A season-long examination of the intervention tone of coach–athlete interactions and athlete development in youth sport

ObjectivesCoaches are a primary influence on athletes' development in youth sport (Horn, 2008). However, the intervention tone of coaches' behaviour has not been directly observed. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between the intervention tone exhibited by youth sport coaches and athletes' individual developmental trajectories over the course of a season.DesignShort-term longitudinal study with behavioural observation.MethodFifty-five athletes and their coaches from five youth volleyball teams were observed at three time points, and the intervention tone of interactive behaviour was systematically coded and organized by coach–athlete dyad. Athletes completed measures of the 4C's of athlete development (competence, confidence, connection, character) at each time point, which were used to create individualized developmental trajectories. Person-centred analyses were used to examine associations between athletes' developmental trajectories and their unique interactive experiences with their coach.ResultsCluster analysis revealed the presence of three distinct clusters based on athletes' developmental trajectories: 1) high and increasing, 2) low and decreasing, and 3) moderate and maintaining, with athletes from each team distributed across clusters. Analysis of dyadic interaction profiles revealed significant differences in interactive behaviour between clusters.ConclusionsResults suggest that differences in coach–athlete interactive experiences are associated with different developmental trajectories over the course of a season, even for athletes working with the same coach, highlighting the individualized nature of coaches' influence on young athletes. Practical implications for coaches include a critical awareness of their unique interactive relationship with each athlete independently, as well as the importance of fostering these relationships with regard to young people as more than just athletes.     

Empathic accuracy in coach–athlete dyads who participate in team and individual sports

ObjectiveThe purpose of the present study was to investigate the empathic accuracy of coach–athlete dyads participating in team and individual sports.MethodAn adaptation of Ickes's [2001. Measuring empathic accuracy. In J. A. Hall & F. J. Bernieri (Eds.), Interpersonal sensitivity (pp. 219–242). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates] unstructured dyadic interaction paradigm was used to assess the empathic accuracy of 40 coach–athlete dyads. Accordingly, each dyad was filmed during a training session. The dyad members viewed selected video footage that displayed discrete interactions that had naturally occurred during that session. Dyad members reported what they remembered thinking/feeling while making inferences about what their partner's thought/felt at each point. Empathic accuracy was estimated by comparing self-reports and inferences.ResultsThe results indicted that accuracy for coaches in individual sports was higher than coaches in team sports. Shared cognitive focus also differed between team and individual sports, and fully mediated the effect of sport-type on coach empathic accuracy. Moreover, coaches whose training sessions were longer demonstrated increased empathic accuracy. No differences were found for athletes.ConclusionsThe results suggest that the dynamics of the interaction between a coach and an athlete play a key role in how accurately they perceive each other.     

Associations between the perceived quality of the coach–athlete relationship and athlete burnout: An examination of the mediating role of achievement goals

ObjectivesThe aim of the current study was to examine (1) associations between the quality of the coach–athlete relationship as perceived by athletes and athlete burnout and, (2) the role of achievement goals in mediating the association between the coach–athlete relationship and burnout.DesignCross-sectional.Method359 athletes completed measures of the perceived quality of the coach–athlete relationship (the 3Cs model), achievement goals (the 2 × 2 model) and burnout (the athlete burnout model).ResultsStructural equation modeling revealed negative relationships between the perceived quality of the coach–athlete relationship and the three dimensions of athlete burnout (df = 118, χ² = 215.37, RMSEA = .05 [.04; .06], TLI = .97, CFI = .97). Moreover, results suggested that mastery-approach goals partially mediated the relationship between the coach–athlete relationship and two dimensions of athlete burnout: sport devaluation (i.e., indirect and direct effects: p < .001) and reduced accomplishment (i.e., indirect and direct effects: p < .01).ConclusionThe current study confirms and broadens previous knowledge on the socio-cognitive correlates of athlete burnout by demonstrating that the level of athlete burnout is associated with the perceived quality of the relationship with the coach. Results also highlight that achievement goals partially mediate these relationships.     

Conceptual and measurement issues of the complementarity dimension of the coach–athlete relationship across cultures

ObjectivesGrounded in the 3Cs model of the coach–athlete relationship, this multi-study outlined the development of two scales that measure coaches' dominant behaviors and athletes' submissive behaviors.Method & resultsIn study 1, a pool of items was generated based on relevant literatures and interviews. The item pool was then assessed by an expert panel including academics, athletes and coaches. In Study 2 and Study 3, construct and criterion validity, as wells as internal reliability of the refined items were tested with a sample of elite coaches and athletes. Analyses revealed that Coach Dominant Behavior Scale (CDB-S) and Athlete Submissive Behavior Scale (ASB-S) possessed sound psychometric properties. In Study 4, the measurement invariance of the 10-item ASB-S was assessed across gender and five countries: Britain, China, Greece, Spain, and Sweden. Results supported the full structural invariance of the ASB-S.ConclusionOverall, the items of both CDB-S and ASB-S were found to be psychometrically sound. The discussion highlights the contributions these findings make on both conceptual and measurement levels as well as the opportunities it opens up for research with practical relevance.     

Stories that move? Peer athlete mentors' responses to mentee disability and sport narratives

BackgroundHow people respond to the stories people tell matters. Past research demonstrates that there are varied responses to the narratives individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) use. Yet, no research has explored how peer athlete mentors with SCI respond to their mentees' stories about sport participation that are framed in different disability narratives.PurposeTo explore how peer athlete mentors respond to four mentees' vignettes representing various attitudes towards adapted sport.MethodsThirteen peer athlete mentors discussed these vignettes in hour-long interviews; their responses were analysed using a dual narrative analysis.ResultsPeer athlete mentors tailored their responses to each individual vignette. Specifically, responses to the most open vignettes were tailored to the mentees' disability narratives and provided a variety of resources and sport information. This type of response to mentees' stories can support and validate these mentees' experiences and increase the likelihood that mentees will try sport. In contrast, peer athlete mentors' responses to the heavily resistant vignettes contained limited information about sport. These responses also challenged the mentees' disability narratives. These types of responses may be counter-productive as they invalidate the mentees' experiences with sport and SCI and may further deter sport participation.ConclusionWhile peer athlete mentors tailored the information they would provide to mentees who use different disability narratives, they expressed difficulties responding to the heavily resistant narrative. Future peer athlete mentor training should address this difficulty by providing practice around how to communicate with individuals expressing resistant narratives.     

Perfectionism and athlete engagement: A multi-sample test of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism

Few studies have examined how perfectionism relates to athlete engagement. In addition, the studies that do exist have focused on the main effects of dimensions of perfectionism as opposed to their interactive effects. The first purpose of the study was therefore to examine the interactive effects of dimensions of perfectionism in predicting athlete engagement and, in doing so, test the hypotheses of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism. The second purpose of the study was to examine whether support for the 2 × 2 model depended on the instrument used to measure perfectionism. Three samples of junior and adult athletes from various sports (total N = 730) completed measures of perfectionism indicative of personal standards perfectionism (PSP) and evaluative concerns perfectionism (ECP) (HF-Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, Cox, Enns, & Clara, 2002; Sport-Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale-2, Gotwals & Dunn, 2009; Multidimensional Inventory of Perfectionism for Sport, Stoeber et al. 2007), as well as a measure of athlete engagement (Athlete Engagement Questionnaire, Lonsdale, Hodge & Jackson, 2007). Moderated regression analyses provided support for the hypotheses of the 2 × 2 model for some facets of engagement but not others. Generally, pure PSP (high PSP/low ECP) was associated with the highest levels of athlete engagement and pure ECP (low PSP/high ECP) was associated with the lowest levels of athlete engagement. Support for the 2 × 2 model also differed depending on the instrument used to measure perfectionism. Overall, the findings suggest that the 2 × 2 model may explain differences between athletes in levels of engagement. However, these differences will depend on which indicators of PSP and ECP are examined.     

Anger rumination: an antecedent of athlete aggression?

Objectives. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between anger rumination (the propensity to think almost obsessively over past experiences that have provoked negative affect in the form of anger) and athlete aggression. It was predicted that high levels of anger rumination would be associated with an increased propensity to aggress.Method. A questionnaire comprising the Anger Rumination Scale (Sukhodolsky, Golub, & Cromwell, 2001), aggression and demographic questions was distributed to 305 male and female competitive athletes of varying ability who represented several team and individual sports.Results. Principal component factor analysis revealed a single rumination factor rather than the four-factor solution previously described. No differences in Anger Rumination Scale score were found between males and females, team and individual sport players or competitive level. Provocation and anger rumination were significantly correlated with athletes’ reported aggressive behaviour. Aggression was higher in males compared to females. Type of sport was also related to incidence of aggression; athletes who participated in individual sports reported lower levels of aggression than athletes who played team sports.Conclusions. It was concluded that provocation and anger rumination were significant predictors of subsequent aggression and suggestions for preventing rumination, such as thought stopping and thought switching, were made.     

Morningness–Eveningness and Risk Taking

ABSTRACT. Depending on individual differences in biological rhythms and diurnal preferences, people have long been described as either “larks” or “owls.” Larks and owls differ greatly in personality aspects, but from the behavioral perspective it is unclear whether they have significant differences in terms of risky behaviors. Whether morning types or evening types are consistently more risk-taking or risk-averse in different domains remains unknown. This study adopted a general American adult sample to systematically investigate the relationship between chronotype and individuals’ risky behaviors in different domains. By using different methods to measure risky behaviors in different domains, the current research obtained convergent results that morningness was negatively related only to financially risky behaviors for American adults. More specifically, by using the composite scale of morningness and the domain-specific risk attitude scale, Study 1 showed that for American adults, morning types were less likely than evening types to engage in financially risky behaviors (N = 212). In Study 2, after scenario-based methods were used to measure risky behavior, results showed that that participants engaged less in risky behaviors in the domains of gambling and investment (N = 187). A mediator test showed that the negative relationship between morningness and financially risky behaviors was partly mediated by individuals’ self-control ability (self-control scale, Study 1).     

Individualism–collectivism and group creativity

Current research in organizational behavior suggests that organizations should adopt collectivistic values because they promote cooperation and productivity, while individualistic values should be avoided because they incite destructive conflict and opportunism. In this paper, we highlight one possible benefit of individualistic values that has not previously been considered. Because individualistic values can encourage uniqueness, such values might be useful when creativity is a desired outcome. Although we hypothesize that individualistic groups should be more creative than collectivistic groups, we also consider an important competing hypothesis: given that collectivistic groups are more responsive to norms, they might be more creative than individualistic groups when given explicit instructions to be creative. The results did not support this competing hypothesis and instead show that individualistic groups instructed to be creative are more creative than collectivistic groups given the same instructions. These results suggest that individualistic values may be beneficial, especially when creativity is a salient goal.     

Stimulus–classification and stimulus–action associations: Effects of repetition learning and durability

It has been shown that acquired stimulus–response bindings result from at least two types of associations from the stimulus to the task (stimulus–task or stimulus–classification; S–C) and from the stimulus to the motor response (stimulus–response or stimulus–action; S–A). These types of associations have been shown to independently affect behaviour. This finding suggests that they are processed in different pathways or different parts of a pathway at the neural level. Here we test a hypothesis that such associations may be differentially affected by repetition learning and that such effects may be detected by measuring their durability against overwriting. We show that both S–C and S–A associations are in fact strengthened when learning is boosted by increasing repetitions of the primes. However, the results further suggest that associations between stimuli and actions have less durable effects on behaviour and that the durability of S–C and S–A associations is independent of repetition learning. This is an important finding for the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of associative learning and particularly raises the question of which processes may affect flexibility of learning.     

Automatic–heuristic and executive–analytic processing during reasoning: Chronometric and dual-task considerations

Human reasoning has been shown to overly rely on intuitive, heuristic processing instead of a more demanding analytic inference process. Four experiments tested the central claim of current dual-process theories that analytic operations involve time-consuming executive processing whereas the heuristic system would operate automatically. Participants solved conjunction fallacy problems and indicative and deontic selection tasks. Experiment 1 established that making correct analytic inferences demanded more processing time than did making heuristic inferences. Experiment 2 showed that burdening the executive resources with an attention-demanding secondary task decreased correct, analytic responding and boosted the rate of conjunction fallacies and indicative matching card selections. Results were replicated in Experiments 3 and 4 with a different secondary-task procedure. Involvement of executive resources for the deontic selection task was less clear. Findings validate basic processing assumptions of the dual-process framework and complete the correlational research programme of K. E. Stanovich and R. F. West (2000).     

Remembrance–Toward Righteousness and Reparations

This article explores “remembrance” as the first part of a planned three-part paper titled “Remembrance, Righteousness and Reparations,” intended as a conceptual framework and spirit guide of accompaniment for the World Council of Churches’ pilgrimage of healing, justice, and peace. This first part focuses on remembrance to counter the dis-membering, trauma, and woundedness inflicted by systems of acts of White supremacy, racism, patriarchy, and male privilege. Parts two and three of this paper offer righteousness and reparations as additional conceptual frameworks and spirit guides: righteousness to recentre and deepen our understanding of justice in a world fraught with human suffering, violence, and evil; and reparations to covenant and bind a process of truth-telling, reckoning, and reconciliation in the face of the consequences and legacies of the transatlantic slave trade system upon people of African descent.     

Additive and synergistic relations of early mother–child and caregiver–child interactions and socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood

Prior theoretical and empirical studies have linked the first 3 years of children's life with later life outcomes. One primary explanation is the critical role these experiences play in children's early brain development (including their early language and cognitive abilities) and subsequent schooling achievement. The current study is a registered report with two complementary research objectives: (1) examine to what extent stimulating and responsive interactions with mothers and nonparental caregivers during the first 3 years of life show additive or synergistic associations with key socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood (i.e., educational attainment, salary, and employment status), and (2) examine to what extent academic skills (i.e., mathematics, vocabulary, and literacy) during childhood and adolescence mediate these associations. The sample included 1364 individuals from a birth cohort study who were followed until age 26. Mother–child interactions had positive associations with educational attainment and negative associations with full-time employment, though no synergistic associations were found for the socioeconomic outcomes. In addition, the indirect effects of mother–child interactions on educational attainment through mathematics were strongest for children with less stimulating and responsive caregiver–child interactions. Potential implications of these findings for developmental theory are discussed.     

Mother–Father–Child Triadic Interaction and Mother–Child Dyadic Interaction: Gender Differences Within and Between Contexts

Differences in mother and father behavior during a triadic interaction session, and differences in mothers’ behavior across triadic and dyadic interaction, were examined in 60 two-parent families with an 11- to 15-month-old child (30 boys, 30 girls). Results revealed that mothers were less involved, less sensitive, and more negative during triadic than during dyadic interaction. Mothers of sons displayed more emotion during triadic interaction than mothers of daughters did. Mothers were more involved with children than fathers were during triadic interaction, whereas fathers displayed more emotion than mothers did during triadic interaction. Fathers were more supportive of mothers, and mothers were more intrusive toward fathers, during triadic interaction. The results are discussed in terms of the role that context plays in gender-typed patterns of family interaction.     

Heidegger and Foucault: On the Relation Between the Anxiety–Engendering–Truth and Being-Towards-Freedom

In his very last, now famous, interview, Michel Foucault states that his philosophical thought was shaped by his reading of Heidegger, even though he does not specify what aspects of Heidegger’s philosophy inspired him in the first place. However, his last interview is not the only place where Foucault refers to Heidegger as his intellectual guide. In his 1981/1982 lecture course, The Hermeneutics of the Subject, Foucault confesses that the way Heidegger conceptualized the relationship between subject and truth was a starting point for him for thinking about the relationship between truth, subject, subjective-transformation, and freedom. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to reconstruct the Foucault-Heidegger encounter from the perspective of subject-truth relation. I will ask how Heidegger and Foucault conceptualized the relationship between truth, self-transformation, and freedom. And I will claim that for both Foucault and Heidegger, freedom lies in constantly and creatively repeating the traditional possibilities of existence in order to question the reified patterns of interpretation, and in order to reveal the anxiety–engendering–truth that what is regarded as natural and inevitable in human life is historically contingent and transformable.     

Butch–femme identity and empathizing–systemizing cognitive traits in Chinese lesbians and bisexual women

Previous studies documented that butches showed a masculine profile and femmes showed a feminine profile in gender roles. This study examines the association between butch or femme lesbian identity and empathizing–systemizing (E–S) cognitive styles among 588 lesbian and bisexual women from multiple cities in China. Empathizing and systemizing were assessed using two different abbreviated 8-item scales drawn from longer original scales. There were significant differences in systemizing among butch–femme identity, with butches scoring higher than femmes, but no significant differences in empathizing. The discrepancy in empathizing–systemizing scores reflects individual differences in dispositional cognitive style. A higher proportion of femmes exhibited an E > S cognitive profile, while a higher proportion of butches exhibited an S > E cognitive profile. Sexual stereotyping based on masculinity/femininity, or biology, may be related to butch–femme difference in cognitive style. In studies on sexual orientation, researchers should pay more attention to butch–femme subgroup differences among lesbians.     

Mobbing–prevention and management in organizations

Abstract

So far, only a few companies have dealt with the issue of “mobbing”. This article describes some of the variables required for a successful implementation of an anti-mobbing programme, as well as measures of prevention and intervention. A successful anti-mobbing programme depends on the pressure the problem exerts on the company, the competition with other company programmes, the negative image of mobbing, and the slow diffusion of social issues in companies. Various prevention measures are outlined and suggested in connection with the causes of mobbing: changes in work design, changes in leadership behaviour, the protection of the individual social position, and the moral standard of employees. Depending on the stage of conflict escalation, different intervention measures apply. The concepts of appointing contact people for mobbing victims and the setting up of neutral clearing posts are discussed.     

Self-Control and the Depression–Delinquency Link

Research has repeatedly documented the link between depression and delinquency; however, why they are associated remains less clear. Blending diverse research traditions in criminology and psychology, this study suggests that self-control may explain the depression–delinquency association. By conceptualizing self-control as a depletable resource influenced by internal factors, experiencing depressive symptoms may reduce self-control, which in turn increases delinquency. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) lend support for this proposition and suggest that self-control is an important explanatory factor in the depression–delinquency relationship. Specifically, the data show that depression is no longer associated with delinquency when self-control is taken into account and self-control explains more of the association than previous explanations combined.     

Late Adoptions: Attachment Security and Emotional Availability in Mother–Child and Father–Child Dyads

A growing body of research suggests that a history of neglect, abuse and institutionalization can negatively affect late-adopted children’s attachment representations, and that adoptive parents can play a key role in enabling adopted children to earn secure attachments. Still, only a few studies have explored the quality of caregiver–child interaction in adoptive families. The present study aimed at verifying both the concordance of attachment in adoptive dyads (mother–children and father–children) and the relationship between attachment representations and parent–child interaction. The research involved 20 adoptive families in which the child’s arrival had occurred between 12 to 36 months before the assessment, and where children were aged between 4.5 and 8.5 years. Attachment was assessed through the Adult Attachment Interview for parents and through the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task for children. The emotional quality of parent–child interaction was assessed trough the Emotional Availability Scales. Our results pointed out the presence of a relation between attachment representations of late-adopted children and their adoptive mothers (75%, K?=?0.50, p?=?.025). In addition, we found that both insecure children and mothers showed lower levels of EA than secure ones. Some explanations are presented about why, in the early post-adoption period, child attachment patterns and dyadic emotional availability seem to be arranged on different frameworks for the two parental figures.