Assessment of seasickness and its consequences by a method of peer evaluation

Abstract

A Seasickness Questionnaire, based on a peer-rating technique, was administered to 172 Israeli Navy sailors. Use of interrater agreement as a reliability index and two cutoff points for the partition of the sample resulted in the elimination of about one-third of the initial sampl and the formation of two subsamples-the "sick" (N equals 45) and "not sick" (N equals 73) sailors. By using differentially weighted scores for various intensities of seasickness, it was demonstrated that two normally confounded aspects of seasickness can be assessed independently: physical symptoms, which constitute the apparent severity of the sickness (A.S.S.), and level of actual performance (A.P.), which reflects the individual's attempts to cope with the sickness. A.S.S. and A.P. showed differential relationships with variables such as personality disposition of active coping, military rank, and sociometric status.