios for

positive and negative questions for each group. A paired ttest indicates that


TABLE 1

Cross-Tabulation of Nothing Responses (Expected Frequencies)

Nothing Special

Reported Not Reported

No problems

Reported 223 (134.5) 191 (279.5)

Not reported 33 (121.5) 341 (252.5)


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95

TABLE 2

Top Five Positive and Negative Themes by Month

Positive Themes Negative Themes

Month 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3

January Nothing Field Work Chatting General No problems Work No field C

special trips with others pleasure trips

February Nothing Field Work Outside Nature No problems Work Station S

special trips communications leader

March Nothing Field Outside Work Family No problems Work Antagonism S

special trips communications

April Nothing Work Field trips Friends General No problems Work Antagonism S

special pleasure

May Nothing Field Work Outside Nature No problems Station Work Sspecial trips communications leader

June Nothing Field Outside Festivities Sense of No problems Station Sex A

special trips communications community leader

July Nothing Field Work People Nature No problems Sex Work A

special trips

August Nothing Field Nature General Work No problems Antagonism Health S

special trips pleasure concerns

September Nothing Field General Work Family No problems Station Health C

special trips pleasure leader concerns

October Nothing Field N ature Photography People No problems Antagonism Family N

special trips issues

November Nothing Field Work Family Goal No problems Work

special trips attainment

December Nothing Field Nature Work Outside No problems Gender Work F

special trips communications roles


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TABLE 3

Negative Themes by Group

Theme G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8

No problems 84 48 132 4 22 107 9 8

Antagonisms or irritation 15 13 18 0 12 5 0 4

Performance appraisals 7 0 0 0 2 0 0 0

Bad behaviors of others 3 3 1 0 4 0 0 1

Alcohol related 8 5 3 0 3 1 0 2

Boredom 2 5 3 0 1 0 0 1

Community life 11 5 6 0 9 7 0 1

Conflicts 10 12 5 1 9 5 0 0

Control issues 4 2 3 0 2 2 0 1

Lies and deception 0 3 2 0 1 0 0 0

Errors and mistakes 0 2 2 0 3 2 0 1Fairness or ethics 6 3 1 0 4 0 0 1

Family problems 6 12 8 1 11 6 0 2

Fears and worries 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0

Food complaints 3 2 3 0 6 1 1 0

Gossip or rumors 4 4 6 0 5 0 2 0

Gender roles 12 5 7 0 4 1 0 0

Health concerns 11 9 12 1 12 5 0 3

Homesick 1 3 4 0 4 1 0 0

Hurt feelings 6 6 0 0 10 4 0 3

Field-trip complaints 4 8 7 0 5 2 0 0

Loneliness 4 1 1 0 1 3 0 0

Management complaints 3 0 5 0 3 4 0 0

Bad moods 1 5 0 1 1 0 0 0

Negative attributions to others 6 12 3 0 9 13 1 1

Party animals 2 3 0 0 3 0 1 0Lack of privacy 0 1 5 0 1 0 0 0

Feeling restless 5 3 1 0 5 6 0 1

Feeling sad or depressed 7 11 6 0 14 7 1 3

Social discomfort 4 1 2 0 0 1 0 0

Station duties 1 1 3 0 6 5 0 1

Sex on station 13 5 17 0 7 3 0 5

Station leader problems 28 11 5 0 11 3 0 0

Lack of support from others 3 3 2 0 0 1 0 1

Technology complaints 0 2 4 0 0 1 0 0

Unkindness of others 8 1 5 0 5 1 0 0

Weather complaints 5 4 9 0 3 2 0 0

Work issues 19 18 23 0 16 12 0 1

Total theme statements 306 233 315 8 214 213 15 41

Total responses 168 111 228 6 75 162 14 21

NOTE: Descriptions of each of the themes may be found in the appendix.


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the positive themes-per-response ratio is significantly higher than the nega-

tive ratio, t(7) = 3.188, p = 0.015.

DISCUSSION

This study sought to examine the scope of psychological experiencesper-

ceivedby individuals living in Antarcticstations over extendedperiods. This

was achieved by content analyzing the responses to open-ended questions in

a regularly administered psychological adaptation questionnaire. In particu-

lar, they sought to ask four questions. First, do uneventful positive days co-


TABLE 4

Positive Themes by Group

Theme G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8

Nothing special 41 30 95 1 17 66 4 2

Field trips 40 42 50 1 15 29 4 8

Work 26 19 38 1 20 19 3 6

Life is good 23 17 33 1 21 31 1 5

General pleasure 10 15 31 1 14 13 2 3

Outside communications 21 12 19 1 21 10 1 3

Positive attributions 5 14 18 1 8 7 1 0

Chatting with others 5 11 18 1 10 5 3 0

Support from others 11 6 16 1 7 6 1 4

Recreational activities

(sports, etc. not listed elsewhere) 5 8 17 2 10 3 1 4Sense of community 8 3 18 0 8 4 0 0

Festivities 15 1 6 1 6 3 1 1

Awed by environment 19 15 26 3 9 12 2 6

Photography 2 9 9 0 3 4 0 0

Alcohol related 6 7 8 0 4 0 0 1

Food and meals 1 3 7 1 7 2 0 2

Romance 9 3 4 0 1 4 1 1

Goal attainment 4 3 11 0 0 4 0 1

Feeling included 4 4 5 0 7 1 0 1

Rest and relaxation 5 4 6 0 4 3 0 0

Adventures 1 2 5 0 3 1 0 0

Total theme statements 261 228 440 16 195 227 25 48

Total responses 168 111 228 6 75 162 14 20

NOTE: Descriptions of each of the themes may be found in the appendix.


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occurwithuneventful negative days?Second, are there seasonal variations in

the responses? Third, are there group-dependent variations that might also

affect the results? Finally, do people report the same number of issues to the

positiveand negative questions?Because the researchis exploratory, no a pri-

ori hypotheses were made.

The answer to the first question, co-occurrence of positive and negative

events, is yes. It was found that, for the most part, days in which there was

nothing positive to report coincided with days in which there was nothing

negative to report, making those days simply uneventful. Given that this was

by far the largest theme, this would suggest that, for the most part, Antarctic

living is not quite as psychologically risky as posited by the early research.

This would certainly support previous findings of the rapid adaptation to the

Antarctic environment (Lugg, 1977).


TABLE 5

Results of Kruskal-Wallis Test for the Groups With More Than 100 Responses

(Each of Positive and Negative, Nils Included), Significant Themes Only

Test Statistics2

df Asymptotic Significance

Negative themes

Head office 6.373 3 .095

Moods 7.627 3 .054

Nil 8.187 3 .042

Station life 8.846 3 .031

Technology 8.567 3 .036

General unhappiness 8.188 3 .042

Positive themes

Celebrations 9.066 3 .028

Field trips 9.662 3 .022Love and relationships 6.291 3 .098

Nature 11.269 3 .010

Photography 8.633 3 .035

Positive attributions 13.751 3 .003

TABLE 6

Positive Versus Negative Themes per Response by Group

G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8

Negative themes per response 1.82 2.1 1.38 1.33 2.85 1.31 1.07 1.95

Positive themes per response 1.79 2.5 2.26 3.33 3.33 1.56 1.79 2.75


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With regard to the second question, the existence of seasonal differences

in responses, theresults are inconclusive due to monthly variations in report-

ing (see results section). Nevertheless, a visual inspection of the available

data suggests that variations in responses tend to revolve around major sta-

tion events, such as ships leaving and the midwinter festival. This phenome-

non could be the result of a response bias on behalf of the participants:

Respondents may only report those events that are salient, or that they think

are important enough to be newsworthy. Alternatively, this pattern of data

may be related to a dynamic equilibrium model of subjective well-being

(Headey & Wearing, 1989), which proposes in part that each person has a

normal or equilibrium pattern of life events and subjective well-being, and

that only major changes in life events would produce noticeable changes in

subjectivewell-being. Given the inconsistencyof reporting, however, it is tooearly to tell whether this resemblance is dueto a potentiallygood model fit, or

due to missing data. More research is clearly warranted.

Theanswer to the third question, thepresence of intergroup differences in

responses, is a clear yes. Both thevisualanalysis andtheKruskal-Wallis Test

indicated that different positive and negative issues are differently salient to

different groups. Also of interest is the observation that most of the themes

along which groups vary are social or interpersonal in nature (e.g., positive

attributions, unhappiness, celebrations). This makes logical and theoretical

sense. According to Tuckmans (1965) theory of group development, new

groups go through four different stages, whereby the members establish the

structureof the task for which they convened (forming), emotionally react to

thedemands of the task (storming), negotiate intragroup andintergroup roles

to develop group cohesion (norming), andresolve role conflictsandmoveonto the successful completion of the task (performing). To the extent that the

groups arecharged with different tasks andarecomposed of peoplewith dif-

ferent roles, it is only logical that they should vary along interpersonal

themes.

If we apply Tuckmans (1965)model to thepatterns observed in theprevi-

ous question, the change in response patterns around major events, particu-

larly ship departures andarrivals, could indicate changes notonly in personal

life events and introspections but also renegotiations of group norms with

new group members. A test of this proposition would make a fascinating

future study.

Finally, with respect to thefourth question, theratioof positive tonegative

themes per response, the data clearly indicate that there are more positive

themes per response than there are negative themes. This is not to say that

people talk less about bad thingsmany of the longest, most detailed

responses were about a single negative experience, or about a small series of



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rather interrelated experiences. It simply means that, on the average, more

positive things are being mentioned per report than negative things, regard-

less of their length or luxury of detail. Two alternate explanations are possi-

ble. The overabundance of positive reports may signify a genuine deficiency

in adverse events or feelings. Conversely, it may signal the denial of one or

more traumaticevents that occurred either at thestation or in their hometown

while they were away from home. However, neither the qualitative nor the

quantitative data suggested the presence of any such event. Thus, at least for

now, the former alternative is the most plausible.

Thecomparisons of theverbal responses with thequantitative data reflect

an unprecedented opportunity to combine the statistical power of quantita-

tive data analysis with the richness and flexibility of qualitative data, while

still maintaining methodological rigor. The following excerpts from some ofthe written responses exemplify the richness of the data.

We had a big St. Patricks Day party, as you can imagine with an Irishman on

station.Everyone joinedin toa lesseror greater extent, and overallit was a very

good night.[Personsnamedeleted] anda group of otherguitarists and singers

had been practising fora while for thenight, and I joinedthemtowardsthe end

when Id finished my university assignment. I found singing with the band, in

the practise sessions and on thenight, a very pleasant experience,especially as

they specifically included one of the Russian songs I love so much and on the

night it went over very well, with everyone joining in as much as they

couldthe tune was well known. I learntsome very nice new songs too. There

were other things that were not so good about the night. Once the live music

stopped, and people started to drink more, especially once the station leader

brought out seven bottles of various spirits, which I didnt think a wise move,things got a bit wild. . . .

I havebeenmade to feel olda few times this time roundontheship forexam-

ple, the songs I like were almostall too old forthe others. I didnt thinkthere

were songs that were too old! I dont mean deliberately made to feel too old,

just that it happened. . . .

Why haveI told you allthis? I thinkbecauseI neededto talkto someone,and

of course I cant. I cant talk to anyone on base forobvious reasons, I cant talk

to my daughter, my closest confident, or my friends. . . .

I amaware again ofthe isolation . . . onstation. I haverecently had others com-

ing to me . . . and talking to me about their problems in their jobs or relation-

shipsand I hopeI havebeenhelpfulto them,but thereis noone I cango to. . . .

I woke early, having gone to bed early because I was weary from night watch

the night before, and I thought it a good opportunity to do the NASA program

while there was no one else about. I find it a bit inhibiting to do it if there are

peopleat thecomputernextto me,especiallyif I havesomethingI wantto say.



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Although these findingsare somewhat preliminary, they show potential in

that other personality characteristics not covered by the 16PF (such as the

need for achievement or locus of control) may differentiate among response

patterns.This line of research is in itsinfancy andis full of opportunity. To the

extent that personality characteristics can discriminate among different pat-

terns of response,onecould use that information to bettercompose crews for

Antarctic winter-overs and crews for similar environments, such as space

stations.

A COMPARISON WITH THE PAST

Luggs (1977) list of discussion topics from one 1966 Antarctic winter

station (see Table 7) makes an interesting comparison to the current results.Although Lugg did not differentiate between positive and negative themes,

every item onhis listappears somewhere inFigures 1 and 2. Evenwithall the

changes in technology andcommunications, it appears that some issueshave

not changed all that much in 30 years. However, there are new issues being

reported in addition to theveteran themes. Themessuch as hurt feelings,gos-

sip, deception by others, and gender roles have previously gone unreported.

Severalof these themeswere more frequently reported than were some of the

classic problems such as lack ofprivacy, badmoods, andweather complaints.

It is equally interesting to note that these new themesbeing reported allrelate

to social or interpersonal issues and not isolation and confinement issues.

This would suggest that these groups experience many of the same develop-

ment issues that any other group experiences, independent of the extreme

environment where they operate.

A LOOK TO THE FUTURE

The research extends the current literature in several ways. It is notewor-

thyin that theresponsecategorization is done using thewordsof 104subjects

from eight groupsa relatively large sample for studying groups in isola-

tionwho were queried repeatedly throughout their 9 to 12 months in Ant-

arctica. By studying multiple groups, we can begin to understand which

situations are local (unique to specific groups of individuals) and which are

more general (occurring in all or most groups). The research also presents a

not so dismal view of the Antarctic in that the participants enjoy themselves

to a great extent and have many positive experiences. These findings contra-

dict the traditional dogma of the Antarctic as an austere, barren wasteland

where expeditioners struggle for their very lives and souls. It suggests that



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102

TABLE 7

The Distribution of the Subjects Discussed at Davis According to the Topic and Month

Subjects Discussed Februarya

March Aprilb

May Juneb

July August Septemberb

October November Decemb

AmenitiesGeneral 3

Alcohol 2 1 1 2 1 1

Films and photography 1 1 1 2 2 1 1

Library and records 2

Tobacco 1

ANARE

Davis field work and

domestic issues 1 2 1 2 2 9 1 2 4 4 7

Other stations,

expeditions, head office 1 1 2 2 2 7 2 1 2

Biology (including huskies) 3 3 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 4

Communications 2 1 1 2

Current affairs

Australia 1 1

The world 1 1 2


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103

Education and science 2 2 1

Environment 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 1

Food 1 1 1 1 1

Homefamilies and

Australian issues 2 1 1 3 1

Law, authority, and

censorship 2 1

Medical and psychological 2 4 3 1 1 1 2

Miscellaneous 1 2 4

Money 1

Past experiences 1 1 1

Politics 1 3 1

Religion 2 1 1 1 1

Sex 1 6 2 4 2 1 1

Sport 1 1

Total

SOURCE: Lugg (1977, p.123). Reprinted with permission.

a. Conversations recorded during 1 week only in February.

b. Conversations not recorded during 1 week in these months.


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life in theAntarcticis quite livableand sharesmanyof thecommon problems

of everyday lifealbeit to a different degree.

Although this article provides an in-depth exploration of positive and

negative themes in expeditioners reports, it fails to address several issues.

First, the themes need to be related to mood and behavior. Although some of

the verbal reports give indications of the intensity of affect that the respon-

dents attach to some events and conditions, such reporting was inconsistent

and often lacking.

Second, the data are incomplete, perhaps underrepresenting or overrepre-

senting some themes. In more than a few instances, individuals failed to

respond to theopen-ended questions. We know that they either turnedoff the

computer or quit the questionnaire program because we have quantitative

data from sessions for which we have no written responses to the open-endedqueries.

Third, statements that were not clearly positive or negative themes were

ignored for this analysis.Some respondents attemptedto explain how or why

events transpired, to explain the rationale for their feelings and behaviors,

and to explain their views on issues that they considered important. Others

took a more clinical approach to answering the open-ended questions. They

listed events and, less often, feelings. Personality traits and othercharacteris-

tics may be related to the depth, quantity, and quality of such explanations.

CONCLUSIONS

The results presented in this article speak to the resiliency of human

nature. Even in the sparse environment of Antarctic winters, most peoplehave more positive than negative experiences.

The lists of positive and negative experiences presented in Tables 1

through 3 tell us a lot, both about the Antarctic winter experiences and about

the people who volunteer for such duty. Although the list of negative experi-

ences is lengthy, most events are relatively rare. This could indicate that most

problems are transitory or intermittent rather than continuous, or it might

indicate that individuals adapt to many of the less-than-pleasant aspects of

Antarctic life. On the other hand, although the list of positive experiences is

short, the frequency with which positive experiences are reported is much

greater than formostof thenegativeexperiences. Thereseemstobeanalmost

unlimited number of reasons for Antarctic expeditioners to be sad, angry,

depressed, frustrated, lonely, or irritated, andto havefewersources of joy and

happiness. Yet, they seek out the pleasurable and cope with the unpleasant

reasonably well.



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APPENDIX

Descriptions of Positive and Negative Theme Categorizations

Theme Description

Negative themes

No problems Responses such as nothing to report, nil, and

nothing noteworthy

Antagonisms or irritation Reports of being annoyed, irritated, frustrated with

something or someones behavior

Performance appraisals Descriptions of ANARE Personnel Performance

Instrument (APPI), the Antarctic Divisions

performance evaluation process

Bad behaviors of others Judgments about behaviors of others; a contrast to

antagonisms, which reflect the respondents

affective responses to other peoples behaviorAlcohol related Any negative reports about the consumption of alcohol

Boredom Reports of being bored, lethargic, or apathetic

Community life Reports of problems with station life and the

cohesiveness of the group (or lack thereof)

Conflicts Descriptions of conflicts or confrontations between

station members; it is implied in these descriptions

that an actual interaction took place (e.g., I had an

argument with the station leader) in contrast to

antagonisms, which reflect only cognitions and

emotions

Control issues Reported feeling a lack of autonomy, mutinous,

restricted, and a lack of control of a situation

Lies and deception Reports of people lying to others, being lied to,

feeling deceived

Errors and mistakes Reports of the respondents own mistakes, errors,or omissions at work (such as forgetting to collect

a sample, causing machinery to malfunction, etc.)

Fairness or ethics Reports of ethical or unethical behavior, unfair actions

taken by others, unfair consequences

Family problems Descriptions of marital or familial friction, illness or

injury in the family, tension due to distance from

family

Fears and worries Self-explanatory

Food complaints Criticisms of the quality or diversity of the food, lack

of fresh foods, and so forth

Gossip or rumors Reports of rumors being spread by some station

members

Gender roles Descriptions of difficulties due to a persons gender

(e.g., women being offended by sexual remarks or

jokes, feeling alienated in certain groups oractivities because of gender); although many of

the comments here could belong in other catego-


(continued)


23/27

Gender roles ries, we felt that the explicit descriptions of gender

as an underlying cause merited a separate theme

Health concerns Reports of the respondents own illness or injury

Homesick Descriptions of feelings of homesickness, missing

home, missing friends or family

Hurt feelings Descriptions of being upset because of what someone

said, teasing; developing a thick skin; unkind

remarks that were perceived to be hurtful

Field-trip complaints Complaints about not being able to go on a field trip,

(usually due to weather), experiencing bad weather

during a field trip, or having a poor companion for

a field trip

Loneliness Direct descriptions of feelings of loneliness

Management complaints Reports of people in headquarters, usually about their

lack of supportiveness or understanding of what

goes on at the station

Bad moods Descriptions of general feelings of being in a bad

mood, feeling bad, cranky

Negative attributions Negative reports of the causality of other peoples

to others behavior, such as he is an arrogant fool (disposi-

tional attributions) or he just could not get his

numbers straight today (situational attributions)

Party animals Descriptions of people who drink too much, party too

hard, conduct themselves inappropriately in a social

or festive setting

Lack of privacy Reports of the thin walls at the station, the lack of

privacy in generalFeeling restless Self-explanatory

Feeling sad or depressed Descriptions of sadness, disappointment, depression,

unhappiness, or remorse

Social discomfort Descriptions of being in socially awkward or embar-

rassing situations, and/or feeling tense as a result

Station duties Comments or complaints about having to perform

routine station duties, such as slushy (substituting

for the cook when it is the cooks night off)

Sex on station Negative reports of sexual relationships between

station members, or of unwelcome flattery or flirting

Station leader problems Complaints about the station leaders managerial style

or decision-making ability (or about specific

decisions made by the leader)

Lack of support Descriptions of others lack of contribution to the

from others station, others lack of organizational citizenshipbehavior, people not being supportive toward others

during critical times


APPENDIX Continued

Theme Description


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Negative themes

Technology complaints Complaints about hardware breaking down or

malfunctioning

Unkindness of others Reports of others being rude or unkind to the

respondent

Weather complaints Self-explanatory

Work issues Any responses related to the work that they are there

to do or about people with whom they are working;

although the people with whom they work and the

people with whom they live are the same, the

respondents made clear distinctions between their

work-related interactions and their social

relationships

Positive themes

Nothing special Responses such as nothing to report, nil, nothing

noteworthy

Field trips Responses that talked about trips (or jollies), scenic

places around the stations such as Wilkes Island,

or mentions of going out in the field

Wor k Any responses related to the wor k that they are there

to do or about people with whom they are working;

although the people with whom they work and the

people with whom they live are the same, the

respondents made clear distinctions between

their work-related interactions and their social

relationships

Life is good Comments such as things are going well or life isgood, which reflect a general positive state of

affairs on the station as perceived by the

respondent

General pleasure Comments such as Im having fun or its a lot better

than I expected this place to be, which reflect

feelings of personal enjoyment (as contrasted

with life is good, which reflects the general

condition of the station)

Outside communications Reports of faxes, e-mails, phone calls, letters, or care

packages from friends and family

Positive attributions Positive reports of the causality of other peoples

behavior, such as she is very competent

(dispositional attributions) or he was in the right

place at the right time (situational attributions)

Chatting with others Reports of pleasant conversations with othermembers of the station


APPENDIX Continued

Theme Description

(continued)


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Support from others Descriptions of behaviors from others that show

helpfulness at critical times

Recreational activities Self-explanatory; also activities such as movie night

(sports, etc.not listed and so forth

elsewhere)

Sense of community Reports of the occupants of the station as a microso-

ciety or community, comments about the cohesive-

ness of the group

Festivities Reports of parties (like the St. Patricks Day party) and

planned events (such as the midwinter festival)

Awed by the environment Statements about the beauty of the Antarctic, sunsets

and sunrises, nature, and so forth

Photography Several respondents enjoyed taking photographs of

the landscape as a pastime; reports of such

activities, including descriptions of photographic

subjects and photographic development processes,

were categorized here

Alcohol related Any positive descriptions of the consumption of

alcohol, including instances of drinking with other

members to relax

Food and meals Reports of a good meal, enjoyment of certain kinds of

foods, care packages that contained food items,

and so forth

Romance Descriptions of developing romantic relationships

between station members

Goal attainment Descriptions of accomplishing all the work that a

respondent had set out to do, or reaching somepersonal goal

Feeling included Specific reports of feelings of belongingness; this is

different from a sense of community in that the

latter refers to the group as a whole, whereas the

former refers to one persons feelings about his or

her role in the group

Rest and relaxation Reports of sleep, having time off, things that are

relaxing to respondents, and so forth

Adventures Events that the respondent reported as especially

exciting or adventuresome, such as driving through

a treacherous terrain during a field trip or the sense

of adventure from being in Antarctica


APPENDIX Continued

Theme Description


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