Directions of Effects between Adolescent Psychopathic Traits and Parental Behavior

The present study examined the directions of effects between adolescent psychopathic traits and parental behaviors. The data are from a community-based cohort-sequential study. Data were collected annually over 4 years. Participants were 875 adolescents, aged 13-15 at Time 1, and we analyzed their reports of negative and positive parental behavior, delinquency, and psychopathic traits. In results from cross-lagged models, adolescent psychopathic traits predicted changes over time in all of the parental behaviors at nearly all of the time intervals, whereas the prediction from parental behaviors to psychopathic traits was inconsistent across parenting measures and time intervals. These findings suggest that parental behavior is more a reaction than a predictor of psychopathic traits in adolescence.     

Multiple motives for participating in adventure sports

ObjectivesThe purpose of the present study was to explore possible multiple motives for participation in different adventure sports.DesignQualitative design, specifically an inductive-deductive approach informed by reversal theory, was used to analyze participation motivation data.MethodData was collected using the Scanlan Collaborative Interview Method (SCIM; Scanlan, Russell, Wilson, & Scanlan, 2003). Participants were very experienced adventure sport participants involved in riversurfing, mountain biking, kayaking, mountain climbing and hang gliding.ResultsThe results indicated that the participants' motivation was multifaceted. While some participants shared common motives, these were often described in different orders of importance by different participants. The range of motives for adventure sport participation found included: goal achievement, risk taking, social motivation, escape from boredom, pushing personal boundaries and overcoming fear, as well as connecting with the natural environment, and pleasurable kinaesthetic bodily sensations from moving in water or air.ConclusionsThe authors argue for a continuation of a recent trend to provide a more comprehensive picture of the complexities of human motivation for participation in adventure sports which go beyond excitement- or thrill-seeking behaviour.     

Initiating and Sustaining Emotional Abuse in the Coach–Athlete Relationship: An Ecological Transactional Model of Vulnerability

The purpose of this study was to explore the process by which emotional abuse occurs and is often sustained in sport. Methods were established in congruence with the iterative nature of grounded theory. In total, 18 retired elite athletes participated in the study. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with each participant, and data were coded using open, axial, and selective coding techniques. Data were interpreted to suggest that the perpetration of emotional abuse in the coach–athlete relationship is closely tied to ambitions and philosophies of athlete development. Based on the findings, an ecological transactional model of vulnerability to emotional abuse in the coach–athlete relationship is proposed. Recommendations are made for future prevention and intervention initiatives.     

Where is Safeguarding in Sport Psychology Research and Practice?

Recent cases of sexual abuse of athletes have drawn significant concern amongst stakeholders in sport and the public at-large. The fact that the perpetrators in many cases of athlete abuse had numerous victims over the span of several years raises questions of who might have known or suspected that athletes were being harmed. Sexual abuse cases should serve as an impetus for all of us in sport psychology to interrogate our roles and responsibilities as consultants and researchers in the protection of athletes. We propose that future research in applied sport psychology and education of consultants address maltreatment and safeguarding.

Lay Summary: In the following article, we propose that more attention in the research and practice of sport psychology should be devoted to understanding maltreatment of athletes and ways to protect athletes from harm.     

Conceptualizing Excellence: Past,Present, and Future

While an historical glance through the sport psychology literature reveals an interest in performance excellence since its beginning, a focus of personal excellence has been a more recent trend. This review will address the relationships between performance and personal excellence. More specifically, we question whether performance excellence in high-level sport, by virtue of the exceptional demands on the elite athlete, occurs at the expense of development in personal excellence or whether performance excellence is possible only through personal excellence. Furthermore, we propose that the field may reconcile these ideals in the future through an athlete-centered sport model. This model is defined by the philosophy that developmentally appropriate sport can be used as a vehicle for enhancing overall well-being and the acquisition of lifelong skills. Performance excellence, therefore, co-exists in the same environment as personal excellence. The implications of implementing an athlete-centered sport system for athletes and coaches and for the research and practice of those in sport psychology will be addressed.     

The Effects of Athlete Retirement on Parents

It is often parents who introduce their children to competitive sports and parents who then provide remarkable emotional and material support across their children's athletic careers (Bloom, 1985 Bloom, B., ed. 1985. Developing talent in young people, New York: Ballantine Books.  [Google Scholar]; Côté, 1999 Côté, J. 1999. The influence of the family in the development of talent in sport. The Sport Psychologist, 13: 395–417. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Considerable research documents athletes’ retirement experiences (Baillie, 1993 Baillie, P. 1993. Understanding retirement from sports: Therapeutic ideas for helping athletes in transition. The Counseling Psychologist, 21: 399–409.  [Google Scholar]; Baillie & Danish, 1992 Baillie, P. and Danish, S. J. 1992. Understanding the career transition of athletes. The Sport Psychologist, 6: 77–98. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Svoboda & Vanek, 1982 Svoboda, B. and Vanek, M. 1982. “Retirement from high level competition”. In Mental training for coaches and athletes, Edited by: Orlick, T., Partington, J. and Salmela, J. 166–175. Ottawa: Coaching Association of Canada.  [Google Scholar]; Werthner & Orlick, 1982 Werthner, P. and Orlick, T. 1982. Retirement experiences of successful Olympic athletes. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 17: 337–363.  [Google Scholar]), yet none explores the effects of retirement on parents. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of athletes’ disengagement from sport on parents. In-depth interviews were conducted with six parents of former female elite gymnasts who had been retired for three to five years and the data analyzed inductively (Côté, Salmela, Baria, & Russell, 1993 Côté, J., Salmela, J., Baria, A. and Russell, S. 1993. Organizing and interpreting unstructured qualitative data. The Sport Psychologist, 7: 127–137. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Lally & Kerr, 2005 Lally, P. S. and Kerr, G. 2005. The career planning, athletic identity and student role identity of intercollegiate student-athletes. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 76: 275–285. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Miller & Kerr, 2002 Miller, P. S. and Kerr, G. 2002. The athletic, academic, and social experiences of intercollegiate student-athletes. Journal of Sport Behavior, 25: 346–367.  [Google Scholar], 2003 Miller, P. S. and Kerr, G. 2003. The role experimentation of intercollegiate student-athletes. The Sport Psychologist, 17: 197–220.  [Google Scholar]). Their daughters’ withdrawal from gymnastics and their own immediate disengagement from the world of elite sport had a tremendous impact on the participants’ personal and social relationships, leaving them struggling with weighty self-doubts over their failure to intervene with abusive coaches.     

Images of career: Nine key metaphors

This article examines theorists', practitioners', and workers' extensive use of metaphors in the conceptualization of careers. Metaphor constrains career thinking to powerful stereotypes, yet also extends views through the consideration of alternative metaphors and the creation of new ones. Morgan's (1986) method of multiple metaphor is used to develop an eclectic view of career studies. Nine key metaphors for career are considered—the career as inheritance, construction, cycle, matching, journey, encounters and relationships, roles, resource, and story. These metaphors act as frameworks for much career theory, and each presents specific career issues. Together they have the potential to advance thinking about careers beyond the framing of familiar metaphors, and provide a broader and more inclusive understanding of career phenomena.