Motivational Profiles of Junior College Athletes: A Cluster Analysis

The purpose of this study was to identify the motivational profiles underlying sport participation among young Singaporean college athletes, as well as to examine the relationships between motivational profiles and a range of cognitive, affective, and behavioral indices. Junior college athletes (N = 303, mean age = 17.64, SD = .60) completed a questionnaire assessing achievement goal orientations, self-determination, sport ability beliefs, perceived competence, and other motivational indices. Four meaningful clusters were identified and validated with differences in perceived motivational climates and other variables. The use of cluster analysis in the present study proved fruitful in identifying subgroups of athletes with differentiated motivational patterns. Consequently, the information obtained could assist coaches in designing intervention programs that target their athletes’ motivational needs.     

Exploring Debriefing in Sports: A Qualitative Perspective

This study explored athletes’ and coaches’ experience of debriefing. Six coaches and 11 athletes (M age = 21.09, SD = 3.30) of different competitive levels and sports participated in semi-structured interviews. Participants’ experiences reflected that debriefing was generally employed for performance evaluation and learning purposes. Psychological benefits of debriefing were seen as a by-product rather than an aim of the process. The power differential in some coach-athlete relationships was identified as limiting debriefing efficacy. From an applied perspective, the results highlight the need to increase athletes’ active participation in the debriefing process and to improve coaches’ and athletes’ understanding of psychological recovery.     

The relationship between dual-career and post-sport career transition among elite athletes in South Africa,Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe

The primary objective of this study was to get an in-depth account of the role of dual careers on elite athletes' post-sport career transition and to examine these issues cross-culturally between South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. This study also examined the availability of support services for student-athletes’ dual-careers in their respective countries. Lastly, this study examined the retirement transition experiences of dual-career elite athletes compared to non-dual career elite athletes. To achieve the study objectives, the study used online survey, semi-structured interviews and focus groups to collected data on retired athletes from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. A total of 17 retired athletes (12 males and 5 females) from various sports (athletics-6, swimming-2, Boxing-2, rowing-2, field hockey-2, gymnastics-1, triathlon-1, biking-1) in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe participated in the study. All athletes had competed at the Olympic games except one athlete who competed at world championships and the commonwealth games. The study observed three major themes (type of retirement, dual-career, and challenges) as crucial in elite athletes' retirement transition and post-sport career. Consistent with the literature on retirement transition, the study observed that athletes' experiences in elite sport are crucial in explaining not only their retirement transition, but also their post-sport career adaptation.     

Does the Need for Role Clarity Moderate the Relationship between Role Ambiguity and Athlete Satisfaction?

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the need for role clarity as a potential moderator of the role ambiguity–satisfaction relationship among interdependent sport athletes. Competitive “Junior B” ice hockey players (N = 112) representing eight teams completed the Role Ambiguity Scale, five subscales of the Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire, and a measure of need for role clarity at approximately the mid-point of their competitive season. Correlational findings indicated that greater role ambiguity was associated with lower athlete satisfaction. However, consistent with the moderator hypothesis, the relationships between role ambiguity and various manifestations of satisfaction were only evident for those athletes who had a higher need for role clarity. Implications of the results are discussed and several avenues for application and future research are suggested.     

Mean Girls: Adolescent Female Athletes and Peer Conflict in Sport

The purpose of this study was to explore adolescent female athletes’ experiences with peer conflict. In-depth, semistructured interviews (N = 15) were conducted with female athletes participating in high school/club-level sport. Inductive and deductive content analysis was then completed, and 4 distinct themes emerged regarding interpersonal conflict in the sport domain: causes of sport peer conflict, manifestations of sport peer conflict, outcomes of sport peer conflict, and attempts to reduce conflict. Findings imply that sport peer relationships can result in conflict behaviors that are both consistent with developmental literature and distinctive within the adolescent sport domain.     

The Experiences of Being a Talented Youth Athlete: Lessons for Parents

Involvement in organized sport can be highly demanding for young athletes who encounter many difficult situations and stressors. This can be exacerbated among youth athletes who have been recruited into talent-identification youth sport programs. Given that there are a range of negative consequences that can result when talent-identified (TI) youth athletes are unable to cope with the stressors they encounter, additional support is therefore necessary. Parents are uniquely situated to assist in this regard, but they are not always equipped to provide optimal levels of support. Therefore, the aim of this study was to understand the experiences of being a TI youth athlete and present the findings as “lessons” for parents seeking to enhance their involvement in TI youth sport settings. This article reports on qualitative data collected from the 1st year of a 3-year longitudinal study involving TI youth athletes from South Australia. Fifty male athletes (M age = 14.6 years) participated in focus groups to hear their experiences of being a TI youth athlete and understand what difficulties they want their parents to know. From the thematic analysis, 3 major themes were identified from the focus groups with TI youth athletes: (a) difficulties with being talented, (b) negotiating the future, and (c) playing for improvement. From the findings, a number of lessons for parents and youth sport organizations are offered to assist the transmission of knowledge to an applied setting.     

Athletes’ Perceptions of Coaching Behavior,Relation-Inferred Self-Efficacy (RISE), and Self-Efficacy in Youth Sport

Research implies that athletes’ perceptions of how coaches view their abilities (relation-inferred self-efficacy [RISE]) stems from verbal and nonverbal interactions. We investigated relationships between youth athletes’ perceptions of RISE-relevant coaching behavior, RISE, and self-efficacy. A RISE-relevant behavior measure was developed in Phase 1. In Phase 2, youth athletes (N = 277) completed questionnaires designed to measure the target variables. All of the variables were positively correlated, and RISE was found to mediate the relationship between coaching behavior and self-efficacy.     

Psychological States Underlying Excellent Performance in Sport: Toward an Integrated Model of Flow and Clutch States

This study investigated the psychological states underlying excellent performance in 26 athletes (M_age = 29 years, SD = 7.7) across a range of sports (team, net/wall, sprint, endurance, adventure) and standards (world class to recreational). Participants were primarily interviewed on average 4 days after excellent performances. The data were analyzed thematically. Distinct states of flow and clutch were reported, each of which occurred through separate contexts and processes, while athletes also transitioned between states during performance. These findings extend current knowledge of the psychology of excellent performance and are discussed in terms of implications for future research and applied practice.     

Sports specific metacognitions and competitive state anxiety in athletes: A comparison between different sporting types

This study investigated the relationship between sport related metacognitions with state anxiety dimensions, and compared how sporting categories affected these variables, among an online sample of athletes (N = 187). A MANOVA revealed there were significant differences between sporting types in metacognitive beliefs relating to the utility of rumination and arousal, the need to control thoughts, and levels of somatic anxiety. Correlations and multiple regressions showed that that in contrast to the relationships with self-confidence, cognitive and somatic state anxiety were positively associated with specific dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs, but negatively related to metacognitive processes. Overall, these findings highlight that: (a) athletes might adopt metacognitions to meet the different cognitive demands of sport types; and (b) metacognitions are in part responsible for the occurrence of state anxiety and self-confidence during competitions. The findings of this study have implications toward how researchers and sports practitioners approach the comprehensive nature of competitive anxiety.     

Relationships between mindfulness,flow dispositions and mental skills adoption: A cluster analytic approach

ObjectivesThis study examines the relationships between mindfulness, flow dispositions and mental skills adoption.DesignCluster analytic approach.MethodsParticipants in this study were 182 university student athletes. They were administered the Mindfulness/Mindlessness Scale [MMS; Bodner, T., & Langer, E. (2001). Individual differences in mindfulness: The Langer Mindfulness Scale. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Toronto, Ont., Canada], Dispositional Flow Scale 2 [DFS-2; Jackson, S. A., & Eklund, R. C. (2004). The flow scale manual. Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology] and Test of Performance Strategies [TOPS; Thomas, P. R., Murphy, S. M., & Hardy, L. (1999). Test of performance strategies: Development and preliminary validation of a comprehensive measure of athletes’ psychological skills. Journal of Sports Sciences, 17, 697–711].ResultsFour distinctive mindfulness clusters were found based on their response on the MMS using cluster analysis. Marked differences in flow dispositions and mental skills adoption habits were observed between the high and the low mindfulness clusters. Those in the high mindfulness cluster scored significantly higher than the low mindfulness clusters in challenge–skill balance, merging of action and awareness, clear goals, concentration and loss of self-consciousness scores of the DFS-2 [Jackson, S.A., & Eklund, R.C. (2004). The flow scale manual. Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology]. The high mindfulness clusters also scored significantly higher compared to the low mindfulness cluster in terms of attentional control, emotional control, goal setting and self-talk sub-scales of the TOPS.ConclusionsThis study suggests that athletes’ flow dispositions and mental skills adoption could be differentiated using mindfulness. The findings have implications towards the understanding of flow and mental skills adoption within sport psychology.     

Autonomy support and motivational responses across training and competition in individual and team sports

This study examined: (a) whether athletes’ (N = 348) perceived autonomy support (i.e., showing interest in athletes’ input and praising autonomous behavior) differs across contexts (training vs. competition) and sport types (individual vs. team sports), and (b) whether the relationships between autonomy support and effort, enjoyment, and anxiety are affected by context and sport type. Perceived autonomy support did not vary across contexts, but interest in athletes’ input was higher in individual than in team sports. Praise for autonomous behavior was associated positively with effort only when interest in input was high, and this effect was stronger in training than in competition. Finally, praise for autonomous behavior was also positively related to enjoyment in training, while interest in input was positively associated with anxiety in individual sports.     

Meta‐Perceptions of the Coach–Athlete Relationship,Achievement Goals,and Intrinsic Motivation Among Sport Participants

This study investigated a motivational sequence hypothesizing relationships between athletes' meta‐perceptions of the coach–athlete relationship, achievement goals, and intrinsic motivation. Participants (N = 194) completed a multi‐sectional questionnaire assessing the targeted variables. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that athletes who viewed their coaches to be more cooperative, committed, and close in their relationships were more likely to endorse a mastery‐approach goal, and less likely to adopt a performance‐avoidance goal. Subsequent findings confirmed the hypothesized positive relationship between a mastery‐approach goal and intrinsic motivation. Finally, a mastery‐approach goal was found to partially mediate the link between athletes' meta‐perceptions of the coach–athlete relationship and intrinsic motivation. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical utility.     

“'Cause You Can't Play This by Yourself”: Athletes' Perceptions of Team Influence on Their Precompetitive Psychological States

Although correlational studies indicate that team attributes are related to athletes' precompetitive psychological states, it is unknown how team members experience these relationships. The present study's purpose was to investigate athletes' perceptions of precompetitive team influence. Consequently, we worked from a constructivist realist position and used qualitative methods (interviews with competitive team-sport athletes). An inductive content analysis revealed that athletes perceived established and novel team characteristics and processes to influence their precompetitive psychological states. Athletes perceived these influences as both adaptive and maladaptive, and it appeared that they were qualified by contextual factors as well as intuitive regulatory attempts.     

Deconstructing the Myth of the Monolithic Male Athlete: A Qualitative Study of Men’s Participation in Athletics

A qualitative study using field-based methods examined motivations for participation in collegiate team sports, the psychological and emotional rewards of team membership, and the dynamics of relationships with teammates among male athletes. Previous cross-disciplinary research largely reinforces clear and consistent gender differences within communal and agentic domains. In-depth, oral bibliographic interviews with 11 varsity athletes from basketball and soccer teams were conducted at a university in the USA. Participants spoke freely about multiple dimensions of their experiences as athletes—experiences frequently dichotomized by researchers as masculine or feminine. Analyses document that male athletes rated the importance of interpersonal and emotional relationships with teammates as valuably as they did instrumental needs. Results are discussed in terms of cultural imperatives that polarize domains presumed to be highly gender based and sex-segregated.     

Sexualized and Athletic: Viewers’ Attitudes toward Sexualized Performance Images of Female Athletes

Using an experimental methodology, the present study investigated college students’ attitudes toward media images of female athletes. We are particularly focused on how viewers perceive media images of female athletes that have both an appearance and athleticism focus, such as those found in ESPN’s The Body Issue. An aim of our study was to assess viewers’ attitudes toward these images that are not purely objectified, thereby contributing to the objectification literature and providing empirical data relevant to theorizing on the social impact of these images. U.S. college students (n?=?563) viewed one of four types of images of the same athletes including: (a) sexualized athletes, (b) sexualized performance athletes (in which both athleticism and sexualization are present), (c) sport performance athletes (in which athletes are depicted playing their sport), or (d) non-sexualized athletes. They then rated the athletes’ competence, esteem, and sexual appeal. Overall, sexualized performance athletes were rated more positively than sexualized athletes, but less positively than sport performance athletes. These results have implications for advocacy efforts calling for more media coverage in which women are depicted as athletes rather than as sexual objects.

     

Competitive worries, sport confidence, and performance ratings for young swimmers

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among competitive worries, sport confidence, and performance of young athletes. Participants were 143 young swimmers aged 11 to 12 years. The athletes completed trait and state questionnaires (competitive worries and sport confidence) in noncompetitive and competitive conditions, respectively. The results indicated: (a) significant relationships among trait and state characteristics and between trait General Self-confidence and performance ratings in both races as well as between performance ratings in Races 1 and 2; (b) significant differences in state variables among athletes with moderate or high and low scores on the trait variables; (c) significant differences in performance among athletes with moderate or high and low scores on the trait General Self-confidence and trait Positive Thinking in Race 1 and on variables trait General Self-confidence, state General Self confidence, and state Positive Thinking Race 2; and (d) trait General Self-confidence and trait Confidence in Unfavorable Situations were the most important predictors of young swimmers' performances. These results may be useful in application to competitive sports for young athletes. They may help in psychodiagnostic procedures and may be used for both the content and the direction of individual programs for psychological preparation of young athletes.     

Imagine that: examining the influence of sport‐related imagined contact on intergroup anxiety and sexual prejudice across cultures

The purpose of this study was to examine (a) the relationship among sport‐related imagined intergroup contact, intergroup anxiety, and sexual prejudice, and (b) how these relationships varied across cultures. Students enrolled at major public universities in South Korea (n = 100) and the United States (n = 100) participated in an experiment in which they imagined playing basketball and then engaging in a conversation with a gay man or with a friend. They then responded to a post‐experiment questionnaire. South Koreans' intergroup anxiety significantly decreased when they imagined contact with a gay man, but the same was not necessarily the case for Americans. Intergroup anxiety mediated the relationship between imagined contact and sexual prejudice for Americans, but not for Koreans.     

Performance expectations,personal resources,and job resources: How do they predict work engagement?

Research on work engagement has mainly focused on the role of job and personal resources and has ignored the possible impact of personal demands workers develop with regard to their work. The aim of our study was to test the reciprocal relationships that job resources, personal resources, and personal demands, operationalized as performance expectations, share with work engagement. Three-wave longitudinal data were collected in a Belgian public institution (N?=?473). Results confirm the causal effects of job resources, personal resources, and performance expectations on work engagement. Reciprocal relationships are not significant. Results are discussed with regard to the impact of changes in job and personal resources and performance expectations on work engagement. Practical implications including reinforcement of Human Resources practices such as appraisal interviewing and career management are also discussed.