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Thriving on Pressure: A Factor Mixture Analysis of Sport Performers’ Responses to Competitive Encounters
Abstract
Although considerable research exists on performers' responses to sporting encounters, little is known about thriving in sport contexts. The current study examined if distinct response patterns existed between sport performers who thrived in competitive encounters compared with those who did not. Participants were 535 sport performers (134 women; Mage = 23.60 years, SDage = 8.08; Mcompeting = 11.84 years, SDcompeting = 7.11). Results of factor mixture analysis supported a four-profile solution comprising a thriving group (n = 146), a low-functioning group (n = 38), and two groups characterized by scores marginally above (n = 131) and below (n = 209) the sample mean. Profile membership was found to be predicted by personal enablers (viz., personal resilient qualities, psychological skills use) and process variables (viz., basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, challenge appraisal). This examination of thriving in sport performers offers significant implications for research and practice.
... high quality relationships; Davis et al., 2021) as well as mediating mechanisms of athlete thriving (e.g. basic psychological needs satisfaction, BPNS; Brown et al., 2017b). ...
... This information serves as the starting point from which thriving at the group-level in sport can be discussed. For those interested in an in-depth review of individual thriving literature within and beyond the sport domain, please see Brown et al. (2017bBrown et al. ( , 2021b. Pertaining to thriving as a collective construct, we direct the reader to Spreitzer and Sutcliffe's (2007) discussion on thriving in organisations as well as a multilevel review of thriving at work (Goh et al., 2022). ...
... achieving situation-relevant outcomes; social psychology), characteristic (developmental psychology), or outcome of thriving (organisational psychology) differs across research fields. In this regard, the context-specific nature of these conceptualisations and subsequent lack of conceptual clarity may hinder one's ability to accurately understand and examine thriving in sport (Brown et al., 2017b). ...
... Goal achievement is a fundamental human drive in normal life situations (Aron & McLaughlin-Volpe, 2001). This is a pertinent inner desire when individuals are faced with adversities in lives and are deprived from material and social resources and continue to thrive (Brown et al., 2017). Forming and maintaining relationships with others provide critical opportunities to gain access to and subsequently control resources and environment in favour of one's self-expansion (Aron & McLaughlin-Volpe, 2001) or self-improvement (Brown et al., 2017;Maslow, 1965) drives or motives. ...
... This is a pertinent inner desire when individuals are faced with adversities in lives and are deprived from material and social resources and continue to thrive (Brown et al., 2017). Forming and maintaining relationships with others provide critical opportunities to gain access to and subsequently control resources and environment in favour of one's self-expansion (Aron & McLaughlin-Volpe, 2001) or self-improvement (Brown et al., 2017;Maslow, 1965) drives or motives. Aron and Aron (1986) postulate that individuals have an innate desire for enhancing their potential self, along with collective self-efficacy by increasing access to and control over the materials and social resources, perspectives and identities (Aron & McLaughlin-Volpe, 2001). ...
... However, gaining access and control into others' resources in terms of psychological, social, intellectual and material do not occur linearly, since these demand considerable amount of life skills and abilities to influence individuals and groups in favour of oneself (Jose, 2017). On occasions, these demands may be exceedingly overwhelming to individuals and some of them struggle and succumb to adversity and some may manage and survive but at times some may even recover and thrive (Brown et al., 2017). This is consistent with Carver's (1998) conceptualization of the thriving process against the backdrop of unfamiliar situational demands caused by adversity. ...
All human beings are inherently motivated for self-improvement and growth. People tend to respond diversely in the face of adversity, from succumbing and recovering to remaining resilient and thrive. The present narrative review is not an exhaustive review of the existing literature on thriving but is an informed effort to add to the adolescent thriving discourse within the conceptual background of social marginality in the Indian context. This review thus defines and summarizes perspectives, determinants and assessment of thriving. It also discusses the interaction between social marginality, adversity and adolescences. Finally, this review discusses the opportunities opened by the new National Education Policy 2020 for thriving interventions and research.
... In support of the growing calls to protect athlete well-being in the pursuit of performance (Arnold and Fletcher, 2021) and the subsequent re-stating and development of welfare policies (Kavanagh et al., 2021), scholars have begun to pursue an agenda toward the promotion of thriving in sport (Brown et al., 2021b). Thriving describes the concurrent perception of a high-level of performance and experience of high levels of well-being within a specific sporting encounter (e.g., a match; Brown et al., 2020a) or an overall perception of high levels on both dimensions over a sustained period (e.g., a month; Brown et al., 2017b; see also, Brown et al., 2018). Given the subjective nature of perceptions and experiences, the occurrence of thriving is understood from the viewpoint of an individual evaluating one's own functioning (e.g., do I perceive that I performed at a high-level in today's match?). ...
... Given the subjective nature of perceptions and experiences, the occurrence of thriving is understood from the viewpoint of an individual evaluating one's own functioning (e.g., do I perceive that I performed at a high-level in today's match?). As such, the construct of thriving has been qualitatively explored via the lived experiences of individuals operating in sport (see, e.g., Brown and Arnold, 2019) and quantitatively identified via their self-reported accounts on performance and well-being dimensions (see, e.g., Brown et al., 2017b;McNeill et al., 2018). When researching thriving in sport, it has been important for scholars to recognize the full and holistic nature of thriving (see, Brown et al., 2017a;Ryan and Deci, 2017), whereby the participants would be expected to demonstrate high levels across multiple, context-relevant functioning indicators to be labeled as thriving (Brown et al., 2020b). ...
... When researching thriving in sport, it has been important for scholars to recognize the full and holistic nature of thriving (see, Brown et al., 2017a;Ryan and Deci, 2017), whereby the participants would be expected to demonstrate high levels across multiple, context-relevant functioning indicators to be labeled as thriving (Brown et al., 2020b). Quantitatively, this has been evidenced through the work of Brown et al. (2017b) who conducted factor mixture analysis to determine the shape and level of functioning profiles with a sample of 535 sport performers. Their results demonstrated no shape effects with performers reporting comparable perceptions on subjective performance, eudaimonic well-being, and hedonic well-being measures, ranging from high (i.e., thriving) to low levels. ...
The aim of this research was to examine whether attachment relationships to significant others, such as to parents and/or sports coaches, enable thriving and competition performance within sport. Two studies employing cross-sectional and prospective designs were carried out across different samples of athletes of varied skill levels and sports. In Study 1, we found athletes’ attachment to their sports coach was significantly associated with athlete thriving and mediated by psychological needs satisfaction. Results of Study 2 found that athletes’ secure attachment to their mother and/or father positively predicted the experience of thriving at the competition while athletes’ insecure attachment did not predict thriving. Furthermore, athletes’ attachment to both mother and father did not predict competition performance. Together, these two studies acknowledge the significant role that athletes’ secure attachment relationships with parents and coaches play in facilitating thriving in athletes. These findings have significant implications for research and practice.
... Thriving is a positive predictor of desired outcomes such as retention, well-being, and performance (e.g., Ren et al., 2015). However, only limited research (e.g., Brown et al., 2017b;Gucciardi et al., 2017) has investigated the antecedents and consequences of thriving in youth sport. ...
... Moreover, the constructs of learning and vitality are fundamental cognitive and affective aspects in personal growth (Carver, 1998;Ryff, 1989). While Brown et al. (2017a) did include development as an essential part of their conceptual definition of thriving, they created the construct of thriving by combining only an affective aspect of human growth (i.e., vitality and positive affect) and one item measurement of subjective performance (Brown et al., 2017b). Thus, it appears that their conceptualisation (i.e., Brown et al., 2017b) did not measure the development part of thriving. ...
... While Brown et al. (2017a) did include development as an essential part of their conceptual definition of thriving, they created the construct of thriving by combining only an affective aspect of human growth (i.e., vitality and positive affect) and one item measurement of subjective performance (Brown et al., 2017b). Thus, it appears that their conceptualisation (i.e., Brown et al., 2017b) did not measure the development part of thriving. The previous research mentioned the importance of sense of improvement (cognitive aspect) for the experience of thriving (Keyes, 2002), indicating that learning is an imperative cognitive aspect of human growth. ...
Thriving, “a psychological state composed of the joint experience of vitality and learning (Spreitzer, Sutcliffe, Dutton, Sonenshein, & Grant [2005]. A socially embedded model of thriving at work. Organization Science, 16(5), 537–549.)” might offer further insight into the problem of youth sport development research. The purpose of the study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying thriving within a youth sport context. More specifically, the present study considered the perspective of Self-Determination Theory and in particular, how hedonic and eudaimonic motives, as antecedents of thriving, influenced youth athletes’ outcomes (i.e., intention to continue sport, subjective well-being in sport, and goal progress), consequences of thriving. 196 youth sport participants answered an online survey. Path analysis was conducted to test our hypotheses. We used the bias-corrected bootstrap procedure to examine the hypothesised indirect effects. Our results showed that both hedonic and eudaimonic motives were positively related to all outcome variables (intention to continue sport, subjective well-being in sport, and goal progress) through both the basic psychological need satisfaction and thriving. Thriving is an important psychological concept that can facilitate youth athletes to acquire important outcomes for youth sport participation.
... Individuals who are thriving have been described as experiencing full or holistic functioning 1,2 and, within sport, this experience has been characterized by the simultaneous display of high-level performance and the experience of well-being. 3,4 More specifically, thriving performers have been identified as those who report highest levels across subjective performance (via performance satisfaction), eudaimonic well-being (via subjective vitality), and hedonic well-being (via positive affect) dimensions. 3 Literature on thriving in sport has begun to identify the psychosocial variables important for understanding why some performers thrive whereas others do not. ...
... 3,4 More specifically, thriving performers have been identified as those who report highest levels across subjective performance (via performance satisfaction), eudaimonic well-being (via subjective vitality), and hedonic well-being (via positive affect) dimensions. 3 Literature on thriving in sport has begun to identify the psychosocial variables important for understanding why some performers thrive whereas others do not. For example, exhibiting a readiness for challenge was shown to enable thriving during a geographic transition, 5 and operating within an integrated, inclusive, and trusting environment was suggested to facilitate thriving within a professional team sport. ...
... 8 Perceiving a situation as a challenge is, therefore, likely to encourage engagement and create opportunities for positive change. 9 Within a sport setting, Brown et al. 3 have shown support for a positive, predictive relationship between BPNS, challenge appraisal, and membership to a thriving profile. Yet, these findings were limited by participants completing, at a one-off timepoint, measures of the study variables retrospectively after their sporting encounters. ...
Objectives
To examine (i) whether levels of, and changes in, athletes’ basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS) and challenge appraisals predicted in-match thriving; and (ii) if salivary biomarkers could be defined that were related to thriving.
Design
Prospective study design.
Methods
Fifty-one elite male hockey players (Mage = 24.94 years, SDage = 4.73) completed questionnaires measuring their BPNS and challenge appraisals on seven consecutive days prior to a competitive match, as well as providing saliva samples immediately on waking, and then +0.5, +3, and +5.25 h on the day of the match. Saliva was assayed for catabolic (i.e., cortisol) and anabolic (i.e., dehydroepiandrosterone [DHEA]) hormones. In-match thriving was assessed retrospectively using measures of subjective performance and well-being.
Results
Latent growth curve modelling showed pre-match levels of BPNS and challenge appraisals to positively predict thriving. Although not statistically significant, small and moderate negative associations were found for thriving with cortisol concentration (+5.25 h sample) and total cortisol exposure across the morning of the match, respectively. DHEA concentration shared a small positive, yet non-significant, association with thriving.
Conclusions
Athletes’ pre-match levels of BPNS and challenge appraisal predict in-match thriving; thus, offering potential mechanisms through which both high-level performance and the experience of well-being can be facilitated. Furthermore, associations suggest that total cortisol exposure across the morning of the match, and cortisol and DHEA levels in pre-match samples may offer sport science and sports medicine practitioners potential biomarkers for thriving. Future research is required to substantiate this initial finding.
... Perceived sports performance over the past month was measured using a single-item Likert scale (51)(52)(53). Participants were asked to rate their performance on a scale of 1 (bad) to 10 (perfect), with higher scores indicating a greater perception of performance being favorable (54). This approach has been widely utilized in various studies (51)(52)(53)(54)(55). Furthermore, it is considered an appropriately standardized measurement across diverse specialties for elite athletes (51). ...
... Participants were asked to rate their performance on a scale of 1 (bad) to 10 (perfect), with higher scores indicating a greater perception of performance being favorable (54). This approach has been widely utilized in various studies (51)(52)(53)(54)(55). Furthermore, it is considered an appropriately standardized measurement across diverse specialties for elite athletes (51). ...
There is a nuanced relationship between rumination and sports performance, which may depend on individuals being predisposed to specific facets of rumination. Additionally, ruminative dispositions are intertwined with coping strategies, with both playing crucial roles in sports performance. This study aimed to investigate the relationships among ruminative dispositions, coping strategies, and sports performance in athletes, considering the perspective of multi-dimensional rumination. This study also examined whether coping strategies are associated with the relationship between ruminative dispositions and perceived sports performance. Parallel mediation analysis was conducted on 111 young elite athletes from the Hong Kong national team to examine the relationships between ruminative dispositions, coping strategies, and sports performance. The results revealed that emotion-focused ruminative disposition (ERD) and meaning-searching ruminative disposition (MRD) were negatively associated with perceived sports performance, with problem-oriented coping (POC) playing a partial role. In contrast, instrumental ruminative disposition (IRD) was positively associated with perceived sports performance, fully via POC. These findings suggest that athletes with higher levels of ERD and MRD tend to use POC less frequently, which was associated with poor perceived sports performance. Conversely, athletes with higher levels of IRD tend to employ POC more frequently, which was positively associated with perceived sports performance. The proposed model provides the theoretical framework for multi-dimensional rumination in sports psychology and outlines the potential impact of coping strategies on athletic performance. Importantly, this research underscores that the outcome of rumination is contingent upon its focus.
... Moreover, from a physical health perspective, he speculated that the greater release of catabolic (e.g., cortisol) versus anabolic (e.g., testosterone) hormones accompanying threat appraisal might reduce immunity and leave individuals more vulnerable to illness (e.g., common colds; Mendes & Park, 2014). Despite some research linking challenge appraisals with better well-being (e.g., Brown et al., 2017), to date, the assertions of Blascovich (2008b) have largely remained untested. Thus, research is needed to aid our understanding of how challenge and threat appraisals relate to health. ...
... As hypothesized, and consistent with the theorizing of Blascovich (2008b), trait challenge and threat appraisals were associated with mental health and psychological well-being after controlling for age and gender, with a tendency to appraise stressful situations as more of a threat linked to greater symptoms of depression and anxiety and lower well-being. These findings are congruent with the limited research conducted to date (e.g., Brown et al., 2017;Tomaka et al., 2018), and imply that the BPSM should move beyond its sole focus on performance and include longer-term outcomes linked to mental health and well-being (Blascovich, 2008a;Seery, 2011). One potential explanation for these findings could be that a threat appraisal is associated with greater distractibility by task-irrelevant, negative, and threatening stimuli (Vine et al., 2016), an attentional bias which is commonly implicated in the aetiology of psychopathology (e.g., anxiety disorders; Clauss et al., 2022). ...
It has been argued that habitually appraising stressful events as more of a threat (i.e., situational demands exceed personal coping resources) may increase one's risk of ill‐health (e.g., depression). However, while first theorized 15 years ago, little research has tested this assertion. Thus, this study offered a novel test of the associations between trait challenge and threat appraisals and health‐related outcomes (i.e., mental health symptomology, psychological well‐being, and physical health complaints). Three hundred and ninety‐five participants (251 female, 144 male; Mage = 22.50 years, SD = 5.33) completed valid and reliable measures of trait challenge and threat appraisals, mental health (i.e., symptoms of depression and anxiety), well‐being (e.g., subjective vitality), and physical health complaints (e.g., respiratory illnesses). Regression analyses revealed that trait challenge and threat appraisals accounted for a significant proportion of variance in all outcomes after controlling for age and gender, with a tendency to appraise stressful events as more of a threat associated with poorer mental health (i.e., greater depression symptomology), well‐being (e.g., lower vitality), and physical health (e.g., more respiratory illnesses). Taken together, the findings highlight the importance of trait challenge and threat appraisals for health, although further research is needed using stronger designs (e.g., longitudinal) to enable a more causal understanding.
... Please think of how your performance compares to others who play in a similar position or role" on a scale from −3 (extremely worse than average) to +3 (extremely better than average). Subjective assessments of performance are common in the sport literature (e.g., Brown et al., 2017), and allow performance to be assessed in samples of athletes from various sports. ...
... Once again, participants answered the questions while thinking of their experiences in sport over the past 4 weeks. The I-PANAS-SF has been used previously in research in sport (e.g., Brown et al., 2017). Initial (Thompson, 2007) and subsequent research (Karim et al., 2011) has supported the psychometric properties and two-factor structure of the I-PANAS-SF. ...
We tested if distinct combinations of harmonious passion and obsessive passion for sport were associated with outcomes within sport, academics, and in one’s life. We analysed data from the Student-athlete Well-being and Achievement Project (SWAP), a study in which intercollegiate student-athletes (N = 298) completed assessments of harmonious and obsessive passion at the start of a season, and assessments of performance, experiences, and satisfaction in sport, academics, and in life at the end of a season. Results showed that high harmonious passion combined with low obsessive passion (i.e., pure harmonious passion) was most often associated with the most adaptive outcomes, whereas high obsessive passion combined with low harmonious passion (i.e., pure obsessive passion) was associated with the least adaptive outcomes. These results build on previous research with recreational athletes [Schellenberg, B. J. I., Verner-Filion, J., Gaudreau, P., & Mbabaali, S. 2021. The two dimensions of passion for sport: A new look using a quadripartite approach. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 43(6), 459–476. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2021-0048] by showing the benefits of pursuing competitive sport with high harmonious passion, especially pure harmonious passion.
... Further recent advances in this area have provided a more structured organisation of factors likely to contribute to resilience when performing in high stress settings, like those faced by defence and security personnel. Work by Brown and colleagues [23], highlighted a number of personal and environmental enablers (e.g., resilient qualities, psychological skill use and social support) and processes (e.g., challenge appraisal and psychological need for satisfaction) that contribute to both performance and wellbeing in demanding situations. While further work [24] has hinted at a potentially instructive link to biological processes that could underpin resilient performance, (e.g., Cortisol, Dehydroepiandrosterone [DHEA]). ...
... Global-contextual enablers refer to the stable dispositional, trait and ability-like variables that were studied in a number of the reviewed articles (e.g., hardiness, mental toughness). These factors are referred to as 'resilient performance enablers', which is consistent with recent progress in the area of thriving under pressure [23]. In the broader literature researchers have used the term 'resilience factors' [81,82] to describe these same variables. ...
A narrative systematic literature review was conducted to explore resilient performance in defence and security settings. A search strategy was employed across a total of five databases, searching published articles from 2001 onwards that assessed performance and optimal function in relation to resilience, in defence and security personnel. Following narrative synthesis, studies were assessed for quality. Thirty-two articles met inclusion criteria across a range of performance domains, including, but not limited to, course selection, marksmanship, land navigation, and simulated captivity. Some of the key findings included measures of mental toughness, confidence, and a stress-is-enhancing mindset being positively associated with performance outcomes. There was mixed evidence for the predictive value of biomarkers, although there was some support for cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) and neuropeptide-y (NPY), and vagal reactivity. Interventions to improve resilient performance were focused on mindfulness or general psychological skills, with effects generally clearer on cognitive tasks rather than direct performance outcomes in the field. In sum, no single measure, nor intervention was consistently associated with performance over a range of domains. To inform future work, findings from the present review have been used to develop a framework of resilient performance, with the aim to promote theoretically informed work.
... The situation is then seen as an opportunity for gain or growth (Lazarus and Folkman, 1987). Challenge appraisals are positively related to positive emotions (e.g., Skinner and Brewer, 2002;Lavoie et al., 2021), vitality (i.e., feeling energized; Ryan and Frederick, 1997;Brown et al., 2017), and adaptive physiological responses (Tomaka et al., 1993) such as increases in cardiac output (CO; i.e., volume of blood in liters expelled from the heart per minute; Frings et al., 2012) and decreases in total peripheral resistance (TPR; i.e., the resistance to blood flow from all the circulatory system; Larkin and Cavanagh, 2016). On the other hand, threat appraisals occur when evaluated demands exceed one's perceived coping resources (Seery, 2011). ...
... The individual then anticipates losses, and little or no gain (Lazarus and Folkman, 1987). Threat appraisals are positively related to negative emotions (e.g., Skinner and Brewer, 2002;Lavoie et al., 2021), negatively related to vitality (Brown et al., 2017), and they are associated with little change or minor decreases in CO, and little change or small increases in TPR (Tomaka et al., 1993). It is to be noted that task engagement no matter the type of cognitive appraisals, is associated with increases from baseline in heart rate (HR; i.e., the number of heart beats per minute; Seery, 2011). ...
The present study fills a void in research on passion by examining for the first time the role of passion in physiological responses. The aim of the study was to investigate the role of passion, and the mediating role of cognitive appraisals, in the psychological and physiological responses to a stressful situation related to one’s passion. Students (43 women, 12 men, M age = 27.21 years), who were passionate for their studies, completed the Passion Scale for their studies and the Cognitive Appraisal Scale (assessing perceptions of challenge/threat). Then, they engaged in an education task under stressful conditions, and a subsequent unrelated leisure task under no-stress. Physiological reactivity was measured throughout the entire session and their perceptions of situational vitality and positive and negative emotions were assessed directly after the education task. Results showed that harmonious passion (HP) positively predicted challenge appraisals that, in turn, were positively related to positive emotions, vitality, and positive cardiovascular adaptation while engaging in the stressful education task, but less so with the leisure task (unrelated to one’s passion for academia). On the other hand, obsessive passion (OP) positively predicted threat appraisals. In turn, threat appraisals were positively related to negative emotions, negatively associated with vitality, and not related to cardiovascular reactivity. The present findings suggest that HP creates the onset of an adaptive psychological and physiological response whereas the response is less adaptive with OP.
... However, recently Ryan and Deci (2017) used the term of thriving to describe full functioning by including two main components: a eudaimonic component (i.e., vitality) and a performance component (i.e., exercise of one's human capacities). Similarly, Brown and colleagues (Brown, Arnold, Reid, & Roberts, 2018;Brown, Arnold, Standage, & Fletcher, 2017) investigated thriving in sport and suggested that the experience of thriving incorporates some similar characteristics with the experience of EWB and eudaimonic living (which align with SDT) combined with aspects of athletic performance. More specifically, thriving was described as the experience of both a high-level of wellbeing and a perceived high-level of performance following adversity or successful events. ...
... More specifically, thriving was described as the experience of both a high-level of wellbeing and a perceived high-level of performance following adversity or successful events. Therefore, future research should consider incorporating the dimension of subjective performance together with the EWBSS in order to capture a more holistic view of being fully functioning in sport, instead of using separate measures to assess wellbeing and performance (Brown et al., 2017). ...
... Adapting such description to sports contexts and living with the satisfaction of BPNs connects with intrinsically motivated sports behaviors (e.g., effort, participation, pride, and identification) [53,54]. Conversely, the feeling of frustration elicits distress and adaptive maladjustment processes (e.g., fear, anxiety, or exhaustion) [55]. ...
The susceptibility of athletes to experience of emotional and psychological difficulties arising from the pressure and expectations associated with achieving and maintaining high performance can become a vulnerability in the desire to achieve success in sport. This study aims to investigate the protective value in the perception of satisfaction in basic psychological needs against the vulnerability that perfectionism generates in the appearance of reactivity linked to fear of failure. A cross-sectional, relational, and semi-randomized research design was used, applying perfectionism, fear of failure, and basic psychological needs measures adapted to both the competitive sports context and the Spanish language in a sample of 372 young Spanish athletes, under descriptive analyses and predictive models. The results showed that as the age of the participants increased, the indicators of perfectionism and fear of failure decreased, with no gender differences. The results offer and confirm the positive relationships between the dimensions of perfectionism and fear of making mistakes (where processes such as self-devaluation and fear of failing the people that participants deemed as important to them are intertwined). The perception of satisfaction of the basic psychological needs of autonomy, social relationships, and competence emerges as protective factors that mediate the perfectionism–fear of failure relationship. On the other hand, discrepancies are shown between the perfectionist dimensions concerning the relationships with the BPNs, describing certain sources of vulnerability, although there are adjustments of mental effort and discomfort in the young athletes. The conclusions offer the opportunity to investigate the aspects that facilitate the emergence of fear of failure in young athletes, mainly the performance of coaches connected to the emergence of patterns in pursuit of perfection.
... Indeed, as the data for this study was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be that this had an impact on results and influenced the responses of athletes specifically due to the additional stressors experienced during this period . Additionally, future research may wish to combine measures of eudemonic wellbeing with hedonistic wellbeing (i.e., positive affect) to fully capture psychological wellbeing (e.g., Brown et al., 2017). The present study excluded individuals who had medically diagnosed mental health conditions, but future research may wish to investigate whether these results are replicated in individuals who have a clinical diagnosis of anxiety, for example. ...
Objective
Stress is ubiquitous and how individuals view the nature of stress can influence psychological wellbeing. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of proactive coping on the relationships between stress mindset and challenge appraisal tendencies and examine how this in turn related to psychological wellbeing. A secondary aim was to investigate if there were any differences in stress mindset between athletes and non-athletes. It was hypothesised that stress mindset would be indirectly positively associated with challenge appraisal tendencies through proactive coping, that a challenge appraisal tendency would positively relate to vitality, and that vitality would negatively relate to depressive symptoms. It was also hypothesised that athletes would possess more facilitative views of stress compared with non-athletes.
Methods
Two hundred and seven individuals (n = 101 athletes, n = 106 non-athletes, Mage = 22.76 years, SD = 4.94) completed an online questionnaire pack assessing stress mindset, proactive coping, challenge appraisal tendencies, vitality, and depressive symptoms.
Results
Using path analysis, the hypothesised model demonstrated a good fit to the data and the positive relationship between stress mindset and challenge appraisal tendencies was mediated by proactive coping. Challenge appraisal tendencies were positively associated with vitality, which was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Athletes reported a significantly greater ‘stress-is-enhancing’ mindset, greater vitality, and fewer depressive symptoms than non-athletes.
Conclusion
Findings offer support for the role that stress mindset has in potentially influencing psychological wellbeing and offer the novel suggestion that this mechanism may operate through proactive coping and challenge appraisal tendencies.
... To examine research question 4, subjective athletic and academic performance were reported on a 1-10 sliding scale in which participants were asked to "Mark your level of satisfaction with your sport (or academic) performance over the past month, from 0 (not at all satisfied) to 10 (highly satisfied)". The 1-10 subjective performance ratings scale has been used by other thriving and sport researchers as an outcome variable in their interventions (Brown et al., 2017). ...
... Thriving is only experienced when people feel suc cessful, happy, and vivacious (e.g. Brown et al., 2017). A success that maintains or elevates pressure, stress, and distress cannot be considered as an adaptative outcome (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). ...
... In the context of sport, when the satisfaction of BPNs is experienced in a specific situation, more intrinsically motivated sports behaviours emerge (e.g., effort, involvement, pride, identification) (Ryan and Deci, 2017), whereas the experience of feeling frustrated (or rather the frustration of these basic needs) results in the emergence of discomfort and adaptive maladjustments (e.g., anxiety, fear, burnout) (Brown et al., 2017). According to the continuum of self-determination theory, the more and better the positive perceptions of autonomy, competence, and social bonding are in athletes (satisfaction of basic needs), the greater will be their intrinsic motivation and their perception of control of actions and situations (inside and outside sport contexts), reducing those extrinsic (and less controllable) motivational aspects that also accompany sports behavior. ...
Connecting desires for achievement, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and the perception of fear of failure is one of the most relevant questions in the understanding of negative mental responses in youth athletes. How to act with less fear is what every athlete seeks to feel to enhance their performance actions. This paper aims to shed light on a sample of 681 members of sports teams belonging to different Spanish clubs (391 boys and 290 girls), with a mean age of 16.2 years, and a high sports dedication (75.5% > 5 years of experience; 96.3% > two training sessions/week; 90.3% > 3 hours of training/week). The collected data used self-reports based on the tenets of achievement motivation, Self-Determination Theory, and fear of failure. Those aspects linked to task involvement were positively close to Basic Psychological Needs (BPNs), while those related to ego involvement moved away from task involvement and BPNs. Fear was associated positively and significantly only with ego, and negatively with the rest of the constructs. In the standardized direct effect, positive and significant associations were observed among all constructs except between an ego-involving climate and basic psychological needs satisfaction. The association between a task-involving climate and BPNs was significant in fostering relationships among group members, as well as in improving interpersonal cohesion, empathic understanding processes, and reducing fear of failure in youth athletes.
... Some studies point out that athletes with a higher level of competition are more resilient than amateur athletes [28]. In contrast to this, other literature shows a relationship in which sportsmen and women with less sporting experience have greater resilience [29][30][31]. Morgan et al. [32] presented a study with different focus groups, associating resilience to perceived support among athletes, highlighting their dynamic and systemic qualities that protect from stress, enhancing individual and collective effectiveness. In this sense, the most experienced athletes were indicated to have and to handle greater resilient resources than those indicated by younger or promising athletes. ...
The relationship between sports practice and physical and mental health became an important issue during the COVID-19 pandemic, where keeping fit and exercising was one of the best and most popular ways to cope with the confinement situation. The aim of this study was to determine the relationships between perfectionism and resilient resources with psychological well-being, differentiating sports category, gender and experience in a sample of athletes during confinement in different countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. An incidental and cross-sectional random sampling method was designed (n = 583). The sample was analysed with three different instruments, evaluating perfectionism, resilience and psychological well-being patterns and comparing three groups with different levels of practice due to confinement (full reduction, moderate reduction and only access restrictions). Results show that both male and senior athletes were more organized, resistant to changes and focused their attention and efforts on their demands and potential. They were stimulated by obstacles that required more effort compared to U23, who reported higher concerns and lower organisational scores. Athletes who completely interrupted their sports dynamics showed higher indicators of perfectionism and performed worse in resilience and well-being. Despite this, age and the variability of the athletes’ experiences proved to be relevant factors in an athlete’s trajectory, and continued to represent a certain degree of balance in the face of COVID-19.
... Perceived stress was assessed using a single item (i.e., How stressed do you feel right now?), with responses recorded on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely). This item was intended to assess the effect of the pressure manipulation instructions, and has been used in previous research (e.g., Brown et al., 2017). Despite some concerns in the literature regarding their psychometric properties (e.g., Loo, 2002), single-item measures have been employed successfully in previous research (e.g., Eddy et al., 2019). ...
This study examined the effect of slow diaphragmatic breathing on psychophysiological stress responses and pressurized performance. Sixty-seven participants (40 female; M age = 20.17 ± 2.77 years) were randomly assigned to either a diaphragmatic-breathing, paced-breathing, or control group. Participants completed a nonpressurized shooting task and then received instructions about a pressurized version. Next, the diaphragmatic group was told to breathe at 6 breaths/min, the paced group at 12 breaths/min, and the control group received no instructions. Following a 5-min intervention period, participants completed the pressurized task while performance was assessed. Psychophysiological stress responses (e.g., cognitive anxiety, heart rate) were recorded throughout. Results revealed that diaphragmatic breathing had mixed effects on stress responses, with some unaffected (e.g., heart rate) and others reduced (e.g., cognitive anxiety), and little effect on performance. Findings suggested that slow diaphragmatic breathing might not aid pressurized performance but could benefit psychological stress responses.
... In one longitudinal study of a large and diverse sample of athletes assessed at three time-points, a predictive relationship was observed between athletes' experiences of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and their subsequent reported levels of thriving , irrespective of characteristics such as age, gender, or competition level. This work replicates and builds upon Brown and colleagues' studies illustrating meaningful relationships between basic psychological needs and thriving in sport (Brown D. J. et al., 2017;Brown et al., 2020). ...
Elite athletes, coaches and high-performance staff are exposed to a range of stressors that have been shown to increase their susceptibility to experiencing mental ill-health. Despite this, athletes may be less inclined than the general population to seek support for their mental health due to stigma, perceptions of limited psychological safety within sport to disclose mental health difficulties (e.g., selection concerns) and/or fears of help-seeking signifying weakness in the context of high performance sport. Guidance on the best ways to promote mental health within sporting environments is increasing, though current frameworks and position statements require greater focus on a whole of system approach, in which the needs of athlete, coaches and high-performance staff are considered within the context of the broader ecological system in which they operate and perform. This paper synthesizes existing research, reviewed for translatability by mental health professionals working in elite sport, to provide an evidence-informed framework with real world utility to promote mentally healthy environments for all stakeholders in elite sporting organizations, from athletes through to administrators. Recommendations are provided to positively impact the mental wellbeing of athletes and support staff, which may in turn influence athletic performance. This framework is intended to provide sporting organizations with evidence-informed or best practice principles on which they can develop or progress their policies to support mental health promotion and prevent the onset of mental health difficulties. It is intended that the framework can be adapted or tailored by elite sporting organizations based upon their unique cultural, contextual and resourcing circumstances.
... Es erfolgte eine Versuchspersonenaufklärung, sowie die Zustimmung zur Datenerhebung. 1 Angegebene Reliabilitätswerte (α) beziehen sich auf die vorliegende Stichprobe der Eishockeyathleten. ...
Background
The present study examined the epidemiologic characteristics of mental well-being using the Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving (CIT) in 180 male ice hockey athletes. The construct thriving is described by a state of holistic mental well-being, which enables individuals to unfold a distinct positive performance capability.Materials and methodsBeside a comparison of under 17-aged (U17; n = 112, age = 16.6 ± 0.6 years old) and under 20-aged (U20; n = 68, age = 18.3 ± 0.9 years old) athletes, analyses contrast the thriving-values of the sample with norm values of 16–24-year-old Nordamericans, as well as with norm values of German-speaking medical students and trainees.ResultsAlthough U17 and U20 mostly did not differ significantly, U20 athletes show a trend of a more intense manifestation of their mental well-being. Moreover, with few exceptions, ice hockey athletes showed significantly higher values in their thriving compared with the existing external norm values.Conclusion
Possible reasons for these differences as for example age, gender and cultural background are discussed. The CIT might be applicable for sport psychological research. Furthermore, a focus on the holistic mental well-being for a sustainable education in sports will be discussed.
... A study by Brown, Arnold, Standage, and Fletcher (2017) examined whether it was possible to identify British sport performers who thrived in demanding competitive sporting encounters over the past month via the measurement of subjective performance and wellbeing. They then examined whether "thriving" profile membership could be predicted from scores for personal enablers (e.g., resilient qualities), contextual enablers (e.g., social support), and underpinning process variables (e.g., basic psychological need satisfaction, basic psychological need frustration). ...
This chapter presents the theoretical propositions of self‐determination theory (SDT) mini‐theories and reviews some key findings from pertinent sport and exercise work. The mini‐theories are: cognitive evaluation theory, organismic integration theory, causality orientations theory, basic psychological needs theory, goal contents theory, and relationships motivation theory. The chapter reviews a selection of sport and exercise psychology studies as opposed to providing a comprehensive review. It draws from SDT principles to discuss some applied implications within sport and/or exercise settings. The chapter reviews existing empirical research, and identifies several key gaps in the knowledge base that warrant attention in future research. It discusses the complex and multifaceted nature of motivation and goals, and reviews empirical data concerning the manifold psychological, functional, and phenomenological benefits of pursuing autonomous forms of motivation and goals rich in intrinsic content.
... Evaluating stressful tasks as a threat is associated with poorer sports performance (e.g., Brown, Arnold, Standage, & Fletcher, 2017;Moore et al., 2013). Thus, to optimize sports performance, practitioners might use NVB (alongside existing self-report measures) to identify athletes who are evaluating stressful situations as more of a threat (those who are deemed less composed and more on edge from their body language; i.e., occupy less space, have a less erect and more collapsed posture, appear more hectic, and have a less stable gaze pattern; Furley et al., 2012a), and would likely benefit from interventions aimed at encouraging them to evaluate such situations as more of a challenge (e.g., arousal reappraisal; Sammy et al., 2017). ...
Objectives: This study examined if challenge and threat states predicted nonverbal behavior during a pressurized soccer penalty task.
Design: A predictive design was employed.
Method: Forty-two participants (Mage = 24 years, SD = 7) completed the task. Before the task, challenge and threat states were assessed via demand resource evaluations and cardiovascular reactivity. During the task, nonverbal behavior was recorded, and later used to rate participants on six scales: (1) submissive–dominant, (2) unconfident–confident, (3) on edge–composed, (4) unfocused–focused, (5) threatened–challenged, and (6) inaccurate–accurate.
Results: Participants who evaluated the task as a challenge (coping resources exceed task demands) were deemed more dominant, confident, composed, challenged, and competent from their nonverbal behavior than those who evaluated it as a threat (task demands exceed coping resources). Cardiovascular reactivity did not predict nonverbal behavior.
Conclusions: Athletes’ challenge and threat evaluations might be associated with nonverbal behavior under high-pressure.
Elite athletes face numerous personal and professional pressures and high-stress experiences; however, there is a gap in the literature connecting identity development with these life experiences. Using narrative inquiry analysis with six emerging adult athletes competing at professional and Olympic levels, this study identified self-narratives they created from life experiences within the context of sport and analyzed when these meanings were formed. Athletes described experiences causing great psychological disturbances as a normal risk within their sport and needing to regulate or compartmentalize their emotions to get through those experiences. Participants discussed various roles they play within their team but lacked identifying roles outside of sport context. Results from these interviews suggest potential psychological benefits from participating in humanitarian activities. Following a humanitarian intervention, athletes were able to identify characteristics within themselves that could be labeled as performance-based identity attributes. Additionally, athletes described how volunteerism gave them an opportunity to satisfy their individual needs for purpose. Findings are relevant for applied work with athletes, coaches, and parents, as well as prioritizing athlete identity work as an important research focus.
Competitive sport involves physical and psychological stressors, such as training load and stress perceptions, that athletes must adapt to in order to maintain health and performance. Psychological resilience, one’s capacity to equilibrate or adapt affective and behavioral responses to adverse physical or emotional experiences, is an important topic in athlete training and performance. The study purpose was to investigate associations of training load and perceived sport stress with athlete psychological resilience trajectories. Sixty-one collegiate club athletes (30 females and 31 males) completed self-reported surveys over 6 weeks of training. Athletes significantly differed in resilience at the beginning of competitive training. Baseline resilience differences were associated with resilience trajectories. Perceived stress and training load were negatively associated with resilience. Physical and psychological stressors had a small but statistically significant impact on resilience across weeks of competitive training, indicating that both types of stressors should be monitored to maintain athlete resilience.
Objectives
The aims of this study were to explore the features of the athletic environment that influence thriving within a British Olympic and Paralympic sport organisation and to understand the interconnectedness of these factors across a range of individuals and contexts. These aims were pursued within a decentralised organisation that was undergoing a leader-led cultural change strategy.
Method
To develop an understanding of the environmental factors that facilitate athlete thriving, a 16-month ethnography was conducted. Data analysis consisted of reflexive thematic analysis of observational notes, reflexive diaries, and interview transcripts. The findings are presented in an ethnographic tale.
Results
Alongside the complexities of implementing a culture change strategy across a decentralised organisation, the ethnographic tale details three key features of the athletic environment targeted by senior leadership to successfully influence the athletes’ ability to thrive within their silos. Underpinning these factors are three interconnected themes of understanding, openness, and trust.
Conclusions
This study demonstrates how empowering devolved leadership was impactful for organisational culture by reducing the homogeneity of leader-centric change initiatives. Further, harnessing an organisation-wide commitment to promoting relationships founded on understanding, openness, and trust can create athletic environments that facilitate thriving. Therefore, while a decentralised structure may present challenges for promoting a duty of care, it is possible to create an environment that supports athletes to thrive.
The current study focuses on the effect of transformational leadership on athletes’ performance in the mediation of psychological need satisfaction, burnout, competition anxiety, life satisfaction, and positive–negative affect. The sample consisted of 391 soccer players aged between 16 and 20 years. Six scales were used in this study: Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, Needs Satisfaction Scale, Athlete Burnout Measure, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Scale, and Sport Competition Anxiety Test. The method of Vallerand was preferred to measure performance, and structural equation modeling was employed to analyze data. The model data fit was also verified. It was found that the transformational leadership behaviors of coaches signally influence athletes’ performance either directly or indirectly. From another perspective, increasing the psychological health or well-being of athletes has important effects on sport performance.
To sustain success in sport, athletes need to function effectively in their competitive encounters and maintain this level over repeated events. Yet, to date, little is known about how athletes can continue to fully function (i.e., thrive) in their sporting encounters. Equally, there is a lack of research in relation to the factors that predict thriving. Testing the premise that basic psychological needs (i.e., for autonomy, competence, and relatedness) predict optimal functioning, the aim of this study was to provide the first longitudinal examination of thriving in sport. Sport performers (N = 268) completed questionnaires assessing thriving and basic psychological need satisfaction on three occasions across 28 days. Longitudinal structural equation modeling showed thriving to be highly predicted by both the experience of recent thriving and the perceived satisfaction of basic psychological needs. These findings highlight an important mechanism through which coaches and practitioners can initiate and maintain thriving in the athletes that they work with across a series of sporting encounters.
The purpose of this study was to examine the association between young players’ perception of mother’s and father’s responsiveness with their self-esteem, anxiety (i.e., worry), and thriving (i.e., positive affect, vitality, and life satisfaction). In total, 314 male British rugby players with a mean age of 16.23 years (SD = 0.26) completed the study in two phases: n = 124 (first dataset), and n = 192 (second dataset). Participants trained on average 3.14 times/week (SD = 0.94) and had been involved in rugby for an average of 8.21 years (SD = 2.89). Participants completed questionnaires measuring perceived parental responsiveness (PPR) for their mother and father, self-esteem, worry about sport performance, and thriving indicators (i.e., positive affect, vitality, and life satisfaction). The results consistently indicated that participants’ perceptions of their mother’s and father’s responsiveness positively related to thriving, and negatively related to their worry about sport performance, mediated by their self-esteem. Overall, the study highlights the need for parents to be provided with insights into the value of being responsive to their child and being encouraged to regularly talk with their child regarding their needs and desires, and seeking to understand how their child perceives the support they currently receive.
Since the mid-1990s the constructs of growth, resilience, and thriving have often been conflated and the labels used interchangeably to describe similar experiences. As research literature has grown, separate bodies of work have emerged on each of the constructs giving rise to questions of a jangle fallacy. The purpose of this chapter is to synthesize the existing literature and to explore the similarities and differences between the constructs at the intrapersonal level. Following an initial introduction, the narrative is separated into three sections that each consider a key feature central to the formulation of the constructs: adversity, processes and mechanisms, and levels of functioning. The commentary in these sections is then used to inform proposals for future research, and concluding statements on the critical distinctions between growth, resilience, and thriving. It is hoped that this chapter will provide readers with greater clarity on what is meant by each of these terms, and offer researchers and practitioners a nomenclature that they can employ consistently and accurately when examining these experiences in the future.
Objectives: The desire and apparent ‘need’ to succeed can drive a win-at-all-costs mentality in individuals who operate in sport. This approach has given rise to environments where the pursuit of high-level performance has been at the expense of athlete welfare. To redress this balance and to inform the creation and maintenance of sporting environments that promote both high performance and athlete well-being, we sought to (i) provide an exploration of the environmental factors that may promote player thriving in professional sport, and (ii) offer suggestions for how key stakeholders can support these mechanisms. Design: A qualitative research methodology underpinned by ontological relativism and epistemological constructionism. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 players from an English professional rugby union club. Results: Thematic analysis generated thirteen factors that players perceived to promote thriving. These factors were underpinned by two general ideas: (i) Establishing Bonds between Teammates and (ii) Establishing a Connection to the Coaching Staff and the Club. Conclusions: The findings provide the first insight into the type of environment professional rugby players believe can facilitate their development and sporting success. The factors generated in the analysis highlight the players’ desire to operate within an integrated, inclusive, and trusting environment, and a variety of suggestions are forwarded for how this can be achieved. To promote thriving in a professional sport that requires emotion and passion to succeed on the pitch, it appears that rugby union organizations must appeal to the sensitivities and welfare of players off it.
Objectives
Although much is now known about the role of social support in the competitive stress process, scholars have yet to examine this moderator in relation to organizational stress. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived organizational stressors and subjective performance in sport, with particular focus on the potential moderating role of social support.
Design and methods
Talented athletes (N = 122; 60 male; Mage = 20.50) completed questionnaires of perceived organizational stressors, social support, and subjective athletic performance.
Results
In addition to evidence of main effects, analyses revealed four significant interactions which demonstrated that social support did act as a significant moderator of the relationship between organizational stressors and subjective performance. Contrary to the extant literature, however, the findings illustrated reverse buffering. Associations suggest that some dimensions of social support exacerbated rather than mitigated athletes' stress reactions (i.e. impaired performance) when encountering greater frequencies of organizational stressors.
Conclusion
These findings not only advance theoretical understanding of the organizational stress process, but also present a number of significant implications for athletes, coaches, and applied practitioners aiming to enhance performance in pressurized and demanding situations. Specifically, recommendations are forwarded for practitioners to address coaching stressors and provide effective social support that is matched to the stressors that he or she encounters.
Human beings have an inherent drive for self-improvement and growth (Maslow, 1965; Ryan & Deci, 2002). In a quest to understand how human beings achieve fulfillment, researchers have sought to explain why some individuals thrive in certain situations, whereas others merely survive or succumb. The topic of thriving has become popular with scholars, resulting in a divergent body of literature and a lack of consensus on the key processes that underpin the construct. In view of such differences, the purpose of this paper is threefold: (i) to review a number of existing theoretical and conceptual debates, and to propose a conceptualization of thriving applicable across different populations and domains; (ii) to consolidate pertinent bodies of extant thriving research and identify key personal and contextual enablers to inform applied practice; and (iii) to identify noteworthy gaps within existing literature so as to make recommendations for future research and, ultimately, support the development of effective psychosocial interventions for thriving.
Objectives:
The purposes of this study were to examine the association between controlling coach behaviours and athlete experiences of thriving and test the buffering effect of mental toughness on this relation.
Design:
A cross-sectional survey.
Methods:
In total, 232 female netballers aged 11 to 17 years (14.97+1.52) with between 1 and 15 years of experience in their sport (7.50+2.28) completed measures of controlling coach interpersonal style, mental toughness and thriving.
Results:
Latent moderated structural models indicated that (i) controlling coach behaviours were inversely related with experiences of vitality and learning; (ii) mental toughness was positively associated with psychological experiences of both dimensions of thriving; and (iii) mental toughness moderated the effect of coach's controlling interpersonal style on learning but not vitality experiences, such that the effect was weaker for individuals who reported higher levels of mental toughness.
Conclusions:
This study extends past work and theory to show that mental toughness may enable athletes to counteract the potentially deleterious effect of controlling coach interpersonal styles.
Young adult athletes are often required to relocate as part of their career progression. The transition between their 'old' and 'new' lives can have a positive or negative effect on their future career. The purpose of this study was to identify the processes and characteristics of thriving in periods of geographical dislocation; particularly the move away from the ‘familiar’ to the ‘unfamiliar’. A partially mixed, sequential design was employed, initially to identify the individualities of a group of 24 elite athletes. Despite their homogeneity on a range of instruments, the outcome variations were not adequately explained. Subsequently, the particular characteristics and processes that contribute to thriving were examined through a sequence of semi-structured interviews, and analysis. The responses that led to positive outcomes (thriving), in comparison to less positive (surviving), or even negative (languishing) outcomes are identified and discussed. The findings inform the need for a more nuanced and detailed cyclic, rather than linear, approach to the transition and any associated intervention strategies. Further research is needed to examine this new approach to managing transitions with different groups of participants and in other dislocating and transitional contexts.
Practitioners in sport psychology have long sought the establishment of a viable profession. Professions develop best when they have a standardized system to train and validate the learning of the knowledge and skills delineated for the profession. Although sport psychology is an emerging profession, challenges remain in part because of no formal answer to the question, ?What does the practice and profession of sport psychology entail?? To provide clarity, we offer a definition of applied sport psychology as a subfield of performance psychology. This definition creates a consistent core identity by putting the focus on the purpose of the profession's work.
Background
Psychologists are increasingly supporting the quest for performance enhancement in sport and there is a need to evaluate the evidence base underpinning their work.
Objectives
To synthesize the most rigorous available research that has evaluated psychological, social, and psychosocial interventions with sport performers on variables relating to their athletic performance, and to address some of the perplexing issues in the sport psychology intervention literature (e.g., do interventions have a lasting effect on sport performance?).
Methods
Randomized controlled trials were identified through electronic databases, hand-searching volumes of pertinent journals, scrutinizing reference lists of previous reviews, and contacting experts in the evaluation of interventions in this field. Included studies were required to evaluate the effects of psychological, social, or psychosocial interventions on sport performance in athletes when compared to a no-treatment or placebo-controlled treatment comparison group. A random effects meta-analysis calculating the standardized mean difference (Hedges’ g), meta-regressions, and trim and fill analyses were conducted. Data were analyzed at post-test and follow-up (ranging from 1 to 4 weeks after the intervention finished) assessments.
Results
Psychological and psychosocial interventions were shown to enhance sport performance at post-test (k = 35, n = 997, Hedges’ g = 0.57, 95 % CI = 0.22–0.92) and follow-up assessments (k = 8, n = 189, Hedges’ g = 1.16, 95 % CI = 0.25–2.08); no social interventions were included or evaluated. Larger effects were found for psychosocial interventions and there was some evidence that effects were greatest in coach-delivered interventions and in samples with a greater proportion of male participants.
Conclusions
Psychological and psychosocial interventions have a moderate positive effect on sport performance, and this effect may last at least a month following the end of the intervention. Future research would benefit from following guidelines for intervention reporting.
Organisational stressors are associated with positive and negative outcomes in extant literature; however, little is known about which demands predict which outcomes. Extant theory and literature also suggests that coping style may influence an individual's resilience or vulnerability to stressors and, subsequently, their psychological responses and outcomes. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to examine the main effects of organisational stressors and coping styles on various outcomes (e.g., positive and negative affect, performance satisfaction). Sport performers (n = 414) completed measures of organisational stressors, coping styles, positive and negative affect, and performance satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses revealed positive relationships of both goals and development stressors (duration and intensity) and team and culture stressors (frequency and intensity) on negative affect. Furthermore, problem-focused coping was positively related to positive affect, and emotion-focused coping was positively related to negative affect. This study furthers theoretical knowledge regarding the associations that both organisational stressors (and their dimensions) and coping styles can have with various outcomes, and practical understanding regarding the optimal design of stress management interventions.
Research in occupational health psychology has tended to focus on the effects of single job characteristics or various job characteristics combined into 1 factor. However, such a variable-centered approach does not account for the clustering of job attributes among groups of employees. We addressed this issue by using a person-centered approach to (a) investigate the occurrence of different empirical constellations of perceived job stressors and resources and (b) validate the meaningfulness of profiles by analyzing their association with employee well-being and performance. We applied factor mixture modeling to identify profiles in 4 large samples consisting of employees in Switzerland (Studies 1 and 2) and the United States (Studies 3 and 4). We identified 2 profiles that spanned the 4 samples, with 1 reflecting a combination of relatively low stressors and high resources (P1) and the other relatively high stressors and low resources (P3). The profiles differed mainly in terms of their organizational and social aspects. Employees in P1 reported significantly higher mean levels of job satisfaction, performance, and general health, and lower means in exhaustion compared with P3. Additional analyses showed differential relationships between job attributes and outcomes depending on profile membership. These findings may benefit organizational interventions as they show that perceived work stressors and resources more strongly influence satisfaction and well-being in particular profiles.
Previous studies neglected the multivariate nature of the coping construct. The purposes of the current study were to: (a) identify coping profiles within a naturalistic achievement-related demanding situation (sport competition) characterized by an anticipatory and a performance stage; (b) examine the issue of consistency or change of coping profiles for the same individual over time (before and during competition); and (c) explore whether coping profiles were associated with key theoretical covariates from a transactional perspective of coping (intensity and directional interpretation of affective states). Latent profile transition analysis revealed four distinct coping profiles as a whole: Low coping, active coping, high coping (T1 only), and moderate coping (T2 only) profiles. Coping profiles exhibited both stability and changes over time from an intra-individual perspective. Athletes from the low coping and moderate coping profiles were characterized by the worst and best psychological adjustment respectively, as indicated by their scores on affective states. As a whole, a coping profile approach may prove useful in understanding coping as a dynamic system and have implications for intervention.
The literature base regarding the development of sporting talent is extensive, and includes empirical articles, reviews, position papers, academic books, governing body documents, popular books, unpublished theses and anecdotal evidence, and contains numerous models of talent development. With such a varied body of work, the task for researchers, practitioners and policy makers of generating a clear understanding of what is known and what is thought to be true regarding the development of sporting talent is particularly challenging. Drawing on a wide array of expertise, we address this challenge by avoiding adherence to any specific model or area and by providing a reasoned review across three key overarching topics: (a) the performer; (b) the environment; and (c) practice and training. Within each topic sub-section, we review and calibrate evidence by performance level of the samples. We then conclude each sub-section with a brief summary, a rating of the quality of evidence, a recommendation for practice and suggestions for future research. These serve to highlight both our current level of understanding and our level of confidence in providing practice recommendations, but also point to a need for future studies that could offer evidence regarding the complex interactions that almost certainly exist across domains.
The well-replicated observation that many people maintain mental health despite exposure to severe psychological or physical adversity has ignited interest in the mechanisms that protect against stress-related mental illness. Focusing on resilience rather than pathophysiology in many ways represents a paradigm shift in clinical-psychological and psychiatric research that has great potential for the development of new prevention and treatment strategies. More recently, research into resilience also arrived in the neurobiological community, posing nontrivial questions about ecological validity and translatability. Drawing on concepts and findings from transdiagnostic psychiatry, emotion research, and behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, we propose a unified theoretical framework for the neuroscientific study of general resilience mechanisms. The framework is applicable to both animal and human research and supports the design and interpretation of translational studies. The theory emphasizes the causal role of stimulus appraisal (evaluation) processes in the generation of emotional responses, including responses to potential stressors. On this basis, it posits that a positive (non-negative) appraisal style is the key mechanism that protects against the detrimental effects of stress and mediates the effects of other known resilience factors. Appraisal style is shaped by three classes of cognitive processes – positive situation classification, reappraisal, and interference inhibition – that can be investigated at the neural level. Prospects for the future development of resilience research are discussed.
The study explored patterns of change in a number of potentially performance-related variables (i.e., fatigue, social support, self-efficacy, autonomous motivation, mental skills) during the lead-up to a competitive triathlon, and whether these patterns of change differed for relatively superior versus inferior performers. Forty-two triathletes completed an inventory measuring the study variables every other day during a 2-week period leading up to competition. Performance was assessed using participants' race time, and using a self-referenced relative score compared with personal best times. Multilevel growth curve analyses revealed significant differences in growth trajectories over the 2-week period in mental skills use, social support, and fatigue. The results provide novel insight into how athletes' fluctuating psychological state in the 2 weeks before competition may be crucial in determining performance.
Researchers using latent class (LC) analysis often proceed using the following three steps: (1) an LC model is built for a set of response variables, (2) subjects are assigned to LCs based on their posterior class membership probabilities, and (3) the association between the assigned class membership and external variables is investigated using simple cross-tabulations or multinomial logistic regression analysis. Bolck, Croon, and Hagenaars (2004) demonstrated that such a three-step approach underestimates the associations between covariates and class membership. They proposed resolving this problem by means of a specific correction method that involves modifying the third step. In this article, I extend the correction method of Bolck, Croon, and Hagenaars by showing that it involves maximizing a weighted log-likelihood function for clustered data. This conceptualization makes it possible to apply the method not only with categorical but also with continuous explanatory variables, to obtain correct tests using complex sampling variance estimation methods, and to implement it in standard software for logistic regression analysis. In addition, a new maximum likelihood (ML)-based correction method is proposed, which is more direct in the sense that it does not require analyzing weighted data. This new three-step ML method can be easily implemented in software for LC analysis. The reported simulation study shows that both correction methods perform very well in the sense that their parameter estimates and their SEs can be trusted, except for situations with very poorly separated classes. The main advantage of the ML method compared with the Bolck, Croon, and Hagenaars approach is that it is much more efficient and almost as efficient as one-step ML estimation. © The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Political Methodology. All rights reserved.
The thriver model is a novel framework that unifies the concepts of posttraumatic and postecstatic growth. According to the model, it is not the quality of an event, but the way it is processed, that is critical for the occurrence of post-event growth. The model proposes that meaning making, supportive relationships, and positive emotions facilitate growth processes after positive as well as traumatic experiences. The tenability of these propositions was investigated in two dissimilar cultures. In Study 1, participants from the USA (n = 555) and India (n = 599) answered an extended version of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale to rank the socioemotional impact of events. Results indicate that negative events are perceived as more impactful than positive ones in the USA, whereas the reverse is true in India. In Study 2, participants from the USA (n = 342) and India (n = 341) answered questions about the thriver model's main components. Results showed that posttraumatic and postecstatic growth are highly interrelated. All elements of the thriver model were key variables for the prediction of growth. Supportive relationships and positive emotions had a direct effect on growth, while meaning making mediated the direct effect of major life events.
The present study investigated whether satisfaction and frustration of the psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence, as identified within Basic Psychological Need Theory (BPNT; Deci and Ryan, Psychol Inquiry 11:227-268, 2000; Ryan and Deci, Psychol Inquiry 11:319-338, 2000), contributes to participants' well-being and ill-being, regardless of their cultural background and interpersonal differences in need strength, as indexed by either need valuation (i.e., the stated importance of the need to the person) or need desire (i.e., the desire to get a need met). In Study 1, involving late adolescents from Belgium and China (total N = 685; Mean age = 17 years), autonomy and competence satisfaction had unique associations with well-being and individual differences in need valuation did not moderate these associations. Study 2 involved participants from four culturally diverse nations (Belgium, China, USA, and Peru; total N = 1,051; Mean age = 20 years). Results provided evidence for the measurement equivalence of an adapted scale tapping into both need satisfaction and need frustration. Satisfaction of each of the three needs was found to contribute uniquely to the prediction of well-being, whereas frustration of each of the three needs contributed uniquely to the prediction of ill-being. Consistent with Study 1, the effects of need satisfaction and need frustration were found to be equivalent across the four countries and were not moderated by individual differences in the desire for need satisfaction. These findings underscore BPNT's universality claim, which states that the satisfaction of basic needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence represent essential nutrients for optimal functioning across cultures and across individual differences in need strength.
Social support and negative social interactions have implications for athlete psychological health, with potential to influence the links of stress-related experiences with burnout and well-being over time. Using a longitudinal design, perceived social support and negative social interactions were examined as potential moderators of the temporal stress-burnout and burnout-well-being relationships. American collegiate athletes (N = 465) completed reliable and valid online assessments of study variables at four time points during the competitive season. After controlling for dispositional and conceptually important variables, social support and negative social interactions did not moderate the stress-burnout or burnout-well-being relationships, respectively, but did simultaneously contribute to burnout and well-being across the competitive season. The results showcase the importance of sport-related social perceptions to athlete psychological outcomes over time and inform development of socially driven interventions to improve the psychological health of competitive athletes.
This study was aimed to investigate the association of resilience with sport achievement and menatal health in a sample of athletes. One hundred and thrty-nine athletes (96 males, 43 females) were included in this study. All participants completed Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and Mental Health Inventory (MHI). The athletes' coaches were asked to rate the Sport Achievement Scale (SAS) in order to measure athletes' sport achievement. The results revealed that resilience was positively associated with sport achievement and psychological well-being, and negatively associated with psychological distress. It can be concluded that resilience is associated with sport achievement and mental health.
People differ in their implicit theories about mental toughness, that is, whether they believe this quality is immutable (entity theorists) or changeable (incremental theorists). The aim of this study was to explore whether peoples' implicit theories of mental toughness are related to cognitive, motivational, and behavioral variables considered as hallmarks of this personal quality. We conducted 3 studies with participants from different achievement contexts: 444 undergraduate students aged 17 to 26 years (M = 19.25); 395 employees aged 25 to 79 years (M = 48.78); and 230 adolescent athletes aged 11 to 17 years (M = 14.98). Students completed a measure of implicit theories of mental toughness, fear of failure, and perceived stress. Employees completed a measure of implicit theories and were rated on performance and creativity by their supervisor. Athletes completed a measure of implicit theories of mental toughness, resilience, and thriving. Across all 3 samples, cluster analyses supported the existence of an incremental theory (high incremental theory, low entity theory) alongside an ambivalent group (moderate scores on both theories). These clusters differed on fear of failure, stress, performance, creativity, resilience, and thriving consistent with theoretical expectations. The current findings suggest that people's implicit theories of mental toughness may have important implications for understanding cognitive, motivational, and behavioral correlates considered hallmarks of this psychological concept.
Evaluation of a psychological skills training programme with a group of nine South African Under-21 provincial rugby players revealed its general effectiveness. An age-matched quasi-experimental control group design was used. Over a period of four months, rugby players improved in psychological skills and psychological well-being as assessed on standardized measures and as experientially evaluated. Comparisons with a matched control group indicated significant differences between rugby players and control group's perceptions of improvement in total psychological skills and especially those involving mental preparation, as well as anxiety and worry management. In terms of psychological wellbeing, the rugby group perceived themselves to have improved significantly more than the control group with regard to personal growth. Its adaptability and comparisons with related studies indicate ready transferability of the programme in sport, health and related community contexts.
Using self-determination theory (SDT), we examined relationships among coach and teammate behaviors (motivational climate, interpersonal style, friendship quality), psychological need satisfaction, and well-being (self-esteem, positive affect, and disordered eating) among female adolescent gymnasts. Physical maturity was included as a control variable because it is associated with lower self-perceptions for girls. Competitive gymnasts (N = 303) aged 10 to 17 years completed a survey assessing study variables. Structural equation modeling revealed that (a) coach autonomy-support and mastery climate were indirectly related to positive affect through coach relatedness, (b) friendship quality was associated with all three well-being indices through perceived competence and teammate relatedness, and (c) postpubertal girls reported lower perceived competence, lower self-esteem, lower positive affect, and greater disordered eating compared with prepubertal girls. Effect sizes indicated that a medium to large amount of variance was explained in the psychological needs and well-being indicators. Findings provide support for SDT and suggest the social, psychological, and developmental processes that are related to well-being among female adolescent gymnasts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
Humans have a potential for growth, integration, and well-being, while also being vulnerable to defensiveness, aggression, and ill-being. Self-determination theory (R. M. Ryan & E. L. Deci, 2000, Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development and well-being, American Psychologist, Vol. 55, pp. 68–78) argues that satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness both fosters immediate well-being and strengthens inner resources contributing to subsequent resilience, whereas need frustration evokes ill-being and increased vulnerabilities for defensiveness and psychopathology. We briefly review recent research indicating how contextual need support and the experience of need satisfaction promote well-being and different growth manifestations (e.g., intrinsic motivation, internalization), as well as a rapidly growing body of work relating need thwarting and need frustration to ill-being, pursuit of need substitutes, and various forms of maladaptive functioning. Finally, we discuss research on differences in autonomous self-regulation and mindfulness, which serve as factors of resilience.
Although resilience has been referred to as "ordinary magic" (Masten, 2001, p. 227) that is more common than once thought, the majority of research in this area has sampled individuals who have been required to react to potentially traumatic events outside of their control. The findings of this work, however, are not easily applicable to those who actively seek to engage with challenging situations that present opportunities for them to raise their performance level. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to identify and explore resilient qualities that enable high achievers to thrive and perform at extraordinary levels. Thirteen high achievers (9 male and 4 female) from 11 professions were interviewed in the United Kingdom, and interpretative phenome-nological analysis was used to identify resilient qualities that enabled the participants to thrive in pressured environments. Results revealed 6 superordinate themes that characterized resilience and thriving: positive and proactive personality, experience and learning, sense of control, flexibility and adaptability, balance and perspective, and perceived social support. The data highlights the multifaceted nature of resilience comprising a constellation of personal qualities that enable high achievers to excel in demanding contexts. The themes are discussed in relation to previous research findings and in terms of their implications for practicing psychologists. It is anticipated that these themes will provide practitioners with an insight into the distinct features of resilience and thriving in high achievers and help individuals to attain success and well-being in their careers.
In this article we present the development and validation of two new measures of psychological well-being: Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving (CIT) and Brief Inventory of Thriving (BIT). These measures were developed with two specific goals in mind: (1) to measure a broad range of psychological well-being constructs and represent a holistic view of positive functioning; and (2) to predict important health outcomes and are useful for researchers and health practitioners. CIT includes 18 subscales with 54 items in total, covering a broad range of well-being components. BIT has 10 items in total and can serve as an indicator of psychological well-being and a brief screening tool of mental health. The new measures were evaluated in five samples of a total of 3,191 U.S. participants with diverse demographics. CIT and BIT had excellent psychometric properties and exhibited convergent validity with existing measures of psychological well-being and discriminant validity with measures of ill-being. Both measures contributed over and above existing measures of psychology well-being in predicting a variety of health outcomes, including self-reported and objective health status, physical functioning, and health behaviors. In addition, we showed the relative importance of thriving compared to ill-being for health outcomes and the benefits of assessing individuals’ positive functioning beyond ill-being. Potential uses of the new measures are discussed.
The purpose of this chapter is to review the conception and diagnosis of mental health. Research is reviewed that shows that there are grave reasons for concern about the mental health of adults in the US. Fewer than one quarter adults aged 25-74 yrs fit the criteria for
flourishing in life, which is defined as a state in which an individual feels positive emotion toward life and is functioning well psychologically and socially. The absence of mental health--a condition described as
languishing--is more prevalent than major depressive disorder. Languishing is defined as as state in which an individual is devoid of positive emotion toward life, and is not functioning well either psychologically or socially, and has not been depressed during the past year. In short, languishers are neither mentally ill nor mentally healthy. In sum, there are compelling reasons that positive psychologists cannot overlook mental illness. However, languishing--a silent, debilitating epidemic in the US--indicates that there are equally compelling reasons that behavioral and social scientists can no longer ignore the concept of mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The factor mixture model (FMM) uses a hybrid of both categorical and continuous latent variables. The FMM is a good model for the underlying structure of psychopathology because the use of both categorical and continuous latent variables allows the structure to be simultaneously categorical and dimensional. This is useful because both diagnostic class membership and the range of severity within and across diagnostic classes can be modeled concurrently. While the conceptualization of the FMM has been explained in the literature, the use of the FMM is still not prevalent. One reason is that there is little research about how such models should be applied in practice and, once a well fitting model is obtained, how it should be interpreted. In this paper, the FMM will be explored by studying a real data example on conduct disorder. By exploring this example, this paper aims to explain the different formulations of the FMM, the various steps in building a FMM, as well as how to decide between a FMM and alternative models.
This research comprised 3 studies (2 prospective and 1 short-term longitudinal) designed to investigate mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals as predictors of achievement-relevant processes prior to the undergraduate examination experience. Results from across the 3 studies were supportive of the authors' hypotheses and revealed a differential predictive pattern for each of the achievement goals. Mastery goals were linked to numerous positive processes (e.g., challenge appraisals, absorption during preparation), performance-approach goals were linked to a more limited set of positive processes (e.g., challenge appraisals, grade aspirations), and performance-avoidance goals were linked to numerous negative processes (e.g., threat appraisals, anticipatory test anxiety). Implications for the trichotomous achievement goal model and educators are discussed.
This article investigated the contribution of developmental assets to the prediction of thriving behaviors among adolescents. The study was based on a sample of 6,000 youth in Grades 6-12 evenly distributed across 6 ethnic groups. Investigated were the effects of gender, grade, and levels of youth assets on 7 thriving indicators: school success, leadership, valuing diversity, physical health, helping others, delay of gratification, and overcoming adversity. Developmental assets are identified that together contribute "over and above demographic variables" between 10% and 43% to the variance of the thriving indicators and between 47% and 54% of the variance in a composite index comprised of the separate thriving indicators. The results substantially reflect the relation of developmental assets and thriving outcomes suggested by the research literature, and provide evidence for the utility of the developmental assets framework.
Using a high-performance sample of 118 golfers, we examined the relationship between perceived support and performance. Observed variable path analysis revealed that the beneficial effects of perceived support were primarily attributable to esteem support. High levels of esteem support were associated with appraising a competition as less of a threat. Esteem support was also positively associated with situational control, which was positively associated with challenge appraisals and negatively associated with threat appraisals. Challenge appraisals were associated with better performance and threat appraisals with poorer performance. These results highlight possible mechanisms underlying the relationship between esteem support and performance.
hriving describes an individual's experience of vitality and learning. The primary goal of this paper is to develop a model that illuminates the social embeddedness of employees' thriving at work. First, we explain why thriving is a useful theoretical construct, define thriving, and compare it to related constructs, including resilience, flourishing, subjective well-being, flow, and self-actualization. Second, we describe how work contexts facilitate agentic work behaviors, which in turn produce resources in the doing of work and serve as the engine of thriving. Third, we describe how thriving serves as a gauge to facilitate self-adaptation at work. We conclude by highlighting key theoretical contributions of the model and suggesting directions for future research.
Positive psychology aims to study what makes life worth living. However, one of its key concepts, flourishing, is described as being mentally healthy, while for others it involves other positive psychological constructs such as growth, generativity, optimal functioning and resilience. This diversity suggests a lack of conceptual clarity. Descriptions have originated from investigations into subjective well-being and psychological functioning, with quantitative methods having dominated empirical research. The current study aims to provide an empirically derived conceptualisation of flourishing through qualitative methods. Inductive content analysis was carried out on semi-structured interviews with national or development team athletes competing at international level with an average age of 21.3 years. Findings characterised flourishing firstly, by internally-focused attributes, feelings and affective states; and secondly, by the fulfilment of areas of life which are perceived as important to the athlete. Overall, flourishing is described as an individually-specific notion of optimal well-being, which shares factors contributing to subjective well-being and to happiness. Strengths and weaknesses of the study and implications for applied practitioners are discussed along with directions for future research.
Theoretical issues pertinent to a dynamic, developmental systems understanding of positive youth development and the thriving process in such development are discussed. Thriving involves relative plasticity in human development and adaptive regulations of person–context relations. An integrated moral and civic identity and a commitment to society beyond the limits of one’s own existence enable thriving youth to be agents both in their own, healthy development and in the positive enhancement of other people and of society. Thriving youth become generative adults through the progressive enhancement of behaviors that are valued in their specific culture and that reflect the universal structural value of contributing to civil society.
Athletes are often described as thriving in sport; however, extant research on this construct in sport has been divergent. This study aimed to provide the first dedicated exploration of thriving in elite sport performers by considering its characteristics, outcomes, and facilitators. Semi-structured interviews (n = 15) were conducted with athletes, coaches, and sport psychology practitioners, and were analyzed using applied thematic analysis. Thriving was perceived to comprise a sustained high-level of performance and dimensions of well-being. Furthermore, predominantly positive outcomes of thriving were described and participants identified a network of personal and contextual enablers that could facilitate thriving.
Drawing on the body of knowledge in this area, this article presents an evidence-based approach to developing psychological resilience for sustained success. To this end, the narrative is divided into three main sections. The first section describes the construct of psychological resilience and explains what it is. The second section outlines and discusses a mental fortitude training program for aspiring performers. The third section provides recommendations for practitioners implementing this program. It is hoped that this article will facilitate a holistic and systematic approach to developing resilience for sustained success.
The objectives of the present studies were to design and validate the Interpersonal Behaviours Questionnaire (IBQ and IBQ-Self). The IBQ assesses perceptions of interpersonal behaviours of others according to Self-Determination Theory in the context of autonomy-supportive, competence-supportive, and relatedness-supportive behaviours , as well as autonomy-thwarting, competence-thwarting, and relatedness-thwarting behaviours, while the IBQ-Self assesses an individual's own report of these behaviours. In Study 1, participants reported on the in-terpersonal behaviours of people in their lives. Through a series of confirmatory factor analyses, a six-factor, 24-item scale structure was determined. Results supported the validity of the scale and correlation analyses suggested that the subscales were related to basic need satisfaction. In Study 2, the psychometric properties of the scale were re-evaluated and the scale was tested for gender invariance. The results suggested that the scale structure held and that it was invariant across genders. Finally, in Study 3, the psychometric properties of the IBQ-Self were evaluated using a student sample reporting on their behaviours when they interact with other people. The results supported that the IBQ-Self factor structure held and was invariant for men and women. Overall, the results of all three studies supported the validity of the IBQ and the IBQ-Self.
The present study examined profiles of exercise goal content and the associations with need
satisfaction, motivation regulation and exercise behavior, combining variable-centered and
person-centered analytical approaches. The participants were 1084 (279 men and 805 women)
Swedish adults, aged between 18 and 78 years, that were all active members of an Internetbased
exercise program. Latent profile analysis (LPA) and structural equation modeling
(SEM) were used to analyze the data. In SEM analysis intrinsic goals were related to need
satisfaction and autonomous motivation, whereas extrinsic goals were most strongly
associated with controlled motivation. LPA revealed five unique latent classes of goal
content. These five classes differed in need satisfaction, motivation regulation and exercise
behavior, with classes being characterized by more intrinsic goal profiles reporting higher
need satisfaction and autonomous motivation. The results are discussed from a self determination
theory perspective and the benefits of using both variable and person-centered
analytical approaches are highlighted.
This article describes the theoretical perspectives and the empirical research relating personal dispositions, resources, appraisals, and coping processes to stress-related growth and thriving within a transactional stress and coping framework. Following a description of this framework, the personal characteristics relevant to thriving and growth are reviewed. It is noted that personal characteristics may exert effects directly on positive outcomes such as thriving and growth, and that the effects of these personal characteristics may also be mediated by various appraisal and coping processes. Theoretical and empirical work on appraisal and coping processes as predictors of growth and thriving are then reviewed. Work on comprehensive models of stress-related growth and thriving that include personal resources and coping processes is discussed; such models consider appraisal and coping processes as potential mechanisms through which personal characteristics may operate indirectly to affect stress-related growth and thriving. Finally, some implications of these relationships for individuals and for communities are suggested.
This article distinguishes between hedonic and eudaimonic approaches to wellness, with the former focusing on the outcome of happiness or pleasure and the latter focusing not so much on outcomes as on the process of living well. We present a model of eudaimonia that is based in self-determination theory, arguing that eudaimonic living can be characterized in terms of four motivational concepts: (1) pursuing intrinsic goals and values for their own sake, including personal growth, relationships, community, and health, rather than extrinsic goals and values, such as wealth, fame, image, and power; (2) behaving in autonomous, volitional, or consensual ways, rather than heteronomous or controlled ways; (3) being mindful and acting with a sense of awareness; and (4) behaving in ways that satisfy basic psychological needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy. In fact, we theorize that the first three of these aspects of eudaimonic living have their positive effects of psychological and physical wellness because they facilitate satisfaction of these basic, universal psychological needs. Studies indicate that people high in eudaimonic living tend to behave in more prosocial ways, thus benefiting the collective as well as themselves, and that conditions both within the family and in society more generally contribute toward strengthening versus diminishing the degree to which people live eudaimonic lives.
In this article, the authors examine the most common type of improper solutions: zero or negative error variances. They address the causes of, consequences of, and strategies to handle these issues. Several hypotheses are evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation models, including two structural equation models with several misspecifications of each model. Results suggested several unique findings. First, increasing numbers of omitted paths in the measurement model were associated with decreasing numbers of improper solutions. Second, bias in the parameter estimates was higher in samples with improper solutions than in samples including only proper solutions. Third, investigation of the consequences of using constrained estimates in the presence of improper solutions indicated that inequality constraints helped some samples achieve convergence. Finally, the use of confidence intervals as well as four other proposed tests yielded similar results when testing whether the error variance was greater than or equal to zero.
This study compares alternative ways of disentangling the effects of level (the tendency for a person to be high, medium, or low across all factors) and shape (the tendency for a person to have a distinct pattern of factors on which they are high, medium, or low) in profile analyses. This issue is particularly relevant to performance appraisals where it is often useful to identify specific strengths and weaknesses over and above a person global performance, but also to person-centered analyses more generally where the observation of qualitative (shape) differences between profiles is often used as justification for the added value of profiles. Substantively, this study illustrates these issues in the identification of profiles of teachers based on multidimensional students' ratings of their effectiveness, using an archival data set of 31,951 class-average ratings based on the Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument collected over a 13-year period. The results show the superiority of a factor mixture operationalization of teaching effectiveness in which a global effectiveness factor was used to control for unnecessary level effects in the profiles.
This article discusses alternatives to single-step mixture modeling. A 3-step method for latent class predictor variables is studied in several different settings, including latent class analysis, latent transition analysis, and growth mixture modeling. It is explored under violations of its assumptions such as with direct effects from predictors to latent class indicators. The 3-step method is also considered for distal variables. The Lanza, Tan, and Bray (2013) method for distal variables is studied under several conditions including violations of its assumptions. Standard errors are also developed for the Lanza method because these were not given in Lanza et al. (2013).
Close and caring relationships are undeniably linked to health and well-being at all stages in the life span. Yet the specific pathways through which close relationships promote optimal well-being are not well understood. In this article, we present a model of thriving through relationships to provide a theoretical foundation for identifying the specific interpersonal processes that underlie the effects of close relationships on thriving. This model highlights two life contexts through which people may potentially thrive (coping successfully with life’s adversities and actively pursuing life opportunities for growth and development), it proposes two relational support functions that are fundamental to the experience of thriving in each life context, and it identifies mediators through which relational support is likely to have long-term effects on thriving. This perspective highlights the need for researchers to take a new look at social support by conceptualizing it as an interpersonal process with a focus on thriving.
Psychological resilience is important in sport because athletes must utilise and optimise a range of mental qualities to withstand the pressures that they experience. In this article, we discuss psychological resilience in sport performers via a review of the stressors athletes encounter and the protective factors that help them withstand these demands. It is hoped that synthesising what is known in these areas will help researchers gain a deeper profundity of resilience in sport, and also provide a rigorous and robust foundation for the development of a sport-specific measure of resilience. With these points in mind, we divided the narrative into two main sections. In the first section, we review the different types of stressors encountered by sport performers under three main categories: competitive, organisational and personal. Based on our recent research examining psychological resilience in Olympics champions, in the second section we discuss the five main families of psychological factors (viz. positive personality, motivation, confidence, focus, perceived social support) that protect the best athletes from the potential negative effect of stressors. It is anticipated that this review will help sport psychology researchers examine the interplay between stressors and protective factors, which will, in turn, focus the analytical lens on the processes underlying psychological resilience in athletes.
Objectives: Change-oriented feedback (aka negative feedback) serves two important functions: it motivates athletes and guides them towards performance improvement. However, it can also lead to negative consequences such as anxiety or a decrease in athletes' self-esteem and in the quality of the coacheathlete relationship. We propose that change-oriented feedback quality is key in predicting athletes' reaction to this type of feedback. Based on SDT, we further suggest that a high quality change-oriented feedback must be autonomy-supportive. To test this hypothesis, we first define and measure an autonomy-supportive change-oriented feedback. We then investigate the relative impact of change-oriented feedback's quantity and quality on athletes' phenomenological experiences and performance. Method: In total, 340 athletes and 58 coaches participated in this study. Coaches and athletes filled out a questionnaire after a training session. HLM analyses were used to take into consideration the hierarchical structure of the data. Results: HLM analyses first show that an autonomy-supportive change-oriented feedback is empathic, accompanied by choices of solutions, based on clear and attainable objectives known to athletes, avoids person-related statements, is paired with tips, and given in a considerate tone of voice. Results also show that feedback quality predicts athletes' outcomes above and beyond feedback quantity and coaches' other autonomy-supportive behaviours. Conclusion: Results are discussed in light of their contribution to self-determination theory, the feedback literature and the improvement of coaches' training.
Recent research suggests that many individuals not only survive, but thrive as a result of life stress and trauma. Both scientific and anecdotal evidence support the notion of psychosocial growth and development following stress in athletes. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of stress-related growth (SRG) in Division I intercollegiate athletes. Criterion sampling was used to select athletes, who indicated a moderate to large degree of growth on a self-report measure for in-depth interviews. Four dimensions emerged from interviews with 11 athletes: (a) personal and sociocultural context, (b) disruption, (c) social support and (d) positive psychosocial outcomes. Based on these four dimensions, a conceptual model of SRG was developed. Athletes’ struggles and attempts to work through their most difficult sport stressor led them to perceive personal growth in the form of a new life philosophy, self-changes and interpersonal changes. Social support was critical in facilitating athletes’ attempts to work through and make meaning from their stressor. The entire SRG process was framed by athletes’ life context, including personal characteristics and sociocultural conditions. Sport psychology practitioners should be aware of the possibility for SRG following sport stressors, promote coping strategies aimed at engaging the athlete with theirs stressor and assist the athletes in developing a strong social support network. Researchers who are interested in conducting future studies on SRG in sport should consider employing prospective quantitative and qualitative designs, and exploring the interaction of multiple simultaneous life events on growth rather than a single stressor.
We demonstrate that, under a theorem proposed by Q.H. Vuong [Econometrica 57, No. 2, 307-333 (1989; Zbl 0701.62106)], the likelihood ratio statistic based on the Kullback-Leibler information criterion or the null hypothesis that a random sample is drawn from a k 0 -component normal mixture distribution against the alternative hypothesis that the sample is drawn from a k 1 -component normal mixture distribution is asymptotically distributed as a weighted sum of independent chi-squared random variables with one degree of freedom, under general regularity conditions. We report simulation studies of two cases where we are testing a single normal versus a two-component normal mixture and a two-component normal mixture versus a three-component normal mixture. An empirical adjustment to the likelihood ratio statistic is proposed that appears to improve the rate of convergence to the limiting distribution.
This article reports the development and validation of a 10-item international Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) Short Form (I-PANAS-SF) in English. A qualitative study (N = 18) and then an exploratory quantitative study (N = 407), each using informants from a range of cultural backgrounds, were used to identify systematically which 10 of the original 20 PANAS items to retain or remove. A same-sample retest study (N = 163) was used in an initial examination of the new 10-item international PANAS's psychometric properties and to assess its correlation with the full, 20-item, original PANAS. In a series of further validation studies (N = 1,789), the cross-sample stability, internal reliability, temporal stability, cross-cultural factorial invariance, and convergent and criterion-related validities of the I-PANAS-SF were examined and found to be psychometrically acceptable.
The literature on mental toughness is characterized by a general lack of conceptual clarity and consensus as to its definition, as well as a general failure to operationalize the construct in a consistent manner. This study addressed two fundamental issues surrounding mental toughness: how can it be defined? and what are the essential attributes required to be a mentally tough performer? Ten international performers participated in either a focus group or one-toone interviews, from which a definition of mental toughness and the attributes of the ideal mentally tough performer emerged. The resulting definition emphasized both general and specific dimensions, while the 12 attributes covered self-belief, desire/motivation, dealing with pressure and anxiety, focus (performance-related), focus (lifestyle-related), and pain/hardship factors.