Because actual physical threats are generally attenuated
in contemporary situations, the safety benefits of neuroticism
may be hard to detect empirically. However, certain
groups who take extreme risks, such as alpinists
(Goma-i-Freixanet, 1991) and Mount Everest climbers
(Egan & Stelmack, 2003), have been found to be unusually
low in neuroticism. Given the high mortality involved in
such endeavors (around 300 people have died in attempting
Everest), this finding suggests that neuroticism can be
protective.