Using self-determination theory to explain sport persistence and dropout in adolescent athletes

Motivational characteristics are influential in shaping adolescents' desire to persist in sport or to discontinue their sport participation. Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) was utilized as the theoretical framework for this study. This theory examines whether sustained participatory involvement, defined as continued participation in the sport through the next year, was influenced by individuals' self-determined motivation and by the fulfillment of the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Four hundred ninety two soccer players between the ages of 13 and 17 years comprised the sample. Results indicated sport dropout was explained by higher levels of amotivation, external regulation, and introjected regulation and by lower satisfaction of relatedness and autonomy needs. The findings of this study contribute to the knowledge base on sport dropout as they supported many of self-determination theory.     

Effects of spatial frequency content on classification of face gender and expression

The role of different spatial frequency bands on face gender and expression categorization was studied in three experiments. Accuracy and reaction time were measured for unfiltered, low-pass (cut-off frequency of 1 cycle/deg) and high-pass (cutoff frequency of 3 cycles/deg) filtered faces. Filtered and unfiltered faces were equated in root-mean-squared contrast. For low-pass filtered faces reaction times were higher than unfiltered and high-pass filtered faces in both categorization tasks. In the expression task, these results were obtained with expressive faces presented in isolation (Experiment 1) and also with neutral-expressive dynamic sequences where each expressive face was preceded by a briefly presented neutral version of the same face (Experiment 2). For high-pass filtered faces different effects were observed on gender and expression categorization. While both speed and accuracy of gender categorization were reduced comparing to unfiltered faces, the efficiency of expression classification remained similar. Finally, we found no differences between expressive and non expressive faces in the effects of spatial frequency filtering on gender categorization (Experiment 3). These results show a common role of information from the high spatial frequency band in the categorization of face gender and expression.     

The Social Phobia Inventory: screening and cross-cultural validation in Spanish adolescents

Availability of brief, self-report measures to be used as screening instruments is crucial to detect correctly youth with social anxiety disorder and therefore, reach those otherwise under-detected and under-treated. A previous study revealed that the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) was potentially an appropriate measure for screening social anxiety among US adolescents. However, there is a lack of information concerning its properties as a screening test in other cultures and languages. This is the main objective of this study, although further validity of the scale is provided as well. The sample consisted of 192 adolescents (a sample composed of 114 subjects with a principal diagnosis of social anxiety disorder; and a group consisting of 78 subjects with no diagnosis of social phobia). Results suggest that the Social Phobia Inventory has demonstrated good psychometric properties and indeed may be used as a screening tool in Spanish-speaking adolescents.     

La pratique physique,un moyen de circonscrire les effets délétères du confinement en milieu carcéral : impact d’un programme d’activités physiques sur la santé perçue et le bien-être psychologique de détenus

To be in prison consists in enduring the enticements of multiple stressors and constraints leading to an unpredictable and often uncontrollable situation. This generates serious health troubles and distress in the population living in prison. Physical Exercise (PE) is well acquainted for its benefits in terms of health and as such it seems reasonable to suggest its contribution in ameliorating life conditions among detainees, although the literature on the subject is quite scanty. The present report shows that moderate PE may contribute actively in ameliorating the health status. Notably perceived stress and other psychological factors are significantly improved in a small and particular population of detainees, sex offenders.     

Drivers’ propensity to have different types of intelligent speed adaptation installed in their cars

The aim of the present study was to examine if there are differences in drivers’ propensity to have different types of intelligent speed adaptation installed in their cars depending on the sample of drivers (i.e. Swedish or Turkish), their aberrant driving behaviours (i.e. violations and errors), and/or the technical solution used (i.e. speed limit information, advisory, supportive and intervening systems). A sample of 224 Swedish and 316 Turkish drivers completed a questionnaire including questions based on the driver behaviour questionnaire (DBQ) as well as questions about the drivers’ propensity to have different types of intelligent speed adaptation installed in their cars. The results showed that the Swedish sample of drivers was less positive than the Turkish sample of drivers towards having the advisory, supportive and intervening systems installed. Furthermore, drivers who frequently commit violations were less positive towards having any of these systems installed than were drivers who commit violations less frequently, while drivers who frequently make errors were more positive towards having the systems installed than were drivers who make errors less frequently. Both the Swedish and the Turkish sample of drivers were most positive towards having the speed limit information system installed, followed by the advisory system on second place, the supportive system on third place and lastly the intervening system on fourth place.     

Moral Motivation Pluralism

Motivational externalists and internalists of various sorts disagree about the circumstances under which it is conceptually possible to have moral opinions but lack moral motivation. Typically, the evidence referred to are intuitions about whether people in certain scenarios who lack moral motivation count as having moral opinions. People’s intuitions about such scenarios diverge, however. I argue that the nature of this diversity is such that, for each of the internalist and externalist theses, there is a strong prima facie reason to reject it. That much might not be very controversial. But I argue further, that it also gives us a strong prima facie reason to reject all of these theses. This is possible since there is an overlooked alternative option to accepting any of them: moral motivation pluralism, the view that different internalist and externalist theses correctly accounts for different people’s concepts of moral opinions, respectively. I end the paper with a discussion of methodological issues relevant to the argument for moral motivation pluralism and of the consequences of this view for theories about the nature of moral opinions, such as cognitivism and non-cognitivism.     

On defining “mental disorder”: Purposes and conditions of adequacy

All definitions of mental disorder are backed up by arguments that rely on general criteria (e.g., that a definition should be consistent with ordinary language). These desiderata are rarely explicitly stated, and there has been no systematic discussion of how different definitions should be assessed. To arrive at a well-founded list of desiderata, we need to know the purpose of a definition. I argue that this purpose must be practical; it should, for example, help us determine who is entitled to publicly funded health care. I then propose eight conditions of adequacy that can be used to assess competing definitions (e.g., the ordinary language condition, the coherence condition, and the condition of normative adequacy). These conditions pull in different directions, however, and we must decide which are most important. I also suggest that there is no single definition that can help us deal with all the relevant practical issues.     

Close Relationships and Happiness Among Emerging Adults

The present investigation examined the role of multiple close relationships (mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner, if any) in happiness among emerging adults with and without a romantic partner. The results for those without a partner (n = 152) revealed that only the relationship experiences with mother and best friend were predictive of happiness. On the other hand, the findings for those with a partner (n = 159) showed that only three factors, namely mother–child relationship quality, romantic relationship quality and conflict were predictive of happiness. The results for this group also suggested that romantic relationship quality was protective of best friendship conflict; moreover, best friendship quality did not buffer the negative impact of romantic partner conflict on happiness, suggesting a less important role of best friends in happiness. In other words, the findings suggest that when emerging adults are involved in a romantic relationship, friends’ importance in happiness might be less pronounced or not pronounced at all. The results were discussed in light of the literature and suggestions were made for future research.     

Income,Motivation, and Satisfaction with Life: An Empirical Analysis

This paper focuses on how different types of motivations can condition satisfaction with life, studying whether individual heterogeneity in motivations affects the relationship between income and life satisfaction and whether the relationship between motivation and satisfaction differs for people in different income-groups. Data used in this study comes from the World Values Survey and the focus is placed on the relationship between income, motivation and satisfaction with life. Once variables such as gender, age, religion, health or education are controlled for, we find that different motivations significantly affect individual wellbeing. Moreover, our results suggest that moving from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation leads individuals to enjoy greater satisfaction with life. This is so independent of the level of income, but the role of intrinsic motivation is particularly significant for people in the low-income class. Life satisfaction also increases, within extrinsic motivation, when moving from importance placed on a good income to focusing on security and, within intrinsic motivation, when moving from emphasis placed on social relatedness to an increased feeling of accomplishment. Overall, our results suggest that different goals and intended outcomes condition individual’s perceptions of wellbeing, with intrinsic motivations being crucial in attaining greater levels of satisfaction with life.