Achievement goals and self-talk in physical education: The moderating role of perceived competence

Self-talk plays a key role in performance and self-regulation. One of the antecedents that may influence individual’s self-talk are achievement goal orientations. Three studies of 628, 313 and 1,169 participants were conducted to examine the relationships between positive and negative self-talk, perceived competence and achievement goals using two theoretical models of achievement goals. The participants completed the Automatic Self-Talk Questionnaire for Sports, the Task and Ego Orientation in Physical Education, the physical self-perception profile, and the Achievement Goal Questionnaire-Revised. The results revealed additive and interactive effects of achievement goals and perceived competence on students’ positive and negative self-talk. Overall, the results stressed the potential role of achievement goals and perceived competence as personal factors that influence students’ self-talk.     

Congruence of Life Goals and Implicit Motives as Predictors of Life Satisfaction: Cross-Cultural Implications of a Study of Zambian Male Adolescents

This paper examines the relationship between implicit motives, explicit life goals, and life satisfaction in a Zambian sample of male adolescents. A questionnaire assessing life goals (K. Pöhlmann & J. C. Brunstein, 1997), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (E. Diener, R. A. Emmons, R. J. Larsen, & S. Griffin, 1985), and a TAT-type picture-story-test were administered to 120 Gwembe Tonga adolescents in Zambia. The stories were coded according to a scoring system developed by D. G. Winter (1991). Based on motives associated with the domains achievement and affiliation-intimacy, the results revealed that congruence between implicit motives and self-attributed goals is associated with an enhanced satisfaction with life. This pattern does not appear to hold true for motives associated with the domain of power.     

Need Satisfaction as a Mediator of Associations between Interparental Relationship Dimensions and Autonomy Supportive Parenting: A Weekly Diary Study

Guided by the self-determination theory, this weekly diary study tested a process model in which week-to-week mother-reported interparental conflict and perceived partner responsiveness were associated with maternal autonomy support by means of maternal psychological need satisfaction. During six consecutive weeks, 258 mothers (M_age = 41.71 years) and their 157 adolescents (51.4% females, M_age = 14.92 years) from Turkey provided weekly reports of the study variables via an online survey. Multilevel analyses showed that maternal need satisfaction was predicted by lower levels of interparental conflict and greater levels of perceived partner responsiveness. Maternal need satisfaction, in turn, was positively associated with maternal and adolescent reports of maternal autonomy support. Further, these week-to-week associations were partly moderated by maternal perfectionism. The results underscore the dynamic nature of the intra-family relationships, the important role of particular conditions in which mothers may become more autonomy supportive, and the necessity to consider mother’s personal characteristics while examining these dynamics.     

The Struggle for a Blessing. Reflections on Genesis 32:24–31

Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” Then sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. (Gen. 32:24–31, NRSV)     

Ethnic/cultural identity salience,achievement goals and motivational climate in multicultural physical education classes

ObjectivesThis study investigated the association of ethnic/cultural identity salience with achievement goals and motivational climate in multicultural physical education classes.MethodsQuestionnaires assessing ethnic/cultural identity salience, achievement goals and motivational climate were completed by high school students with Greek (n = 927) and non-Greek (n = 366) ethnic origin. The ethnic/cultural identity salience questionnaire comprised four factors suggesting ethnic belonging, assimilation, feelings of being on the fringe of ethnic identity, and lack of desire to interact with members of other ethnic groups.ResultsMultilevel modeling analyses indicated that task orientation and class learning oriented climate were positively linked with ethnic belonging and assimilation from the larger culture. On the other hand, ego orientation and class performance oriented climates were positively associated with feelings of being on the fringe of ethnic identity, and with lack of desire to interact with members of other ethnic groups.ConclusionsThe present findings encourage the conduct of intervention studies emphasizing task orientation and decreasing ego orientation to promote mutual respect among ethnicities and acculturation from the larger culture.     

Perceptual systems and realism

Constructivism undermines realism by arguing that experience is mediated by concepts, and that there is no direct way to examine those aspects of objects that belong to them independently of our conceptualizations; perception is theory-laden. To defend realism one has to show first that perception relates us directly with the world without any intermediary conceptual framework. The result of this direct link is the nonconceptual content of experience. Second, one has to show that part of the nonconceptual content extracted from the environment correctly represents features of mind independent objects. With regard to the first condition, I have argued elsewhere that a part of visual processing, which I call “perception,” is theory-neutral and nonconceptual. In this paper, facing the second demand, I argue that a part of the nonconceptual content of perception presents properties that are the properties of mind independent objects. I claim first that nonconceptual content is the appropriate level of analysis of the issue of realism since it avoids the main problems besetting various types of analysis of the issue at the level of beliefs about the world. Then I claim that a subset of the nonconceptual content presents features of objects in the environment as they really are. This paper was mostly written when I was a fellow at the Center of Philosophy of Science in the University of Pittsburgh during the Spring Semester of 2005–2006. A draft of this paper was presented both at the Center’s colloquium and at one of the informal discussion meetings of the fellows. I have very much benefited from the discussion that followed the presentation of the paper and so I would like to thank Gabriele de Anna, Carla Fehr, Malcolm Forster, Lilly Gurova, Nikolay Milkov, and Wang Wei. I am especially indebted to the director of the Center Professor John Norton whose astute comments made me think hard about the issues discussed in the paper. Several of my arguments in Sect. 4 are the result of John’s concerns with the earlier draft of the paper. I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for helping me clarify several points in the paper. Thanks to them (especially the second one) the paper is considerably better than it would have been without them.     

Associations on dimensions of burnout and family support for a sample of Greek nurses

To assess correlations for perceived family support with burnout in Greek nurses, the Julkunen Family Support Questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventory were administered to nurses (22 men and 88 women; M age = 35.6 yr., SD = 5.7 yr.; M work experience = 12.2 yr., SD = 6.2 yr.). The correlation was positive but low for family support and sense of personal accomplishment by women; all the other correlations were low, accounting for very small variance.     

Motive congruence and interpersonal identity status

This article examines the relationship between interpersonal ego identity formation and congruence of self-attributed and implicit affiliation motives. A TAT-type picture-story test, the Personality Research Form, and the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status were administered to 177 participants to assess data on affiliation motivation and interpersonal identity formation. According to a scoring system developed by Winter, the picture stories were coded for need for Affiliation. Analyses revealed that motive congruence is significantly associated with participants' level of identity achievement and identity foreclosure in the interpersonal domain. Such a relationship could not be identified for identity diffusion and moratorium.     

Modeling sport services in Greece: a re-evaluation of outcome dimension

The Service Quality Scale, developed to evaluate perceived service quality in sport services in Greece, was administrated to 389 participants, 208 men and 181 women. Their mean age was 36.4 yr. (SD = 8.7). A confirmatory factor analysis did not support the prior five-factor solution. When the outcome dimension was removed, a four-factor model appeared an adequate fit. Practical implications are discussed.