Emotional experiences in youth tennis

ObjectivesTo explore adolescents' emotional experiences in competitive sport. Specifically, this study sought to identify, 1) The emotions adolescents' experience at tennis tournaments, 2) The precursors of the emotions they experience, and, 3) How adolescents attempt to cope with these emotions.DesignCase-study.MethodFour adolescent tennis players competed in four or five tennis matches under the observation of a researcher. Immediately following each match, participants completed a post-match review sheet and a semi-structured interview. A further semi-structured interview was completed at the end of the tournament. Review sheets, notes from match observations, and video recordings of matches were used to stimulate discussions during final interviews. All data were analyzed following the procedures outlined by Miles and Huberman (1994).ResultsParticipants cited numerous positively and negatively valenced emotions during matches and tournaments. Participants' emotions seemed to be broadly influenced by their perceptions of performance and outcomes, as well as their opponent's behavior and player's perceptions of their own behavior. Participants described various strategies to cope with these emotions, such as controlling breathing rate, focusing on positive thoughts, and individualized routines. Further, if participants perceived them to be facilitative, negative emotions could be beneficial for performance.ConclusionThis study provided original insights into the complexity of adolescent athletes' emotional experiences at competitions and highlights the critical need for further in-depth examinations of youth sport to fully comprehend the experiences of young people. Most notably, the findings highlight the necessity of considering the impact of both intra- and interpersonal influences on adolescents' emotional experiences, while also accounting for temporal changes.     

Influencer les jugements de l'adversaire au cours des interactions sportives compétitives : un exemple en tennis de table

This study analysed the masking activity of table tennis players, and any activity attempting to influence opponent's perceptions. We studied the activity of five French table tennis players during national matches in reference to the course of action theory (Theureau, 1992). Matches were videotaped, and the players' verbalizations as they viewed the tapes were collected a posteriori. The data were analysed by 1) transcribing the players' actions and verbalizations, 2) decomposing their activity into elementary units of meaning, and 3) analysing the meaningful structures of the course of action. The results showed that a large part of the table tennis players activity attempts to influence opponent's judgments. This activity aims to 1) modify the opponent's emotional experience, and 2) influence the opponent's perception of adversarial relationship. It is expressed through strokes and behaviors not related to the game. Our results lead to a new perspective of table tennis matches analysis in term of collective activity and “shared context” (Salembier and Zouinar, 2004).     

Successful management of automatic dysfunctional thoughts in the context of negative emotions

Background and objectives: Cognitive and affective overloads trigger automatic dysfunctional thoughts and undermine their voluntary management [ADTs; Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. New York: Meridian; Wegner, D. M. (1994). Ironic processes of mental control. Psychology Review, 101(1), 34–52]. Taking into account intense negative emotions as triggers for the ADTs, we explored whether context (i.e., social context) and emotional experience (i.e., emotional intensity) predict the successful management of ADTs. We also examine the moderating role of difficulties in emotional regulation strategies.

Method: Thirty-eight participants wrote in a personal online diary of at least 10 times in 40 weeks. We analyzed the conditions for managing ADTs by means of multilevel in stages models.

Results: Emotional intensity negatively predicted successful management of ADTs. Attempts to control ADTs and work context positively predicted successful management of ADTs. The negative relation between the emotional intensity and the management of ADTs was stronger as individuals were less aware of their own emotions, and was weaker as they had less clear representations of their own emotions. Superior access to emotion regulation strategies explained a stronger relationship between the work context and the successful management of ADTs.

Conclusions: We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the results.     

Perceived anger profiles in table tennis players: Relationship with burnout and coping

ObjectivesThis study aimed to identify dispositional anger profiles in table-tennis players and examine whether participants from distinct profiles significantly differed on athlete burnout symptoms and coping.DesignA quantitative cross-sectional design was used in the present study.MethodA sample of 244 table tennis players (M_age = 31.29; SD = 9.72) completed a series of self-report questionnaires designed to assess anger (the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory; STAXI-2), coping (the Coping Inventory for Competitive Sport; CICS) and athlete burnout symptoms (the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire; ABQ).ResultsThree-profile solution showed best fit to data, to analyze them LPA models were run by first testing a one-class model and then exploring models with more classes in order to identify the anger profiles: The anger profiles were labelled as: (a) High anger profile comprising players with moderate scores of temperament, external expression, external control, reaction and high scores, internal expression and control (n = 91); (b) Overwhelmed anger profile comprising players with high scores on temperament, reaction, internal and external expression, and low scores of internal and external control (n = 13); and (c) Low anger profile comprising players with low levels of temperament, reaction, internal and external expression and high levels of internal and external control (n = 140). Results of BCH method revealed significant differences across profiles in athlete burnout symptoms and coping. In particular, table-tennis players from the high anger profile reported significant higher scores of physical and emotional exhaustion, sport devaluation, reduced sense of accomplishment, resignation, distancing and venting emotions than players belonging to the low anger profile.ConclusionsThree different anger profiles among table-tennis players emerged from the cluster analyses. Players from the overwhelmed anger profile were characterized by the worst psychological adjustment based on their scores of coping and athlete burnout symptoms. Thus, it would be interesting to develop empirically proven interventions designed to help such athletes modify their maladaptive anger profile in order to maximize their psychological adjustment to the inherent demands of table-tennis.     

What are the combined effects of negative emotions and illness cognitions on self-care in people with type 2 diabetes? A longitudinal structural equation model

Objective: To explore whether negative emotions mediate the effect of diabetes cognitions on diabetes self-care and conversely whether diabetes cognitions mediate the effect of negative emotions on diabetes self-care.

Design: Longitudinal observational study in adults with type 2 diabetes.

Main outcome measures: Self-reported depression and anxiety (Diabetes Wellbeing Questionnaire), cognitions (Illness Perceptions Questionnaire-Revised; Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire), and diabetes self-care (Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Scale) were completed at baseline and six months. Analyses used structural equation modelling.

Results: Baseline medication concerns were associated with elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety at follow-up, but emotions did not mediate medication concern’s effect on diabetes self-care. Baseline depression and anxiety symptoms were associated with specific diabetes cognitions over time, but these cognition domains did not mediate emotion’s effect on diabetes self-care. Personal control remained independent of emotions and was associated with diabetes self-care over time.

Conclusions: Negative emotions did not act directly or alongside cognitions to influence diabetes self-care. The reciprocal relationship between diabetes cognitions and emotions suggests cognitive restructuring, in addition to other mood management intervention techniques would likely improve the emotional wellbeing of adults with type 2 diabetes. Likewise, personal control beliefs are likely important intervention targets for improving self-care.     

Exploring the retirement from sport decision-making process based on the transtheoretical model

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to complement and extend the current knowledge of the particular stages of athletes’ career transition process through employing the transtheoretical model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1984) as a theoretical framework. More specifically, the current study aimed to explore Korean elite tennis players’ career transition process through focusing on their retirement decision-making process, including their cognitive and behavioral changes and internal and external influences for their decisions during the final stages of their sport careers and the retirement decision-making process.DesignWe employed focus groups.MethodsA total of 12 participants took part in one of three focus groups (i.e., four current players, five retired players, and three coaches) that focused on the process of athletes' retirement decision-making. All participants (seven males and five females; Mean age = 31.25, SD = 3.49 years) were either current or former Korean elite-level tennis players. The data were thematically content analyzed.ResultsThe results revealed three themes: (a) readiness for retirement, (b) psychological and emotional responses during the decision-making process, and (c) coping strategies; and showed that athletes’ decision-making at the end of their sports careers is a dynamic process, accompanied by various emotional responses requiring different coping strategies at different stages.ConclusionFindings indicated that the transtheoretical model helped to explain athletes’ decision-making in retiring from sport and suggested to the need to provide different interventions at different stages. Identifying detailed aspects of readiness for retirement and examining the effectiveness of interventions grounded in the transtheoretical model are recommended as future research directions.     

Parenting in youth tennis: Understanding and enhancing children's experiences

ObjectiveThe overall purpose of this study was to develop a grounded theory of optimal parental involvement in youth tennis.DesignA Straussian grounded theory methodology (Corbin and Strauss, 2008, Strauss and Corbin, 1998) was used. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 90 youth tennis players, ex-youth players, parents, and coaches from the United Kingdom. Data were analyzed through a process of open and axial coding, and theoretical integration. Through this process data were broken down into smaller units (concepts), relationships between concepts were identified, and a substantive grounded theory was developed.ResultsThe grounded theory of optimal parental involvement in tennis was built around the core category of ‘understanding and enhancing your child's tennis journey.’ The core category was underpinned by three categories: (a) Share and communicate goals, which referred to the need for parents and children to have the same aims for the child's tennis involvement; (b) develop an understanding emotional climate, which accounted for the need for parents to continually seek to foster an environment in which children perceived parents understand their experience, and; (c) engage in enhancing parenting practices at competitions, which denoted the specific behaviors parents should display in relation to competitive tennis.ConclusionThe theory predicts that consistency between goals, emotional climate, and parenting practices will optimize parenting in youth tennis.     

Trait anxiety and attenuated negative affect differentiation: a vulnerability factor to consider?

Background and Objectives: Describing emotional experiences using distinct terms, or affect differentiation, has been associated with emotion regulation and adaptive behavior under stress. There is little data, however, examining the association between differentiation and dispositional factors underlying psychopathology. The current study examines the association between differentiation and trait anxiety (TA) given prior evidence of cognitive biases in TA relevant to higher order processing of emotional experiences.

Design: We examined cross-sectionally, via lab-based repeated assessment, the association between differentiation of negative and positive experiences and TA.

Methods: Two hundred twenty-two adults completed an emotion reactivity task including repeated assessments of affect. We hypothesized that individuals higher in trait anxiety (HTA) would have greater difficulty differentiating their experiences.

Results: HTA individuals exhibited lower levels of negative affect (NA) differentiation even when controlling for depression. Although negative emotion intensity was consistently associated with lower differentiation, this did not account for the influence of HTA on differentiation.

Conclusions: These data suggest that HTA individuals have greater difficulty differentiating negative emotions, regardless of negative emotion intensity and depression. As HTA is common to many emotional disorders; this evidence suggests that poor differentiation may also be an important transdiagnostic consideration in models of risk and of affective disease.     

Coping strategies of former prisoners of war mediate the intergenerational transmission of posttraumatic stress symptoms

Objectives: Certain coping strategies, characterized by emotional coping or disengagement/ avoidance, have been linked to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and PTSD symptoms (PTSS). However, the role of primary trauma victims’ coping strategies in the intergenerational transmission of PTSS is still lacking. This prospective study assessed the mediating role of former prisoners of war’s (ex-POWs) coping strategies in the associations between ex-POWs’ PTSS and their adult offspring’s secondary PTSS in relation to their fathers’ captivity and psychiatric symptomatology.

Design: A correlational, prospective study.

Method: A sample from the 1973 Yom Kippur War composed of 79 Israeli ex-POW father-offspring dyads completed self-report measures. Fathers were assessed in 2001 and 2008, and their adult offspring participated in 2014.

Results: ex-POWs’ problem-focused coping strategies of active coping and planning, as well as disengagement-oriented coping strategies of alcohol and substance use and venting of emotions, were negatively associated with offspring’s PTSS and psychiatric symptomatology. Importantly, ex-POWs’ venting of emotions mediated the link between ex-POWs’ PTSS and their offspring’s secondary PTSS.

Conclusions: Ex-POWs with PTSS might expose their offspring to dysregulated mood, behaviors, and cognitions. Special awareness should be given to the venting of emotions coping style as possible mechanism for the intergenerational transmission of captivity-related PTSS.     

Course-of-action theory in table tennis: a qualitative analysis of the knowledge used by three elite players during matches

The course-of-action theory (J. Theureau, Le Cours d'action: Analyse Sémiologique, 1992) provided the framework for this study, which described how expert table tennis players' mobilized knowledge in relation with their mode of involvement (exploratory and executory). Matches were videotaped during international meets and the verbalizations of the players as they viewed the tapes were collected a posteriori. The data were processed by transcribing the players' actions and verbalizations, decomposing their activity into elementary units of meaning, labeling the constituents of these units, identifying typical exploratory and executory sequences. The results showed that the knowledge mobilized by the players during the matches differed with their mode of involvement. Knowledge was continuously put into relationship with significant elements in the unfolding situation in order to create interpretive chains, and this contributed to building a meaningful world for the players. The players' cognitive activity was thus revealed to be a permanent construction of meaning aimed at reducing uncertainty in situations of competitive interaction.     

Can we link emotional eating with the emotion regulation skills of adolescents?

Objective: A recent cross-sectional study showed that maternal rejection is associated with emotional eating of obese youngsters seeking treatment, and that this relation is mediated by maladaptive emotion regulation (ER) of the youngsters. We wanted to build on this study and investigate the relation between parental rejection, maladaptive ER and emotional eating in a community sample using longitudinal data.

Design: Participants were 81 youngsters between the ages of 10 and 16 years. Participants completed questionnaires assessing maternal and paternal rejection, ER strategies and emotional eating, at two time moments (M = 71 days between time moments). Latent change models were used to estimate level and change of each variable.

Results: Results showed that the levels of maternal rejection, maladaptive ER and emotional eating were related. The indirect effect of the level of maternal rejection on the level of emotional eating through the level of maladaptive ER was marginally significant. On average, maternal rejection showed no change over time, whereas the other variables decreased. The changes in the variables were not related.

Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of assessing the emotional bond between mother and youngster and the ER of youngsters with an emotional eating style.     

Managing multiple chronic conditions in Singapore – Exploring the perspectives and experiences of family caregivers of patients with diabetes and end stage renal disease on haemodialysis

Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is the commonest cause of end stage renal disease (ESRD). Despite increasing DM-ESRD prevalence and high dependency on care, there is a lack of literature on DM-ESRD caregivers. We sought to explore the perspectives and experiences of caregivers of patients with DM undergoing haemodialysis in Singapore.

Design: This study employed an exploratory, qualitative design comprising in-depth interviews with caregivers of DM-ESRD patients.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 20 family caregivers (54.2 ± 12.6 years; 75% female) of DM-ESRD patients. Data were analysed using Thematic Analysis.

Results: Key caregiving challenges identified were managing diet, care recipients’ emotions and mobility dependence. Patients’ emotional reactions caused interpersonal conflicts and hindered treatment management. Difficulties in dietary management were linked to patients’ erratic appetite, caregivers’ lack/poor understanding of the dietary guidelines and caregivers’ low perceived competence. Limited resources in terms of social support and finances were also noted. Physical and psychological well-being and employment were adversely affected by caregiving role.

Conclusion: This study highlights distinctive aspects of the DM-ESRD caregiving experience, which impact on caregivers’ health and challenge care. Disease management programmes should be expanded to support caregivers in dealing with multimorbidity.     

Differential effects of approach bias and eating style on unhealthy food consumption in overweight and normal weight women

Objective: The current study aimed to examine the effects of approach bias for unhealthy food and trait eating style on consumption of unhealthy food in overweight and normal weight individuals.

Method: Participants were 245 undergraduate women aged 17 – 26 years. They completed an Approach–Avoidance Task, the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (to assess restrained, emotional, and external eating), and a taste test to measure consumption of unhealthy food.

Results: An external eating style predicted increased consumption of unhealthy food. Among overweight participants, external and emotional eating style individually moderated the relationship between approach bias for unhealthy food and subsequent consumption. Specifically, approach bias was positively related to consumption in high external and emotional eaters, but negatively related to consumption in low emotional eaters. These interactions were not observed among normal weight participants.

Conclusion: Practically, the results suggest that overweight individuals who are external or emotional eaters may benefit from interventions that aim to modify approach bias towards unhealthy food cues to reduce problematic eating behaviour.     

The relations of child adiposity with parent-to-child and parent-to-parent hostility

Objective: Investigate (1) the association of child adiposity with parent-to-child and parent-to-parent hostility, (2) the mediation of these associations by dietary behaviours and (3) moderation by gender.

Design: One hundred thirty-five couples with 6- to 14-year-old children completed measures of emotional and physical aggression, overreactive discipline and child diet. Parent-to-parent hostility was also coded from laboratory observations.

Main Outcome Measure: Child adiposity was a combination of body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio.

Results: Mother-to-child hostility was associated with child adiposity. This association was concentrated in boys and was not significantly explained by child dietary factors. Mother-to-father hostility was not significantly associated with boys’ or girls’ adiposity. Girls’ adiposity was not significantly associated with family hostility. Fathers’ hostility was not linked to child adiposity.

Conclusion: This is the first study to take a family-level approach to understanding the relation of hostility to child adiposity by examining relations among adiposity and both mothers’ and fathers’ hostility directed toward one another and toward their children. Our findings highlight the potential role played by mothers’ emotional hostility in boys’ adiposity and suggest that, if this role is further substantiated, mother-son emotional hostility may be a promising target for the prevention of child obesity.     

Sense of coherence,hope, and home demolition are differentially associated with anger and anxiety among Bedouin Arab adolescents in recognized and unrecognized villages

Background and objectives: This research investigated how coping resources explain emotional reactions of anger and anxiety, in the context of threat of house demolition, among adolescents in three groups: Adolescents living in a recognized village with no demolition, adolescents living in an unrecognized village (by the Israeli government as legal) with no demolition, and adolescents living in an unrecognized village with demolition. The framework of this research is based on Antonovsky’s salutogenic theory, which suggests examining ability to cope with stressful situations.

Design: Multi-group cross-sectional study.

Methods: The study was carried out during 2010–2011 and included 910 participants, of whom 411 adolescents lived in unrecognized villages where 193 of them experienced home demolition. Participants filled out a questionnaire including demographics, coping resources and emotional reactions.

Results: Findings showed that stress reactions were the highest among adolescents from unrecognized villages with demolition. Personal sense of coherence (SOC) was related to fewer emotional reactions among the adolescents from recognized villages; among adolescents from unrecognized villages, especially adolescents living in an unrecognized village with demolition, a stronger SOC was linked to stronger emotional reactions.

Conclusions: These findings have important implications for understanding the role of coping among youth from different cultural groups.     

Emotional Competence and Anxiety in Childhood and Adolescence: A Meta-Analytic Review

Anxiety is conceptualized as a state of negative emotional arousal that is accompanied by concern about future threat. The purpose of this meta-analytic review was to evaluate the evidence of associations between emotional competence and anxiety by examining how specific emotional competence domains (emotion recognition, emotion expression, emotion awareness, emotion understanding, acceptance of emotion, emotional self-efficacy, sympathetic/empathic responses to others’ emotions, recognition of how emotion communication and self-presentation affect relationships, and emotion regulatory processes) relate to anxiety in childhood and adolescence. A total of 185 studies were included in a series of meta-analyses (N’s ranged from 573 to 25,711). Results showed that anxious youth are less effective at expressing (r = ?0.15) and understanding emotions (r = ?0.20), less aware of (r = ?0.28) and less accepting of their own emotions (r = ?0.49), and report less emotional self-efficacy (r = ?0.36). More anxious children use more support-seeking coping strategies (r = 0.07) and are more likely to use less adaptive coping strategies including avoidant coping (r = 0.18), externalizing (r = 0.18), and maladaptive cognitive coping (r = 0.34). Emotion acceptance and awareness, emotional self-efficacy, and maladaptive cognitive coping yielded the largest effect sizes. Some effects varied with children’s age. The findings inform intervention and treatment programs of anxiety in youth and identify several areas for future research.