Forced Retirement From Elite Football In Australia

Abstract

Retirement from sport poses a major socioemotional threat to elite athletes. The present study builds on a growing body of literature examining the vacuum created in an athlete's life after retirement. Grounded theory was used to construct how elite football players dealt with forced retirement owing to injury and deselection. Recursive in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 recently retired players who had competed at the highest level in Australian Rules football. The data were characterized by a rich array of personal reflections of loss and grief that reflected four themes: loss of identity, perceived control, financial issues, and social support. Interviewees typically told stories that were tinged with shock, regret, bitterness, distress, and perceived loss of status.     

Implementation of a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program to reduce stress,anxiety, and depression and to improve psychological well-being among retired Iranian football players

ObjectivesTo test whether a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program could reduce symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression, and increase psychological well-being among retired Iranian football players compared to an active control group.DesignRandomized controlled trial, with an 8-week MBSR intervention (16 group sessions, 90 min each) and an active control group. Three data assessments were performed at baseline, eight weeks later after completion of the intervention, and again twelve weeks later at follow-up.MethodsForty male retired football players (M_age = 34.05, SD = 1.72) were randomly assigned either to the MBSR intervention or the active control condition. All participants completed questionnaires on perceived stress, anxiety, depression, and psychological well-being. Repeated measures analyses of variance were used to assess time by group interactions.ResultsSignificant time by group interaction effects were found for all outcomes. In the MBSR group, psychological well-being improved and symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression decreased over time from baseline to intervention completion and to follow-up. In the active control group, the outcomes remained relatively stable across time.ConclusionsThe present findings suggest that among male retired Iranian football players, a MBSR intervention has the potential to reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression, and to increase their psychological well-being. Potential (underlying) mechanisms were not assessed in the present study. In future investigations, researchers should try to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms which may explain the observed effects.     

Conceptualizing bullying in adult professional football: A phenomenological exploration

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to gain an in-depth insight into male professional footballers' perception of the concept of bullying and to explore the essences of this behavior within this context.Design and MethodSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 adult male professional football players in the UK. Data were analyzed in accordance with the principles of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.ResultsParticipants highlighted that key themes within Olewus' (1993) seminal definition of bullying are relevant to professional football such as repetition, power, abuse and harm doing. Notably, there were variations in footballers' views of the constituents of these themes which were explained by divergent perceptions of how the football context shaped these components of bullying. It was evident however, that certain common elements of the football environment, such as its inherent masculinity, identity conforming nature and authoritarianism helped to contextualize the players' conceptualizations of bullying.ConclusionsWhile some of the identified themes mirrored classic definitions of bullying, this concept was articulated in an individually nuanced, context dependent fashion. These findings advance bullying literature by demonstrating how professional football shapes perceptions of this concept, while highlighting the importance of contextually tailored intervention program to address bullying.     

From childhood to senior professional football: A multi-level approach to elite youth football players’ engagement in football-specific activities

ObjectivesThe main aim of this study was to identify the development of engagement in football-specific activities of elite youth association football (soccer) players who have made the transition to senior professional status or not.DesignComparative research design.MethodData were collected from all elite youth players (N = 745) within the age-range of 14–21 years from all Norwegian Premier League clubs, using a retrospective questionnaire. A within elite-group comparison of players who had obtained a senior professional contract or not was conducted by using multi-level modeling (n = 491).ResultsThe results showed that although the professional players reported to have accumulated more overall practice hours than non-professionals from ages 6 to 19 years, none of these differences were significant. The professional players reported to have accumulated significantly more hours in play and coach-led practice at the youngest age categories. No significant differences were identified at older age categories or for other types of football-specific practice at any age.ConclusionsDifferences in performance attainment may be due to variation in the amount and types of football practice at the earliest years of participation, but may also be related to other factors than the number of hours spent in certain football-specific activities. We argue that implementation of multi-level modeling represents an important progression within practice history research, and is necessary to account for the actual individual’s development over time in addition to identify how different variables may affect the developmental process.     

An Exploration of the Experiences of Elite Youth Footballers: The Impact of Organizational Culture

The present study explored how the organizational cultural experiences of elite youth footballers shaped their identity development and behavior. The first author occupied the position of sport psychology practitioner-researcher within 1 professional football club over 3 years. Traditional ethnographic research methods were employed, including observations, field notes, reflections, and informal interviews. A cultural sport psychology perspective on identity as a social construction and research on the cultural characteristics of professional football were used as frameworks to make sense of the data. Despite the introduction of the Elite Player Performance Plan in 2012, the traditional masculine culture of professional football dominated the studied club. Creative nonfiction vignettes revealed that youth players were encouraged to develop their self-stories focused on a single-minded dedication to professional football. The limited identity-related resources offered at both club and cultural level are detrimental for players in terms of their well-being and long-term psychological development. From the results of this study, we suggest that future sports psychology practice within professional football may best be delivered at an organizational level. However, for sport psychologists to be effective in this role, they must develop an understanding of the subcultural features and characteristics of the organization. In line with this, there would be great value in introducing a focus on organizational culture within sport psychology professional training and education routes.

Lay Summary: This paper explores the impact of the professional football culture on the psychological development of elite youth footballers. From the findings we suggest that sport psychology should be delivered at an organisational level.     

The decision to adopt a formal athlete leadership group: Qualitative insights from professional football coaches

ObjectivesAthlete Leadership Groups (ALGs) are increasingly being employed in professional football teams and whilst there is a growing body of quantitative research focussed on athlete leadership in other contexts, qualitative studies at the professional level are scant. The purpose of this study is to explore coaches' adoption of formal ALGs in professional football teams and what influences their decisions about the degree to which players are given leadership responsibilities and roles.DesignQualitative- Inductive.Method16 head coaches from 16 professional football teams, across four leagues (Super Rugby n = 4, National Rugby League n = 5, A League n = 3 and Australian Football League n = 4), participated in semi-structured interviews investigating why coaches are increasingly using ALGs in this environment and what influences the extent to which these ALGs are empowered.ResultsAn inductive thematic analysis indicated coaches' initial decisions to adopt an ALG model were influenced by a range of perceived benefits (team management, team functioning and performance) underpinned by personal factors (past experience, coaching philosophy, interpersonal style and understanding of social influence) and their appraisal of situational considerations (readiness, expectations and commitment), which influenced their ALG implementation decisions (how and to what extent players were empowered and leadership responsibilities delegated).ConclusionsOverall, the coaches' decision to use ALGs in the professional football environment was influenced by a belief that player ownership and autonomy, coupled with the influence of peer leadership underpins performance benefits on and off-field and plays a key role in team culture. However, findings suggest that coaches contemplating adopting an ALG model should take an individually tailored approach. For this approach to be effective, coaches consider and address a range of situational factors, and ensure the leadership model adopted reflects their personal beliefs and the capacity and context of the team.     

Reconciling the maintenance of on-field success with off-field player development: A case study of a club culture within the Australian Football League

ObjectivesAs a contribution to developing understanding of how professional athletes may successfully develop a dual career and maintain a balance between life on and off the field, the present study sought to analyse a professional Australian Football club culture that has been identified within the industry as successfully supporting player dual career development. At the same time the club has been able to maintain a successful on-field record.MethodsA case study methodology was used for the analysis with Schein's (2010) levels of organisational culture providing a theoretical framework. Data were collected by means of fifteen interviews which included players (11), and non-playing staff (4) comprising an executive staff member, a coach, a team manager, and the player development manager. Observations were also made and recorded by the first author during a two week immersion in the club environment.ResultsFour basic assumptions that explained the coherence between espoused values and artefacts concerning dual career development were identified. They were that: dual career development is important however football comes first; balancing sport and off-field life ensures players' well-being and facilitates on-field performance; players should be encouraged to find personal meaning in their dual career activity, and; the club has an ethical responsibility to support player dual career development.ConclusionAnalysis of the findings suggests that the successful support of dual careers requires a coherent club culture, where related activities exist as part of a holistic approach to player development. This approach must recognise the priority placed on athletic performance.     

Explanatory style and coping with controllable events by student-athletes

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between explanatory style and the appraisal and coping of 66 major college football players with respect to stressful but controllable events in the academic and the athletic domains. A path analysis showed that for controllable events, a “pessimistic” explanatory style-in which bad events are attributed to internal, stable, and global causes-predicted appraisals of adequate resources to cope with demands, which in turn predicted increased attempts to cope.     

The rise and fall of executive functions in high-level football players

IntroductionExecutive functions are higher-level cognitive functions. Despite being relevant to many aspects of everyday life, it is contentious whether executive functions are important for high performing athletes. Executive functions increase throughout the career of an athlete, yet it remains unknown what are the main contributors. Therefore, this study examined the effect of age and experience on executive functions in a cohort of high performing football players.MethodsData were collected over three seasons, resulting in a mixed longitudinal sample of 1018 observations in 343 male players (1–5 observations/player, age: 10.34–34.72 years; playing experience: 5–22 years) from the U12-Senior age groups of a professional German football club. Players participated in four cognitive tasks aimed at measuring higher-level cognitive functioning: a precued choice reaction-time task, a stop-signal reaction-time task, a sustained attention task, and a multiple-object tracking task, from which a total of eight dependent variables related to response time and/or accuracy were derived.ResultsLinear and non-linear mixed effects regressions were used to investigate the relationship between age, experience and executive functions. A second order polynomial revealed that, generally, a negatively accelerated curve best described the relationship between age, experience and executive functions. An increasingly smaller difference in executive functioning was generally observed between subsequent age groups, with a performance plateau evident around adulthood (~21 years old). Age and experience only explained a very low to moderate proportion of the variance in executive functions (marginal explained variance ranged between 2 and 57%). A significant age by field position interaction effect was only observed for the sustained attention task’s accuracy and response time components (p < 0.001).ConclusionsBoth age and experience showed a negatively accelerated relationship with executive functions in youth football players, and this relationship was generally field position-independent. These negatively accelerated curves seem to reflect those observed in general populations, where a plateau phase in the development of higher-level cognitive functioning is also observed around 21 years, reflecting the maturation of the central nervous system in normally developing individuals. Therefore, this study challenges the assumption surrounding the use and validity of executive functions as a measure of football performance potential in high performing athletes.     

Long-Term stress reactions in new immigrants to israel exposed to the chernobyl accident

Abstract

This comparison study examined the relation between presumed level of exposure to the accident at Chernobyl in 1986 to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological symptoms (depression, somatization, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive style and interpersonal sensitivity), life events and the negative appraisal of the events surrounding the accident. The sample (N = 708) included new immigrants from the former Soviet Union (Confederation of Independent States) who arrived in Israel since 1989 from more exposed areas (n = 137), less exposed (n = 240) and a comparison sample (n = 331) who immigrated from other republics. The exposed groups had higher mean scores on all psychological outcome measures than the comparison group, particularly symptoms of PTSD. Both subsequent stressful life events and a negative, cognitive assessment of events contributed to present psychological distress, independent of exposure.     

Dispositional mindfulness,insomnia, sleep quality and dysfunctional sleep beliefs in post-treatment cancer patients

Dispositional mindfulness, or the tendency to be more mindful in daily life, has been associated with better psychological functioning and reduced overall distress. This study investigated the degree to which dispositional mindfulness was associated with sleep disturbances in cancer patients with insomnia. Further, we examined whether levels of mindfulness moderated the relationship between stress levels, mood disturbance, insomnia severity, sleep quality and dysfunctional sleep beliefs. Participants (N = 111) were adults who had been previously treated for cancer and currently met diagnostic criteria for insomnia. Higher levels of acting with awareness, non-judging and non-reacting were associated with better sleep and psychological outcomes. Despite these significant associations, mindfulness facets did not significantly moderate the relationship between stress, mood and sleep outcomes. This negative finding raises the possibility that increased mindfulness may not act directly to improve psychological outcomes, but rather through a series of other cognitive and affective changes. Our results emphasize the importance of addressing mood symptoms and stress appraisals as predictors of sleep disturbance in cancer patients.     

A Pre-Match Video Self-Modeling Intervention in Elite Youth Football

In this study, a self-modelling video intervention was delivered to four elite youth soccer players over 13 weeks of the competitive soccer season. A multiple-baseline, repeated measures single-subject design was used to explore the impact of the intervention on subcomponents of soccer performance and psychological variables, including self-efficacy and positive/negative affect. Statistical analysis indicated that there were significant changes between pre- and post-intervention scores for two players (1 & 3) on three subcomponents of performance (turns, headers and tackles). The findings of this study highlight the potential benefits of designing individualised pre-match video interventions with elite youth athletes.

Lay Summary:

Video self-modelling (VSM) is a behavioural intervention in which an athlete views a video of themselves engaged in adaptive behaviour, in order to learn to reproduce it effectively under pressure. In this study, the impact of a self-modelling video intervention is examined within a youth football soccer environment.     

Relationships between stigma-identity constructs and psychological health outcomes among adults who stutter

PurposeIn the current study, stuttering was conceptualized as a concealable stigmatized identity (CSI). The purpose of this investigation was to determine if four specific stigma-identity constructs that contribute to variability in psychological distress among people in other CSI groups also contribute among adult who stutter (AWS).Method505 AWS completed an online survey that included measures of four stigma-identity constructs in addition to general demographics and measures of self-rated stuttering severity, distress, and adverse impact of stuttering on quality of life. Hierarchical regression was performed to determine the extent that stigma-identity constructs explained variability in psychological health outcomes among AWS. Self-rated stuttering severity was investigated as a moderator in these relationships.ResultsThe stigma-identity constructs accounted for a significant proportion of the variability in distress (∼25 %) and adverse impact of stuttering on quality of life (∼30 %) among AWS. Further, the constructs of salience, centrality, and concealment were positively predictive of distress and adverse impact of stuttering after controlling for demographics and neuroticism. Compared to the other predictor variables (self-rated stuttering severity, demographic characteristics, neuroticism, and the three other stigma-identity constructs), concealment was the strongest predictor of adverse impact of stuttering on quality of life. Finally, self-rated stuttering severity was a moderating variable.ConclusionsThe results from this study suggest that there are useful applications in conceptualizing stuttering as a type of CSI. Speech-language pathologists should be aware of the relationships that stigma has with psychological health outcomes among AWS and should consider the implications for intervention.     

Exploring the associations shared by mood,pain-related attention and pain outcomes related to sleep disturbance in a chronic pain sample

Objective: Sleep disturbance in chronic pain is common, occurring in two-thirds of patients. There is a complex relationship between chronic pain and sleep; pain can disrupt sleep and poor sleep can exaggerate pain intensity. This may have an impact on both depressive symptoms and attention to pain. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between chronic pain and sleep, and the role of mood and attention.

Methods: Chronic pain patients, recruited from a secondary care outpatient clinic, completed self-report measures of pain, sleep, depressive symptoms and attention to pain. Hierarchical regression and structural equation modelling were used to explore the relationships between these measures. Participants (n = 221) were aged between 20 and 84 (mean = 52) years.

Results: The majority of participants were found to be ‘poor sleepers’ (86%) with increased pain severity, depressive symptoms and attention to pain. Both analytical approaches indicated that sleep disturbance is indirectly associated with increased pain severity Instead the relationship shared by sleep disturbance and pain severity was further associated with depressive symptoms and attention to pain.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that sleep disturbance may contribute to clinical pain severity indirectly though changes in mood and attention. Prospective studies exploring lagged associations between these constructs could have critical information relevant to the treatment of chronic pain.     

Role ambiguity,role conflict,team conflict,cohesion and collective efficacy in sport teams: A multilevel analysis

ObjectivesThis study examines how perceptions of role ambiguity, role conflict, team conflict, and cohesion can predict collective efficacy in sports teams.DesignWe adopted a longitudinal perspective, taking measures at the beginning, the middle, and the end of a sport season.MethodsThe participants were professional female and male football players, who participated in the First and Second Divisions in Spain. They completed a multi-section questionnaire assessing role ambiguity, role conflict, cohesion and collective efficacy.ResultsMultilevel modelling analysis showed that perceptions of team conflict and cohesion, at the interpersonal and interteam levels, can predict changes in collective efficacy. However, individual perceptions of role ambiguity and role conflict were not relevant in establishing a team's confidence.ConclusionsThese results suggest interesting practical applications for coaches and sports psychologists in the professional sphere.     

Intolerance of uncertainty predicts analogue posttraumatic stress following adverse life events

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There is evidence that intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is associated with elevated post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms. There is a scarcity of research examining whether IU is prospectively related to PTS following exposure to negative life events. Using data from a Dutch student-sample, we examined the degree to which IU predicts post-traumatic stress symptoms associated with negative stressful life events (analogue posttraumatic stress (PTS)).

DESIGN: This was a prospective survey-study.

METHODS: A group of 193 undergraduate students completed self-report measures of Inhibitory IU, Prospective IU, and anxiety sensitivity (at Time 1, T1). One year later (at T2), participants rated adverse life-events experienced between T1 and T2, and completed a questionnaire tapping PTS associated with the most distressing event experienced in this time-frame. We hypothesized that pre-event Inhibitory IU and—to a lesser extent—Prospective IU would predict analogue PTS, after covarying for anxiety sensitivity.

RESULTS: As predicted, pre-event Inhibitory IU predicted post-event analogue PTS, even when controlling for anxiety sensitivity. With respect to distinct analogue PTS clusters, Inhibitory IU predicted PTS avoidance and PTS hyperarousal, but was unrelated to PTS reexperiencing.

CONCLUSIONS: This study confirm that IU, particularly Inhibitory IU, may convey risk for elevated PTS following adverse life events.     

The Contributions of Political Life Events to Psychological Distress Among South African

The psychological consequences of adverse political experiences among South African youth were studied in a sample of 540 black and white adolescents from two age groups, evenly divided by gender. Three questionnaires were administered, measuring exposure to political life events, the presence of symptoms of psychopathology, and stressful personal life events during the previous 5 years. The first hypothesis, predicting a substantial contribution of stressful political experiences to psychopathology, was strongly supported; when stressful personal life events were partialed out, a significant effect for political life events remained both on general distress and symptomatology indices. The second hypothesis of a linear relation between exposure to political life events and severity of distress was also confirmed. The findings underscore the enduring impact on children's mental health of past apartheid policies in South Africa specifically, and adverse political environments in general.