Justine B. Allen

Northumbria University · Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences

Abstract Objectives: The aim of this research was to develop a measure of life skills development through sport. Method: Four studies were conducted to develop the Life Skills Scale for Sport (LSSS). Study 1 developed items for the scale and included 39 reviewers’ assessment of content validity. Study 2 included 338 youth sport participants and us...

This study examined the coach-created talent development motivational climate in Canoe Slalom in the United Kingdom using achievement goal theory, self-determination theory and transformational leadership. The participants were six (five male, one female) full-time Canoe Slalom talent development coaches and twenty-four athletes (13 male, 11 female...

Research on creativity in sport is gaining momentum, due to a growing interest from coaches and academics in developing strategies to increase unpredictability in individual and collective behaviour which may allow teams to gain an important advantage over their opponents. The purpose of this paper was to conduct the first systematic narrative revi...

In contrast to cross-sectional age trends of declining adult participation in sport, engagement in adventure sports is increasing among adults. The coach may have an important role to play in shaping the motivational climate to encourage and retain participants in adventure sport. The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth examination of...

Research continues to demonstrate the underrepresentation of women coaches and that barriers outweigh support. The purpose of this practical article is to describe the process undertaken by a National Governing Body of Sport to deliver a learning and development program to support women hockey coaches in Scotland, the Women in Coaching program. Our...

The underrepresentation of women in sport coaching continues to be recognised by researchers and some international organisations. Golf too suffers from a dramatic underrepresentation of women coaches. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of women golf coaches and how they navigate this male-dominated coaching domain with a part...

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) is a complex syndrome that occurs as a result of prolonged Low Energy Availability (LEA) leading to health and performance impairments. However, whilst the coach plays an important role when working with athletes with RED-S, no research exists specifically exploring their role. Therefore, this study inves...

The purpose of the present study was to examine the developmental experiences of high-performance coaches in Northern Ireland as a collective case study from an ecological perspective. Eight high-performance coaches from Northern Ireland were recruited and participated in semi-structured interviews. Each participant coached athletes at either World...

The purpose of this paper was to systematically review the peer-reviewed literature on the role of the coach developer (CD). Three questions guided this review: (a) who is the CD, (b) what do they do, and (c) how do they do it? Using five electronic databases—SPORTDiscus, ERIC, PsycInfo, Web of Science, and Scopus—a total of 595 articles were initi...

This study investigated if basic need satisfaction and frustration mediated the associations between autonomy-supportive and controlling coaching behaviors and participants’ development of eight different life skills in youth sport. British sports participants (N = 309, Mage = 14.71) completed measures assessing the study variables. Correlational a...

While there is increasing recognition that sport is sociomaterial, little is known about what this means for an analysis of coaching practice. This paper develops a cartography of coaching based on an actor–network theory ethnography of two volunteer football coaches’ practices in Scotland. A sociomaterial analysis generates anecdotes that are reor...

This chapter provides a review of the recent research examining coaching high performance athletes. We first explore who are the athletes and coaches and what are the contexts that comprise this coaching domain. Recognising the diversity within this domain and diversity of approaches researchers have adopted our review attempts to span disciplinary...

Grounded in self-determination theory and the motivational model of the coach-athlete relationship, the purpose of this study was to explore the antecedents of youth sport coaches’ autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviours using a multimethod approach. Recreational level youth swimming and football coaches (N = 12) participated in semi-structu...

Literary fiction has been recognised as a vehicle of cultural transmission that can be used to reflect on real issues. If used as data sources, sports novels may be useful for making sense of the complexity and messiness of the coaching process. Drawing upon the reading of 'O Último Minuto', written by Brazilian author Marcelo Backes, this paper us...

Objectives: This study investigated whether basic needs satisfaction versus frustration mediated the relationships between autonomy-supportive versus controlling coaching and participants’ life skills development in youth sport. Design: This descriptive study used a cross-sectional research design. To ensure a diverse sample, participants were rec...

This research developed a scale to assess the following life skills in higher education students: teamwork, goal setting, time management, emotional skills, interpersonal communication, social skills, leadership, and problem solving and decision making. Study 1 adapted an existing scale for the purposes of this research and provided evidence for th...

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between perceived teacher autonomy support versus control and students’ life skills development in PE, and whether students’ basic need satisfaction and frustration mediated these relationships. Design: Cross-sectional study. Method: English and Irish students (N = 407, Mage = 13.7...

This paper examines the coaching behaviours of different paddlesport coaches (n = 17). A sample of coaches specialising in non-competitive paddlesport from professional, club and educational contexts are examined utilising a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews. The three groups are shown to share common aspect such the importance of int...

Using Benson and Saito’s framework for positive youth development, we investigated the relationships between the coaching climate, young people’s perceived life skills development within sport, and their psychological well-being. British youth sport participants (N = 326, Mean age = 13.81, range =11–18 years) completed a survey assessing the coachi...

Introduction Physical education (PE) is acknowledged as a setting which can promote young peoples’ development of life skills (Goudas and Giannoudis, 2008). In line with the tenets of self-determination theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000), the present study examined the relationships between autonomy supportive and controlling teaching, students’ basic ne...

The importance of life skills for sports degree students: How they contribute to students’ academic performance, health-related quality of life and flourishing

The importance of life skills for sports degree students: How they contribute to students' academic performance, health-related quality of life and flourishing.

The purpose of this study was to engage expert coaches’ in an exploration, conceptualisation, and modelling of their coaching process. Six coaches, each developed a model, with accompanying explanation, of ‘their’ coaching process. These models and explanations were content analysed to identify features of the coaching process and included examinat...

Background: Both education policies and curriculum documents identify the personal development of students as a key objective of modern education. Physical education (PE) in particular has been cited as a subject that can promote students’ life skills development and psychological well-being. However, little research has investigated the processes...

Coaches are frequently cited as potentially precipitating or preventing athletes’ engagement in doping. However, little is known about coaches’ perspectives. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine coaches’ perceptions of their role and actions in athletes’ anti-doping behaviour. Twenty-three coaches (M = 17, F = 6) working with perform...

Although there is research providing physiologically-based guidance for the content of the taper, this study was the first to examine how coaches actually implement the taper. The purpose of this study was to examine the taper planning and implementation processes of successful Olympic coaches leading up to major competitions and how they learned a...

Objectives: Physical education is acknowledged as a setting to promote young peoples’ development and well-being, provided a positive teaching climate exists. The present study explored the relationships between teachers’ autonomy support, students’ life skills development within physical education and psychological well-being. Design: This descrip...

Conference presentation for the British Psychological Society Division of Sport & Exercise Psychology Conference 2015

Abstract How coaches prepare and perform is critical for athletes’ performances (Gould, Guinan, Greenleaf & Chung, 2002), however, little is known about coaches’ roles and coaching practices during major competitions such as the Olympic or Paralympic Games. To assist coaches in their efforts to improve athletes’ performances in competition environm...

The present study explored the relationships between the coaching climate, youth developmental experiences (personal and social skills, cognitive skills, goal setting, and initiative) and psychological well-being (self-esteem, positive affect, and satisfaction with life). In total, 202 youth sport participants (M age = 13.4, SD = 1.8) completed a s...

Abstract Understanding athletes' attitudes to doping continues to be of interest for its potential to contribute to an international anti-doping system. However, little is known about the relationship between elite athletes' attitudes to drug use and potential explanatory factors, including achievement goals and the motivational climate. In additio...

Volunteers are vital to the success of many major sporting events (Doherty, 2009). Understanding the factors that influence sport event volunteerism will assist in event volunteer management. This study used self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) to examine the relationships among individuals' motivation for volunteering, perceptions of volu...

Conference presentation for BPS Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology 2013

An interdisciplinary framework allowed psychological and sociological approaches to be combined to examine coaches' working conditions, specifically to examine the structural aspects and social values within the sport organisations as well as the implications for individual aspects. Ten participants from two sport organisations took part in the stu...

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of high performance female coaches and their managers. These experiences were examined through an analysis of the organisational values that related to the management of high performance women coaches. Specifically, organisational values were identified as powerful discourses that were key to...

Researchers have argued that coaches are performers in their own right and that their psychological needs should be considered (Giges, Petitpas, & Vernacchia, 2004; Gould, Greenleaf, Guinan, & Chung, 2002). The purpose of this research was to examine high performance women coaches' perceptions of their sport organizations' social context, with spec...

In recent years, the political nature of nonprofit funding has been well established, with research focusing on increased demands for accountability (Eikenberry and Kluver, 2004), difficulties in selecting accountability measures (Reed, Jones, and Irvine, 2005), and the shift from organizational mission that can occur while trying to adhere to fund...

Research examining volunteer motivation and satisfaction has been criticised for the limited explanation of the cognitive and social processes that may underpin the proposed relationships among motivation, satisfaction, performance and retention (Costa, C.A., Chalip, L., Green, B.C., & Simes, C. (2006). Reconsidering the role of training in event v...

ObjectiveThis study examined the collective relationships amongst achievement goals, social goals and motivational correlates in Masters sport.MethodThe participants were 373 (184 females; 189 males) Masters athletes from six sports. Ages ranged from 29 years to 77 years (mean=48 years). Cluster analysis was employed to identify ‘goal profiles’ of...

IntroductionPsychosocial outcomes of competitive youth sportScientific researchAnecdotal literatureWhat do these findings mean?What can national governing bodies, coaches and parents do?Conclusion

The purpose of this research was to examine the dynamics of a sport development partnership among three nonprofit organisations. Data were collected through interviews with key partnership personnel, as well as documentary analysis of reports. We utilised Frisby, Thibault, and Kikulis' (2004) framework to organise our discussion, focusing on manage...

Funding relationships in nonprofit management are increasingly defined by a philosophy of rational management, characterized by measurement of outputs and benchmarking, which represents an audit culture system (Burnley, Matthews, & McKenzie, 2005). There is concern that these approaches are constantly undermining the mission of community service no...

ABSTRACT To foster athletes’ learning and to continue to learn as a coach, it is useful to reflect on the motivational climate developed through the coaching process. The purpose of this paper is to provide a synthesis of research concerning the motivational climate fostered by coaches that extends existing notions of the motivational climate beyon...

ObjectivesThe purpose of this research was to examine the construct validity, specifically factorial validity, convergent, and discriminant validity of the perceived belonging in sport scale (PBS) (Allen, J.B. (2003). Social motivation in youth sport. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 25(4), 551–567.).DesignOpportunities to develop and main...

Social reasons for engaging in sport have been recognized by a number of researchers; however, the area of social goals has received only limited research attention. One reason for this lack of attention may be the lack of a measurement tool with known psychometric properties with which to assess social goals. Recently, Allen (2003) developed a con...

Youth sport participants frequently report social reasons for their involvement in sport such as wanting to be part of a team or to be with friends, and social sources of positive and negative affect such as social recognition and parental pressure. Although a social view of sport has been recognized, youth sport motivation researchers have emphasi...

In response to a resurgence of interest in and demonstrated utility of the approach-avoidance goal distinction, a number of researchers (Elliot & Church, 1997; Midgley et al., 1998; Skaalvik, 1997) have developed instruments to assess individual differences in the tendency to adopt approach-avoidance goals. However, to date there has been no attemp...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--De Montfort University, 2001.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between athlete ability and coach feedback with perceived competence and satisfaction among female adolescent athletes. 123 female athletes reported their perceptions of coaches' use of feedback, their own field hockey competence, and satisfaction with the coach and team involvement. In addi...

This study investigated how subjects adjust the timing of joint torques during accomodation to an unfamiliar compliant surface in order to maximise height achieved in a drop jumping task (dropping from a height onto a surface and jumping for maximum height). Estimates of the energy absorbed and work done by the subject during the period of contact...

Thesis (B. Ph. Ed. (Hons.)) -- University of Otago, 1992. Includes bibliographical references.