An assessment of the similarities between a measure of positive perfectionism and a measure of conscientious achievement striving

Objectives

The purpose of the study was to examine the similarities between the constructs measured by the positive perfectionism subscale from the Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale and the achievement striving subscale from the Revised NEO Personality Inventory.

Design

A non-experimental design was adopted.

Method

One-hundred and seventy-nine junior basketball players (age M = 16.50, s = 1.12) completed measures of positive perfectionism, conscientious achievement striving and other external measures.

Results

Analyses revealed that the two scales were highly positively correlated and demonstrated a similar pattern of relationships with the external measures. However, a single latent factor model provided a comparatively poorer fit than a two latent factor model.

Conclusions

There is some evidence that the positive perfectionism and achievement striving constructs measured by the scales in this study are distinguishable as two distinct factors in a confirmatory factor analysis; however, more empirical evidence is needed to establish their substantive differences.     

Knowledge of results after relatively good trials enhances self-efficacy and motor learning

Objectives

This study sought to determine whether learners’ self-efficacy and motor learning was affected by the type of feedback they were provided.

Method

Participants (N = 24, M age = 19.51 years, SD = 1.08) were randomly assigned into one of two groups: knowledge of result after good versus poor trials. The task included throwing a tennis ball with the non-dominate hand to a target while wearing vision distorting goggles. Participants completed the Self-Efficacy Scale (Bandura, 2006) before performing each block of 6 trials. A retention test without knowledge of results was conducted 24 h after the practice phase.

Results

The results demonstrated that learners’ motor learning was increased by providing knowledge of results after good rather than poor trials. Furthermore, the Self-Efficacy Scale results revealed that learners’ self-efficacy was enhanced by positive feedback.

Conclusions

The current findings indicate that positive feedback impacts learner’s self-efficacy, and enhances performance and motor learning.     

Examining the dimensional structure and factorial validity of the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory in a sample of male athletes

Objectives

Research examining how emotional intelligence (EI) relates to the performance of athletes has been conducted using various EI measures including the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i; Bar-On, 1997), but no one has investigated the factor structure of the EQ-i in the area of sport psychology. The current study explored the dimensional structure and factorial validity of the EQ-i in a sample of male athletes.

Design

Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine [Bar-On, 1997] and [Bar-On, 2004] model of emotional-social intelligence and the 1-5-15 dimensional structure which underpins the EQ-i.

Method

A total sample of 706 male athletes from various sports and competing at the national age group level through to the professional level of competition completed the EQ-i.

Results

Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the 1-5-15 dimensional structure was a poor fit for the data. A re-specification of the model representing the best fit for the data was a 1-4-15 dimensional structure. The factorial validity of the individual subscales was also examined at the item level using confirmatory factor analysis. Thirteen of the 15 subscales showed close, reasonably good, or mediocre fit for the data.

Conclusion

Further construct validation of Bar-On’s model and measure is required. Sport psychologists administering the EQ-i in applied practice should consider using the EQ-i subscales rather than referring back to the 1-5-15 dimensional structure.     

The impact of experiential avoidance on the reduction of depression in treatment for borderline personality disorder

Background

Reducing symptoms of depression is an important target in the treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Although current treatments for BPD are effective in reducing depression, the average post-treatment level of depression remains high.

Aim

To test whether experiential avoidance (EA) impedes the reduction of depression during treatment for BPD.

Method

EA and depression were assessed in 81 clients at baseline and 4-month intervals during 1 year of therapy. Simple correlations, hierarchical linear modeling, and latent difference score models were used to investigate the association between self-reports of EA and both self-reports and observer-based ratings of depression.

Results

EA was positively associated with greater severity of depression at all points of assessment, and changes in EA were positively associated with changes in depression. Moreover, EA significantly predicted less subsequent reduction in depression whereas no such effect was found for depression on subsequent EA.

Conclusion

The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that EA impedes the reduction of depression in the treatment of BPD and should thus be considered an important treatment target.     

Images of exercising: Exploring the links between exercise imagery use, autonomous and controlled motivation to exercise, and exercise intention and behavior

Objectives

In the present study, we tested a model examining the relationships between exercise imagery use, motivational regulations for exercise engagement, intention to exercise, and self-reported exercise behavior. This work represents an initial attempt to examine relationships between a new type of exercise imagery (enjoyment imagery) and motivational regulations for exercise.

Design

Cross-sectional.

Method

Exercisers with a mean age of 40.29 years (SD = 13.29; 177 female, 141 male) completed measures of the targeted variables.

Results

Structural equation modeling analyses revealed direct and indirect (via motivational regulations) links between imagery and exercise-related outcomes. Technique and enjoyment imagery were positively related to autonomous motivation. Conversely, appearance imagery was positively associated with controlled motivation. Direct relationships were evidenced between energy imagery and self-reported exercise behavior, and between appearance imagery and intention to exercise.

Conclusions

The potential motivational functions served by different exercise imagery types are discussed, and the inclusion of enjoyment imagery in future exercise imagery research is recommended.     

Distributed attentional deficits in chronic methamphetamine abusers: evidence from the Attentional Network Task (ANT)

Objective

The goal of the present study was to examine distributed attentional functions in long-term but currently abstinent methamphetamine (MA) abusers using a task that measures attentional alertness, orienting, and conflict resolution.

Methods

Thirty currently abstinent MA abusers (1 month-5 years) and 22 healthy non-substance using adults were administered a multimodal version of the Attentional Network Task (ANT-I). In this task subjects identified the direction of a centrally presented arrow using a key press. Analyses examined the interaction between alerting tones, location cueing and congruency between the target arrows and flanking distractor stimuli.

Results

All participants were faster when an auditory tone preceded the trial onset (p < 0.001), on trials in which a valid cue preceded the location of the target arrow (p < 0.001), and on congruent trials (i.e., when all display arrows faced in the same direction) (p < 0.001). Of primary interest was the finding that MA abusers were more influenced by the conflict between the peripheral arrows and the central target arrow (p = 0.009). There were also correlations between length of drug sobriety and executive function as well as between drug-induced psychiatric symptoms and alertness.

Conclusions

These results suggest that chronic MA abusers display cognitive deficits that may reflect a specific vulnerability to distraction on a task of executive function. These findings are consistent with other studies that have reported deficits in anterior attentional systems and top-down cognitive control.     

Interpersonal evaluation bias in borderline personality disorder

Background

The cognitive theory of personality disorders hypothesizes that the emotional dysregulation and interpersonal problems in individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are, at least partially, caused by dysfunctional cognitive schemas. These schemas lead to biased evaluation of environmental and interpersonal stimuli.

Method

This study examined the interpersonal evaluations of individuals with BPD, depressive and healthy control participants with the thin-slice judgments paradigm. Participants were asked to evaluate six persons in six film clips, which showed these persons for 10 s, during which these persons entered a room and took a seat. Interpersonal style of the BPD group was investigated with the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-C) questionnaire.

Results

Individuals with BPD judged the persons as being more negative and aggressive and less positive than the healthy participants, and more aggressive than the depressive individuals. In addition, individuals with BPD reported more extreme interpersonal behavior relative to the controls.

Conclusions

The findings indicate an aggressivistic evaluation bias and elevated levels of interpersonal problems in individuals with BPD as suggested in the cognitive theory.     

Trait perfectionism, self-determination, and self-presentation processes in relation to exercise behavior

Objectives

Motivational and self-presentational processes pervade all aspects of our lives including exercise behaviors. Furthermore, trait perfectionism has been shown to heighten self-presentational tendencies and energize achievement striving ( [Flett and Hewitt, 2002] and [Hewitt et?al., 2003]). How maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism traits relate to these cognitive and behavioral processes specific to the exercise context remains to be determined. This study employed structural equation modeling to examine the associations between maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism, self-determination of exercise behavior, self-presentation in exercise, and exercise behavior.

Method

Two hundred and fifty-four undergraduate students completed items assessing frequency, intensity, and duration of aerobic exercise behavior, along with measures of Multidimensional Perfectionism (Cox, Enns, & Clara, 2002), Self-Presentation in Exercise ( [Conroy et?al., 2000] and [Gammage et?al., 2004]), and self-determination of exercise behavior utilizing the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ-2; Markland & Tobin, 2004).

Results

Results supported a structural model in which the associations between perfectionism dimensions and aerobic exercise behavior were mediated by opposing relationships with relative autonomy (RAI; Markland & Tobin, 2004) and self-presentation processes. Distinctively, maladaptive perfectionism demonstrated an inverse direct effect on the RAI and positive direct effects on self-presentation processes. In contrast, adaptive perfectionism exerted a positive direct effect on the RAI and inverse direct effects on self-presentation processes.

Conclusions

These findings highlight the importance of both maladaptive and adaptive dimensions of perfectionism in the study of exercise outcomes and within the broader social context linking perfectionism and motivation.     

Constructs of physical activity behaviour in children: The usefulness of Social Cognitive Theory

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among several Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 2004) constructs (e.g., self-efficacy) and children’s physical activity behaviours.

Design

Children from six elementary schools (N = 479) in grades 4th to 6th from five different school districts in the Southwestern USA participated in this study by completing a sociocognitive instrument as well as wearing a pedometer for five school days.

Methods

Previously validated scales were combined and administered to all children in order to examine the relationships among five constructs (self-efficacy, outcome expectations, social support, barriers, and goals) and physical activity participation was measured via pedometer. Data analyses included a two-step approach with confirmatory factor analysis followed by structural equation modelling.

Results

The confirmatory factor analyses indicated an adequate fit of the specified model. The structural model fit statistics also suggested that the data fit the specified model: χ² (8, N = 476) = 24.44, p = 0.00, χ²/df = 3.06, GFI = 0.98, AGFI = 0.96, CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.07. The model explained 15% of the variance in social support, 11% of the variance in goals, 11% of the variance in barriers, 9% of the variance in outcome expectations, and 2% of the variance in physical activity. Self-efficacy was a strong predictor of total social support, total number of barriers, and outcome expectations.

Conclusions

This study supports the use of Social Cognitive Theory in understanding the constructs of physical activity behaviour in children, however, very little variance in behaviours was explained. There is a need to also investigate environmental influences on children’s decisions to be physically active.     

Temporal pattern of pre-shooting psycho-physiological states in elite athletes: A probabilistic approach

Objective

The IZOF-based probabilistic approach provides a methodology to study within-individual patterns of a performer's states. So far, the time course of physiological data before performance have not been investigated within the probabilistic methodology framework. The purpose of this study was to examine the value of the probabilistic approach in the assessment of the time course of physiological indicators of arousal/activation and vigilance during the period preceding the shot, in comparison with the performance-based method.

Design

Longitudinal assessment of psycho-physiological data and performance outcomes was conducted on eight elite pistol shooters in a controlled setting.

Methods

Each participant performed 60 air-pistol shots in 2 sessions. Skin conductance level and cardiac activity were recorded. Affective states intensity was evaluated on a modified 11-point Borg scale. Affect, HR and SC level were evaluated with a Performance-based approach and a Probabilistic method, and results compared at an individual level.

Results

Findings showed the higher effectiveness of the probabilistic method to analyse physiological parameters (skin conductance and heart rate) and to describe the physiological mechanisms associated with shooters’ performance.

Conclusions

The probabilistic method better discerned the contribution of arousal/activation and vigilance to optimal and non-optimal performance in elite shooters, thereby providing a sharper representation of the temporal pattern of performers' states before shooting. From an applied perspective, we believe that the probabilistic approach can help athletes become aware of the subtle variations occurring in their psychophysical states during the preparatory period preceding the shot and not only at the moment of shot release.     

Testing the theory underlying the success of point-of-choice prompts: A multi-component stair climbing intervention

Objectives

Point-of-choice prompts consistently increase stair climbing in public access settings. This study investigated the single and combined effects of a volitional and motivational component of a stair climbing intervention to test the theory underlying the success of point-of-choice prompts.

Design

Quasi-experimental, interrupted time series cross-over design.

Methods

Ascending stair/escalator choices were observed in a UK tram station (n = 38,187). Baseline observations (2 weeks; stage 1) preceded a 2-week point-of-choice prompt positioned alone (stage 2) followed by an additional message positioned at the top of each climb (6 weeks; stage 3). Four weeks after message removal, another baseline (2 weeks; stage 4) preceded installation of the intervention components in reverse order. Thus, the message positioned alone at the top of each climb (4 weeks, stage 5) was supplemented with the point-of-choice prompt (2 weeks, stage 6). Logistic regression analyses of stair/escalator choice included the independent variables of intervention components, gender, time of morning and pedestrian traffic volume.

Results

There was no change in stair climbing percentages when only one intervention component was used, i.e. only the point-of-choice or the message at the top of each climb. In contrast, stair climbing increased when both components of the intervention were installed. Additionally, men took the stairs more than women and stair climbing was more common earlier in the morning and at higher pedestrian traffic volumes.

Conclusions

A motivational component targeting intentions increased the effectiveness of a volitional point-of-choice prompt for stair climbing in a setting where choice of the stairs incurred a time penalty for pedestrians due to the site layout.     

The social environment and developmental experiences in elite youth soccer

Objectives

We aimed to examine social-contextual correlates of players’ developmental experiences in an elite youth soccer context. Specifically, we hypothesized that player perceptions of team cohesion and coach rapport would be positively associated with psychological need fulfillment. In turn, psychological need satisfaction was proposed to be positively related to adaptive developmental experiences in youth soccer (i.e., opportunities for leadership, emotional regulation, and goal setting), and negatively related to social exclusion.

Design

Cross-sectional.

Method

133 male elite soccer players, aged between 11 and 18 years old, completed a self-report questionnaire assessing the variables of interest.

Results

Using path analysis and bootstrapping methods, we found support for the overall model fit of the hypothesized conceptual framework and specific study hypotheses.

Conclusions

This study utilizes strong theoretical foundations to underscore the role of the coach and team environment in facilitating positive youth outcomes, and highlights a potential mechanism that may explain these processes.     

Informational constraints shape emergent functional behaviours during performance of interceptive actions in team sports

Objectives

This study aimed to explain how defenders intercept the trajectory of a passing ball by understanding how they coupled their actions to critical information sources in a competitive performance setting in team sports.

Design

Time series data on movement displacements of fifteen senior male futsal performers were recorded and digitized during nine competitive futsal games.

Method

Performance was recorded by a digital camera and digitized with TACTO software. The spatial-temporal dynamics of performers during ten intercepted and ten non-intercepted passes were compared. Time to ball interception was calculated by the difference between the time of each defender to an interception point in ball trajectory and the time of the ball’s arrival at the same interception point. Initial distances between defenders and ball and velocity data of defenders and ball over time were also recorded.

Results

Time to ball interception revealed positive values when passes were not intercepted, and negative to zero values when passes were intercepted. At the moment of pass initiation defenders’ distances to the ball constrained their possibilities for successful interception. Analysis of defenders’ adaptations to the environment revealed that continuous changes in the defenders’ velocities constrained their success of the interception.

Conclusions

Intercepted passes seemed to be influenced by the continuous regulation of a defender’s velocity relative to the ball’s trajectory. Time to ball interception is a variable that captured the emergent functional behaviours of players attempting to intercept the trajectory of a pass in the team sport of futsal.     

Depressive symptoms during pregnancy: impact on neuroendocrine and neonatal outcomes

Objective

To explore the interplay of maternal depressive symptoms on the infant limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary axis (LHPA) and neurological development.

Design

Pregnant women were monitored for depressive symptoms using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) at 28, 32, and 37 weeks of gestation and at delivery. A mixture growth curve analysis divided the women into three risk groups: low/stable, intermediate, and high/increasing depression based on BDI scores. The infant neuroendocrine system was examined using cord blood for adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol measurements. Two-week-old infants were examined using Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS).

Results

Infants born to women of the high/increasing depression group had significant ACTH elevation at birth. On NNNS examination, these infants were more hypotonic and habituated to auditory and visual stimuli.

Conclusion

When compared to non-depressed women, maternal depressive symptoms, even in the absence of major depressive disorder, appeared to facilitate a different developmental pathway for the infant LHPA and early neurological development.     

The effect of stress on craving for methadone depends on the timing of last methadone dose

Background

This study examined the extent to which the timing of last methadone dose moderates the influence of a laboratory stressor on craving for methadone in a sample of methadone maintenance patients.

Methods

Methadone maintenance patients (N = 41) completed a computerized stress manipulation with two levels (low and high stress) on two separate days: (1) immediately following the administration of their standard daily methadone dose and (2) immediately prior to receiving their standard daily dose. The impact of stress, timing of methadone dose and their interaction were examined on self-report measures of stress and craving for methadone.

Results

Craving ratings varied according to the timing of last methadone dose. Immediately following methadone dose (i.e., day 1), there was no effect for stress on craving (0.12; p = 0.30). However, prior to receiving methadone dose (i.e., day 2), the high stress effect on craving was significant (1.51; p < 0.001).

Discussion

The present findings indicate that patients currently receiving methadone maintenance treatment may be particularly vulnerable to stress-related relapse immediately prior to daily methadone dosing.     

Effects of achievement goals on self-regulation of eating attitudes among elite female athletes: An experimental study

Introduction

The influence of achievement goals on eating attitudes has mainly been examined through correlational studies (e.g., [De Bruin et?al., 2009] and [Duda and Kim, 1997]), and none of the studies to date has focused on the self-regulation of eating attitudes in athletes. The present study experimentally tested the effects of achievement goals on both self-reported (Study 1) and behavioral indices (Study 2) of the self-regulation of eating attitudes in female figure skaters.

Method

Elite female figure skaters (Study 1: n = 44; Study 2: n = 54) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions designed to induce specific goal involvement (performance-approach, mastery-approach, performance-avoidance, and mastery-avoidance) or a control condition (no goal induction). The participants in Study 1 completed the Self-Regulation of Eating Attitudes in Sport Scale (SREASS, Scoffier, Corrion, Paquet, & Arripe-Longueville, 2010) and those in Study 2 completed a virtual behavioral measure of self-regulation of eating attitudes (VSSR; Scoffier, 2009).

Results

Variance analyses indicated that induced mastery-approach goals and performance-avoidance goals resulted in higher scores for self-regulation of eating attitudes than induced performance-approach goals and mastery-avoidance goals. The relationships were the same at both self-reported and behavioral levels.

Discussion

This experimental study confirms the findings of previous correlational works and shows that achievement goals contribute to the causal processes of self-regulation of eating attitudes. These findings might help to prevent eating disorders in female athletes by providing guidance for the development of adapted motivational strategies.     

Physical activity interventions in the school setting: A systematic review

Objectives

To review the effectiveness of school-based interventions with a physical activity component by measuring changes in psychological determinants, physical activity, and health outcomes.

Design

Systematic Review.

Method

We conducted a literature search of school-based controlled studies that involved a physical activity intervention targeting school students. Study design, methodological quality, and effectiveness of interventions on three target levels, ‘health and fitness’ (BMI and motor performance), ‘physical activity’, and ‘psychological determinants’ (knowledge of physical activity effects, self-concept, and attitudes towards physical activity), were analysed. Furthermore, we examined the influence of specific factors (e.g., age and gender) and mediator effects.

Results

The literature search identified 129 studies. The majority of the studies examining motor performance, physical activity, and knowledge of physical activity achieved significant results (69.7%, 56.8% and 87.5%, respectively). Significant effects on self-concept and attitudes were also found but to a smaller extent (in 30% and 43.8% of the studies, respectively). Only a few studies examining BMI (2.7%), physical activity (6.8%), and attitudes towards physical activity (12.5%) revealed negative effects, with better results observed for the control group. Intervention effects were influenced by the students’ age, intervention type, and frequency of the interventions. Self-efficacy was found to mediate the relationship between the program and the students’ physical activity.

Conclusions

Numerous school-based physical activity interventions achieved positive effects on three target levels. Further research is needed to clarify the mediator effects of psychological variables on physical activity and health and to increase our knowledge about the mechanisms that underlie behavioural change.     

Testing an interactionist perspective on the relationship between personality traits and performance under public pressure

Objectives

The interactionist principle of trait activation [Tett & Gutermann (2000). Situation trait relevance, trait expression, and cross-situational consistency: testing a principle of trait activation. Journal of Research in Personality, 34, 397-423.] explains human behavior through the stimulation of traits by trait-relevant situational cues (i.e., situation-trait relevance). In applied (real-world) high-pressure situations, audiences provide the situational demand of public evaluation. Therefore, traits that are related to public evaluation are appraised as situation-relevant. The purpose of the current study was to test if situation-relevant traits (i.e., narcissism, public self-consciousness) predict performance in applied high-pressure situations, while situation-irrelevant traits (i.e., private self-consciousness) do not contribute to the performance explanation.

Design/Method

Experienced handball players (N = 55) completed personality questionnaires and performed a throwing task in low and high-pressure conditions, whereby the high-pressure condition involved 1500-2000 spectators during halftime breaks of professional handball games.

Results

Findings supported the assumptions about situation-trait relevancies and indicated that narcissism and public self-consciousness were relevant to high-pressure performance (i.e., positively associated), whereas private self-consciousness was found to be irrelevant. No predictors were correlated to low-pressure performance.

Conclusions

Results emphasize that trait activation is a promising explanation for the relevance of personality characteristics to performance under pressure. A systematic consideration of situational demands of high-pressure situations will result in adequate appraisals of situation-trait relevance and help predict performance with trait scores.     

Reciprocity of the relationship between role ambiguity and group cohesion in youth interdependent sport

Objectives

Based on the role episode model (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964), the purpose of this study was to examine the reciprocal relationship between role ambiguity (Beauchamp, Bray, Eys, & Carron, 2002) and group cohesion (Eys, Loughead, Bray, & Carron, 2009) in youth interdependent sport teams.

Design

Longitudinal research with self-reported questionnaires.

Methods

Participants (N = 162; 12-18 years of age; M = 15.00 years) took part in two testing sessions (midseason vs. late-season) designed to gather information on individual perceptions of role ambiguity and group cohesion.

Results

After statistically controlling for status, gender, and team membership, results demonstrated that perceptions of social cohesion at midseason positively predicted variations in perceptions of scope of responsibilities and role behaviors in defense between mid- and end of season.

Conclusions

The need to belong (fundamental human motivation) and the unbalanced gender composition of the sample could explain the salience of social cohesion in the cohesion-role ambiguity relationship within youth interdependent sport teams. Results underlined that a part of role construction within youth teams is based on the peer social relationships developed between teammates. Implications are identified for youth practice. Limitations and future directions are addressed.     

Loss of control eating and psychological maintenance in children: An ecological momentary assessment study

Objective

Recent research suggests that binge eating is a common experience in youth. However, it remains largely unknown how children's binge eating presents in everyday life and which psychological factors serve to maintain this binge eating.

Methods

Children aged 8-13 years with binge eating (n = 59), defined as at least one episode of loss of control (LOC) over eating within the past three months, and 59 matched children without LOC history were recruited from the community. Following a combined random- and event-sampling protocol, children were interviewed about their day-to-day eating behavior, mood, and eating disorder-specific cognitions using child-specific cell phones during a 4-day assessment period in their natural environment.

Results

LOC episodes led to a significantly greater intake of energy, particularly from carbohydrates, than regular meals of children with and without LOC eating. While LOC episodes were preceded and followed by cognitions about food/eating and body image, there was minimal evidence that negative mood states were antecedents of LOC eating.

Conclusions

The results provide support for the construct validity of LOC eating in children. Maintenance theories of binge eating for adults apply to children regarding eating disorder-specific cognitions, but the association with affect regulation difficulties requires further investigation.