Todd A. Gilson *, Jeong-Dae Lee ** and Martha E. Ewing ***
(*) Northern Illinois University, USA
(**) Miami University, USA
(***) Michigan State University, USA
Athletes recognize coaches as important in creating motivational climates (Pensgaard & Roberts, 2002); however, little is known about motivational climates athletes experience when training for sport. Therefore, the aim of this multi-experiment paper was to develop a questionnaire for this population. In Study 1, three distinct motivational climates were proposed. Complete data were collected from 203 university students and results revealed that while the three factor structure held, internal consistencies were less than desirable. In Study 2, modifications of the previous three motivational climates were completed and two new climates were put forth. Data were collected from 341 Division I and II collegiate athletes. Findings revealed all indices from this factor structure held, but internal consistencies were acceptable only when responses from females were examined. This study furthers the work of motivational climates by Seifriz et al. (1992) in an achievement arena related to, but unique from, sport.
Keywords: Confirmatory factor analysis, Multistudy report, Strength training
Elsa Kristiansen and Glyn C. Roberts
Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Norway
The purpose of this investigation was to examine how football players in a Premier Division in Europe experience media coverage (both outcome and negative content) during one season. We used sequential mixed methods in order to detect the different layers in this exploratory study. The results supported the hypothesis that a performance climate increases the perception of negative media exposure. Further, the football players coped with the media by using coping strategies such as social support, avoidance and problem-focused strategies. In addition, keeping the climate mastery oriented seemed pivotal, especially when a coach/team leader wanted to avoid negative media coverage to affect an entire team. Both individual coping strategies and team coping (mastery climate) seemed necessary to keep and protect a stable self-confidence among the football players and maintain team effort to perform.
Keywords: Media stress, Motivational climate, Team coping
Julie C. S. Boiché *, Emma Guillet **, Julien E. Bois *** and Philippe G. Sarrazin ****
(*) University of La Réunion, France
(**) University of Lyon I, France
(***) University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour, France
(****) Joseph Fourier University of Grenoble, France
Recent reviews of the literature raise questions about parental influence in sport. Based on Eccles’ model, this study investigated the relationships between certain antecedents of parents’ behaviours, athletes’ perceptions of their parents’ behaviours and sport outcomes. 161 athletes, 134 mothers and 114 fathers volunteered to participate in the study. Questionnaires assessed parents’ perceptions of their child and selfreported behaviours; athletes’ perceptions of their parents’ behaviours, perceived competence, and value accorded to their activity. The analyses revealed significant relationships between (a) athletes’ sex and age, and parents’ child-specific beliefs, and (b) the four categories of behaviours – Active Involvement, Praise and Understanding, Directive Behaviour, Pressure – for mothers and fathers, respectively. There were also significant correlations between parents’ self-reported behaviours and athletes’ perceptions. Finally, perceived parental behaviours significantly predicted perceived athletes’ sport competence and value. Taken together, the results contribute to enrich the complex picture of parents’ socialization in sport.
Keywords: Competence, Motivation. Parents’ behaviour, Value
Thomas Teubel *, Jens B. Asendorpf **, Rainer Banse *** and Konrad Schnabel **
(*) Institute of Sports and Sports Sciences, Universität Heidelberg, Germany
(**) Institute of Psychology, Department of Personality Psychology Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
(***) Institute for Psychology, Department of Social and Legal Psychology, Universität Bonn, Germany
Current research in social cognition provides evidence that the prediction of behavior can be improved by the use of new indirect measurement procedures (e.g., the Implicit Association Test; IAT). Indirect measures, unlike direct measures, are less affected by introspective limits and response factors. The present study extends the research on aggression in sports with indirect measures, namely the IAT. German semi-professional basketball players (N = 54) completed measures of implicit and explicit aggressiveness. The IAT predicted performance outcome (court playing time and coach’s judgments on game performance) over and above the direct measures. The prediction of court playing was fully mediated by the coach’s judgments. The results reported here suggest that indirect measures may show good utility in other areas of sport psychology.
Keywords: Explicit and implicit aggressiveness, Implicit Association Test (IAT), Performance prediction, basketball
José Morales *, Luís-Millán González **, Myriam Guerra *, Carles Virgili * and Viswanath Unnithan ***
(*) Facultat de Ciències de l’Esport Blanquerna. Universitat Ramon Llull. Barcelona, Spain
(**) Facultat de Ciències de l’Activitat Física i l’Esport. Universitat de València. València, Spain
(***) Centre for Sport, Health and Exercise, Faculty of Health, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK
The relationship between physical activity in school children, academic performance and their perceptual-motor skills is unclear. The aim of this study was to look at the relationship between perceptual-motor and cognitive skills. 487 subjects (249 girls, 238 boys) from 6 public centres of primary and secondary schools in the Barcelona area (Spain) volunteered to participate in this study. The participants were divided into two groups (9-12 years old) and (13-16 years old). Four tests were used to evaluate cognitive (Linguistic Skills [LS] and Math Skills [MS]) and perceptual-motor skills (Tower of Cubes [TC] and Target Throwing [TT]). Stepwise multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated that TC and age were significant predictors of Linguistic Skills (LS) and Math Skills (MS) in both age groups. (R2=0.64, 9-12 years old) and (R2=0.45, 13-16 years old). The results from this study suggest that enhanced motor skills are associated with better academic performance.
Keywords: Cognitive skills, extra-curricular physical activity programmes, motor skills