Female Paralympic Athlete Views of Effective and Ineffective Coaching Practices

People with physical disabilities are at a higher risk of developing secondary physical and mental health conditions, such as fatigue, obesity, and depression. The purpose of this study was to explore female Paralympic athlete views of effective and ineffective coaching practices. Individual semistructured interviews were conducted with 8 athletes who achieved an average of 8 combined Paralympic and Parapan American medals. A hierarchical content analysis revealed the athletes’ perceptions and experiences of both effective and ineffective coaching strategies and behaviors, including how these experiences affected them on a personal and professional level. All athletes achieved tremendous athletic accomplishments and recognized the importance and value of their coaches in helping them reach such high standards of success. In addition, the participants spoke about male coaches inappropriately addressing their disability and gender and how it negatively influenced their psychological well-being. These results are particularly troublesome when you consider that females with a disability are more susceptible to experiencing discrimination, exclusion, or harassment and more likely to experience body image issues compared to their male counterparts. This research adds to the small body of coaching knowledge in parasport and is one of the first studies to include an all-female sample of Paralympic athletes. In addition, it offers a number of practical implications for coaches, athletes, and the Paralympic community.

Lay Summary: This study adds to the small body of coaching knowledge in parasport by interviewing female Paralympic athletes. Athletes talked about coaches who enhanced their athletic performance and personal development, whereas others spoke about male coaches inappropriately addressing their disability and gender and how it negatively influenced their psychological well-being.     

The spacing effect,free recall,and two-process theory: a closer look

Two experiments used procedures similar to those used by R. L. Greene (1989) to test the 2-process theory of the spacing effect and, in particular, the contextual-variability subtheory that applies to free-recall performance. Experiment 1 obtained a spacing effect in free recall following intentional learning but not following incidental learning, contrary to a previous result supporting the 2-process theory. Experiment 2 replicated the incidental-learning results when a slow presentation rate was used. However, with a faster presentation rate, a spacing effect was obtained, and performance exceeded that of the slow-presentation-rate condition at the longest lag. Neither the contextual-variability subtheory of 2-process theory nor an alternative deficient-processing hypothesis was able to account for all of the data.     

Children's understanding of the Ulysses conflict

Two studies explored children's understanding of how the presence of conflicting mental states in a single mind can lead people to act so as to subvert their own desires. Study 1 analyzed explanations by children (4--7 years) and adults of behaviors arising from this sort of 'Ulysses conflict' and compared them with their understanding of conflicting desires in different minds, as well as with changes of mind within an individual across time. The data revealed that only the adults were able to adequately explain the Ulysses conflict. Study 2 asked children (4--7 years) and adults to choose among three explicitly presented competing explanations for self-subverting behaviors. The results suggest that an understanding of the influence of conflicting mental states on behaviors does not occur until at least 7 years of age.     

Neuropsychological impairments in the syndromes of schizophrenia: a comparison between different dimensional models

This study investigates the associations between the different symptom dimensions of schizophrenia and neuropsychological performances. Globally, the results replicate previously described associations. The "negative" dimension correlates with impaired sustained attention and working memory, thus suggestive of dorsolateral frontal cortex dysfunction. "Disorganization" correlates with the ability to inhibit proactive interference. thus with ventromedial frontal dysfunction. The results also add support to the view that the "psychotic" dimension described in three-dimension models includes in fact two distinct dimensions, (1) "hallucinations," here associated to episodic memory measures, and (2) "delusions", here associated to visuospatial attention, thus suggestive of mediotemporal and posterior neocortical dysfunction, respectively.     

Talking with Feeling: Integrating Affective and Linguistic Expression in Early Language Development

Abstract

The purpose of the longitudinal study reported here was to determine the developmental relation between the two systems of expression available to the young child in the period of early language learning: affect and speech. Two achievements in language were identified for a group of 12 infants: First Words, at the beginning of the single-word period (mean age about 13 months), and a Vocabulary Spurt, which occurred toward the end of the period (mean age about 19 months). Affect expression was coded continuously in the stream of the infants' activity as they and their mothers played with groups of toys and ate a snack. The occurrence of words was examined in relation to the expression of affect and the results of this study concern developments in the integration of these two forms expression. The children's words occurred closely in time with their expression of emotionally toned affect. We concluded, then, that they were learning words to express what their feelings were about even though none of the actual words they said were emotion terms. However, the cognitive requirements for emotional expression and expression through speech resulted in several constraints on their integration. Words were said with neutral affect expression most often, with a peak in emotional expression in the moments immediately after words but a decrease in emotional expression before words. The peak in emotional expression with words was significantly greater, and the pre-word dip in emotional expression was significantly less, at the Vocabulary Spurt than at First Words. Thus, the two systems of expression converged in the period of single-word development as the children came to be able to say words with emotional affect. However, the words that were said together with emotional expression were said with positive rather than negative valence, with low rather than heightened intensity, and were among the most frequent and earliest learned words. These results are discussed in terms of the acquisition of language for expression and the different cognitive requirements for expression through affect and speech.     

Building a Successful University Program: Key and Common Elements of Expert Coaches

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine how expert university coaches of team sports built their successful programs. In particular, key and common elements that enabled these coaches to achieve success were identified. Five expert Canadian female university coaches were interviewed individually. The results of the analysis revealed four elements for developing successful programs. First, coaches possessed a variety of personal attributes that enabled them to display appropriate leadership behaviors depending on the situation they faced. Second, coaches had a personal desire to foster their players' individual growth. Third, coaches possessed thorough organizational skills from which they planned the season and prepared their team for games. Finally, these elements were linked together by the coaches' vision, which involved the athletes buying into the coaches' goals, philosophy, and personality in order to achieve success. These results are discussed in relation to literature on coaching psychology and leadership.     

Identifying long-term patterns of work-related rumination: associations with job demands and well-being outcomes

The aim of this 2-year longitudinal study was to identify long-term patterns of work-related rumination in terms of affective rumination, problem-solving pondering, and lack of psychological detachment from work during off-job time. We also examined how the patterns differed in job demands and well-being outcomes. The data were collected via questionnaires in three waves among employees (N = 664). Through latent profile analysis (LPA), five stable long-term patterns of rumination were identified: (1) no rumination (n = 81), (2) moderate detachment from work (n = 228), (3) moderate rumination combined with low detachment (n = 216), (4) affective rumination (n = 54), and (5) problem-solving pondering (n = 85), both combined with low detachment. The patterns differed in the job demands and well-being outcomes examined. Job demands (time pressure, cognitive and emotional demands) were at the highest level across time in patterns 3–5 and lowest in pattern 1. Patterns 3 and 4 were associated with poorer well-being outcomes (higher job exhaustion and more sleeping problems, and lower work engagement) across time. By contrast, pattern 5 showed positive outcomes, especially high level of work engagement. Thus, the different patterns of work-related ruminative thoughts suggest diverse relationships with job demands and well-being.