No abstract

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global drowning report (2017), drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide. Drowning can occur anywhere there is water: oceans, seas, lakes, pools, bathtubs, rivers or water collection on the side of the road, etc. In many countries, there are drowning prevention programs for children and adults. The two most commonly used strategiesagainst drowning are the presence of lifeguards in public places and the use of protected areas that could prevent most of the drownings. The main aim of the present study is to examine the individual differences in a Big Five plus Two (BF+2) personality traits in lifeguards and non-lifeguards (including students). The subsample of lifeguards represented 122 male respondents who were, at the time of the survey, licensed as lifeguards (60.9%) or were in training for lifeguards—candidates (39.1%). The subsample of students represented 138 male respondents who were studying at the University of Novi Sad. The results indicate that lifeguards in comparison to students are more extraverted, open to experience, and conscientious, less neurotic, and aggressive. Both positive and negative valence are higher in student subsample. All of the above traits are desirable traits for people working as lifeguards.

The aim of this study was to determine the gender differences between students' actual and perceived water abilities, how respondents assess risk in the described situations, and whether there are gender differences for those situations. The cross-sectional study was conducted on 150 students aged 19–20 years (males, n = 88; females, n = 62) from the faculty of sport and physical education, University of Novi Sad. Using calculated frequencies and estimates, students' self-assessment and actual measures of their swimming and survival skills and their perceived risk of drowning are described. Based on the results, Mann-Whitney U tests were applied. The differences between independent variables (gender) were analyzed according to dependent measures (water competency). To determine the significance of the relationship between actual and perceived skills, Spearman-rank correlation coefficients were calculated. The results of this study confirmed gender differences between students' actual and perceived water abilities, and that the male and female students had inaccurate perceptions of their own perceived and real water abilities. Both male and female students, with high precision, assessed their ability to swim long distances (rs = 0.601; rs = 0.694) just as female students assessed their ability to float (rs = 0.698). Male students greatly overestimated their backstroke swimming, while female students underestimated their ability to dive into the water. Both groups overestimated underwater swimming and underestimated their surface dive skill. Also, there was gender differences between students in assessing the risk for described situations.