Relations between multidimensional perfectionism and burnout in junior-elite male athletes

ObjectivesThe purpose of the present investigation was to examine the moderating influence of perceptions of goal progress and achievement goal orientations on the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism and athlete burnout.Methods201 junior-elite male athletes, ranging from 11 to 21 years of age (M = 15.64, SD = 1.92), were recruited from professional sport clubs in the UK and completed a multi-section inventory assessing self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism [Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: conceptualization, assessment, and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456–470], achievement goal orientations [Roberts, G. C., Treasure, D. C., & Balague, G. (1998). Achievement goals in sport: the development and validation of the perception of success questionnaire. Journal of Sport Sciences, 16, 337–347], perceived goal progress [Hill, A. P., Hall, H. K., Appleton, P. R., & Kozub, S. A. (2008). Perfectionism and burnout in junior-elite soccer players: the mediating influence of unconditional self-acceptance. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 9, 630–644] and multidimensional athlete burnout [Raedeke, T. D., & Smith, A. L. (2001). Development and preliminary validation of an athlete burnout measure. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 23, 281–306].ResultsRegression analyses revealed that socially prescribed perfectionism demonstrated a significant positive association, and self-oriented perfectionism a significant negative association with burnout dimensions. However, the hypotheses for moderation of the perfectionism–burnout relationship were not supported.ConclusionsOverall, while there was no evidence to support the hypothesised moderation of the perfectionism–burnout relationship, the results provide support for a growing body of literature which indicates that maladaptive forms of perfectionism may contribute to burnout in elite junior athletes [Chen, L. H., Kee, Y. H., Chen, M., & Tsaim, Y. (2008). Relation of perfectionism with athletes' burnout: further examination. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 106, 811–820; Gould, D., Tuffey, S., Udrey, E., & Loehr, J. (1996). Burnout in competitive junior tennis players: II. Qualitative analysis. The Sport Psychologist, 10, 341–366; Gould, D., Udry, E., Tuffey, S., & Loehr, J. (1996). Burnout in competitive junior tennis players: I. A quantitative psychological assessment. The Sport Psychologist, 10, 332–340; Hall, H. K. (2006). Perfectionism: a hallmark quality of world class performers, or a psychological impediment to athletic development? In D. Hackfort, & G. Tenenbaum (Eds.), Perspectives in sport and exercise psychology: Essential processes for attaining peak performance (Vol. 1, pp. 178–211). Oxford, UK: Meyer & Meyer Publishers; Hill et al., 2008; Lemyre, P. N., Hall, H. K., & Roberts, G. C. (2008). A social cognitive approach to burnout in elite athletes. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 18, 221–224].     

A cross‐syndrome study of the differential effects of sleep on declarative memory consolidation in children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Sleep plays an active role in memory consolidation. Because children with Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS) experience significant problems with sleep and also with learning, we predicted that sleep‐dependent memory consolidation would be impaired in these children when compared to typically developing (TD) children. This is the first study to provide a cross‐syndrome comparison of sleep‐dependent learning in school‐aged children. Children with DS (n = 20) and WS (n = 22) and TD children (n = 33) were trained on the novel Animal Names task where they were taught pseudo‐words as the personal names of ten farm and domestic animals, e.g. Basco the cat, with the aid of animal picture flashcards. They were retested following counterbalanced retention intervals of wake and sleep. Overall, TD children remembered significantly more words than both the DS and WS groups. In addition, their performance improved following night‐time sleep, whereas performance over the wake retention interval remained stable, indicating an active role of sleep for memory consolidation. Task performance of children with DS did not significantly change following wake or sleep periods. However, children with DS who were initially trained in the morning continued to improve on the task at the following retests, so that performance on the final test was greater for children who had initially trained in the morning than those who trained in the evening. Children with WS improved on the task between training and the first retest, regardless of whether sleep or wake occurred during the retention interval. This suggests time‐dependent rather than sleep‐dependent learning in children with WS, or tiredness at the end of the first session and better performance once refreshed at the start of the second session, irrespective of the time of day. Contrary to expectations, sleep‐dependent learning was not related to baseline level of performance. The findings have significant implications for educational strategies, and suggest that children with DS should be taught more important or difficult information in the morning when they are better able to learn, whilst children with WS should be allowed a time delay between learning phases to allow for time‐dependent memory consolidation, and frequent breaks from learning so that they are refreshed and able to perform at their best.     

The Protestant Reformation and Social Justice in Latin America

The political effects of the 16th‐century religious reformations have never been in doubt. What is debatable, however, is how these effects have been felt in different contexts. In what is now Latin America, their influence was kept at a distance to avoid the changes in Europe from taking place on the other side of the Atlantic. This article examines Latin American writers to demonstrate how, in the different cultural and geographical contexts of the sub‐continent, the social and political imprint of the Reformation and its emancipating and libertarian emphasis has been perceived.     

Volunteer Work,Religious Commitment,and Resting Pulse Rates

Research indicates that greater involvement in volunteer activities is associated with better health. We aim to contribute to this literature in two ways. First, rather than rely on self-reports of health, measured resting pulse rates serve as the dependent variable. Second, an effort is made to see if religious commitment moderates the relationship between volunteering and resting pulse rates. Data that come from a recent nationwide survey (N = 2265) suggest that volunteer work is associated with lower resting pulse rates. The results also reveal that the relationship between engaging in volunteer work and resting pulse rates improves among study participants who are more deeply committed to religion.     

Consumer Vulnerability

Consumer vulnerability affects billions of consumers worldwide, yet there is no consensus about what constitutes this state or about its consequences for consumers. Indeed, while consumer vulnerability is often invoked in consumer research, it is usually discussed informally, with little conceptual anchoring. The goal of the current work was to advance the field's understanding of consumer vulnerability by (a) reviewing and integrating existing research, (b) extracting common features to develop a comprehensive framework for the concept of consumer vulnerability, and (c) charting paths forward for future research. We begin by defining consumer vulnerability as a state in which consumers are subject to harm because their access to and control over resources are restricted in ways that significantly inhibit their ability to function in the marketplace. We then introduce two lenses through which to identify this state: experience and observation. Next, we delineate the antecedents and consequences of consumer vulnerability and discuss the merits of adopting a view of this state as more global and dynamic. Finally, we use our framework to offer future research considerations.     

Religious Attendance and Social Support: Integration or Selection?

Although numerous studies have shown that religious attendance is associated with greater social support, concerns remain about selection into religious attendance and more supportive relationships. In this paper, we employ data collected from the 2011 Miami-Dade Health Survey (n?=?444) to assess the extent to which the association between religious attendance and social support is due to selection processes related to personality, health behavior, and health status. In our multinomial logistic regression of attendance, we find that the odds of weekly attendance are increased by extraversion and reduced by smoking. We also observe that religious attendance does not vary according to level of agreeableness, self-esteem, alcohol consumption, psychological distress, or physical health. In our regression of support, we find that respondents who attend religious services weekly or more tend to report more social support than respondents who never attend. This association persisted with adjustments for age, gender, race, immigrant status, interview language, education, employment status, household income, financial strain, marital status (parent and respondent), the presence of children, family difficulties, personality (agreeableness, extroversion, and self-esteem), health behavior (smoking, binge drinking, and substance use), and health status (psychological distress, activity limitations, and overall physical health). Across models, the association between weekly attendance and social support is attenuated by no more than 7%. This attenuation is due to personality (extraversion), not health behavior or health status. We conclude that the association between religious attendance and social support is primarily driven by integration processes rather than any selection processes we have considered.

     

The accessibility of religious beliefs

We used reaction time techniques to study individual differences in accessibility of beliefs about the reality of religious targets. Moderately religious people were slower than religious or irreligious people. Religious people were faster than non-religious people. Reaction times to classify religious stimuli are stable over 8 days. We also found that religious people with accessible beliefs have the highest well-being, and that religious beliefs correspond to greater levels of religious behavior when the reality of religious stimuli is accessible. These results further our understanding on natural individual differences in attitude accessibility and add to our understanding of religious beliefs, including their impact.     

Gender Differences in Aggression: The Role of Status and Personality in Competitive Interactions

Southwest US undergraduates (78 female, 72 male) were tested in a laboratory aggressive behavior paradigm involving noise blasts participants could use against another (bogus) same-sex competitor in a point-earning task. Status of the competitor (low vs. high) and expectation to meet the competitor (meet vs. no meet) were experimentally manipulated. A significant gender × aggression proneness × status interaction indicated that aggression-prone men were more likely to aggress against a high status competitor, while aggression-prone women were more likely to aggress against a low status competitor. Interactions of narcissism and sensation seeking with gender and anticipated meeting indicated that men but not women high in these personality traits were more likely to aggress, but only towards competitors they anticipated meeting.     

Gender Differences in Correlates of Homophobia and Transphobia

A scale of prejudice against transgender individuals was developed, validated, and contrasted with a homophobia measure in 153 female and 157 male US college undergraduates. For both sexes, transphobia and homophobia were highly correlated with each other and with right-wing authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, and hostile sexism, but aggression proneness was predictive of transphobia and homophobia only in men. Benevolent sexism and rape myth acceptance were more predictive of transphobia and homophobia in women than men. With homophobia partialled out, authoritarianism, fundamentalism, and aggression proneness no longer predicted transphobia for men, but authoritarianism, fundamentalism, benevolent sexism, and rape myth acceptance continued to predict transphobia in women. Discussion focused on gender differences in issues that drive prejudice against transgender and homosexual individuals.