Antonio Alias’s research while affiliated with University of Almería and other places

Introduction Researchers display an interest in studying aspects like the mental health of high-performance athletes; the dark side of sport, or the earliest attempts to study the so-called dark triad of personality in both initiation and high-performance athletes. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to determine the possible existence and magnitude of negative psychological aspects within a population of competition sailors and from a probabilistic point of view, using Bayesian Network analysis. Methods The study was carried out on 235 semi-professional sailors of the 49er Class, aged between 16 and 52 years (M = 24.66; SD = 8.03). Results The results show the existence of a Negative Tetrad—formed by achievement burnout, anxiety due to concentration disruption, amotivation and importance given to error—as a probabilistic product of the psychological variables studied: motivation, anxiety, burnout and fear of error. Conclusion These results, supported by Bayesian networks, show holistically the influence of the social context on the psychological and emotional well-being of the athlete during competition at sea.

Educational gamification consists of the use of game elements and game design techniques in the educational context. The objective of this study is to examine the existing evidence on the impact of educational gamification on student motivation and academic performance in the last five years in order to analyze its distribution over time, educational level, variables, and most used game elements, and know the advantages of its implementation in the classroom. For this, a systematic review is proposed through the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology in three multidisciplinary databases, through an exhaustive search with inclusion and exclusion criteria on quantitative experimental studies that explore gamification in educational centers, which provide information about the most current lines of research. Fourteen studies were included in this review. These used experimental or quasi-experimental designs. Most of them report gamification as a valid learning strategy. The results support the conclusion that educational gamification has a potential impact on the academic performance, commitment, and motivation of students. Therefore, this study implies the need to expand research on the needs and challenges of students when learning with gamified techniques.

Playful learning strategies, such as educational gamification, game-based learning, and escape rooms are increasingly being incorporated into the university education system. In this study, it aims to develop and validate an instrument to analyze motivation regarding the use of playful learning strategies in university students. A total of 450 university students aged between 18 and 55 (Mean = 22.72; Standard Deviation = 5.01) were part of the sample, with whom playful strategies were implemented during the 2019/2020 school year. The results obtained in the confirmatory factor analysis indicate that the questionnaire on motivation for playful learning strategies has adequate psychometric properties to assess the motivation and perception of student learning in the implementation of ludic strategies in the classroom in the Spanish university context.

The video game has been one of the phenomena with the greatest impact on the entire social fabric, and especially among young people. Therefore, it is essential to understand the interaction between the players and the video game itself. However, few instruments have been designed to assess the types of players in the adolescent population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to validate the Gamification User Types Hexad Scale for the Spanish adolescent population. The sample of participants consisted of 1345 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18. To evaluate the psychometric properties of the scale, a confirmatory factor analysis and a multi-group analysis of invariance by sex were performed. The results provide evidence of a valid and reliable six-factor instrument to measure the types of players in the Spanish adolescent population, regardless of their sex.

The aim of this study was to validate and adapt the academic-resilience scale in the Spanish context. The study involved 2967 university students aged 18–33 (Mean, M = 23.65; Standard Deviation, SD = 2.57) from several universities in Andalusia (Spain). Exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses revealed adequate adjustment rates for the new version of the scale showing the factorial structure invariant with respect to that generated. Three factors that integrate the scale obtained high correlation, internal consistency, and temporal stability. The Spanish version of the academic-resilience scale was shown to have adequate psychometric properties to measure academic resilience in the Spanish university context.

Physical Education classes are a key context for the development of creativity due to interactions with peers and the resolution of complex motor skills. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the influence of the teacher’s social behaviors on the mindwandering, emotional state, and academic performance of Physical Education students. The study involved 606 high school students and 36 physical education teachers. A structural equation model was used to analyze the relationship between the variables of the study. The results showed how the teacher’s prosocial and antisocial behaviors had a negative influence on mindwandering. In turn, mindwandering negatively predicted creative intelligence. Likewise, creative intelligence positively predicted a positive emotional state and academic performance and negatively predicted a negative emotional state. Finally, a positive emotional state positively predicted academic performance, while a negative emotional state predicted it negatively. Therefore, the results achieved in the study showed how mindwandering should be promoted in the educational field as a means of encouraging creativity and therefore increasing the well-being of students, which is conducive to academic performance.

In sport sailing, performance is related to the sailor’s ability to maintain the stability of the boat, and the boat class determines the variables involved in such ability. In monohull-type vessels, such as the Optimist and Laser classes, the flexibility of the hip joint is a key performance factor. In the Windsurfing class, performance is determined by the strength of the flexors of the fingers and elbows. The performance of the sailor may be affected by asymmetries in the strength and flexibility of the muscles and joints involved in technical actions. The objective of this study was to evaluate asymmetries in strength and flexibility in young sailors. Thirty-three young sailors (ten girls) from the Windsurfing, Optimist and Laser classes were assessed for manual strength and flexibility, by dynamometry and straight leg lift tests, respectively. The symmetry index and the functional asymmetry of compression force were calculated. The results showed no differences between sailors according to gender. The sailors of the Laser class obtained the highest levels of manual strength, whereas those of the Windsurfing class showed the highest flexibility levels. The girls’ group and Windsurfing class had the highest percentage of sailors with strength asymmetry, whereas, the sailors of the Optimist class presented a greater percentage of asymmetry in flexibility. There were no differences in upper limb strength and lower limb flexibility between the dominant and non-dominant sides.

Physical education (PE), by its own characteristics, is a subject where social communication is especially promoted. However, it is necessary to have tools that evaluate the social behaviour of students during PE classes. For this reason, we propose to validate and adapt the Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Sport Scale to the Spanish context of PE classes. The study involved 1081 students aged 12 to 18 (M = 14.83; SD = 1.27). The psychometric properties of the Prosocial Behavior Scale were analyzed through several statistical analyses. The results of the confirmatory factorial analysis and the exploratory factorial analysis supported the internal structure of the questionnaire. In addition, the scale was invariant to gender. Cronbach’s alpha values were higher than 0.70 in the factors and sub-factors, finally showing adequate levels of temporal stability. Taking into account the results achieved in the present study, PE teachers have an effective tool to assess the social and antisocial behaviour of their students’ students during PE classes.

Despite the relationship between performance and anthropometric characteristics, strength, and endurance in the action of dinghy hiking, there is no equation to predict the position obtained in competition. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of anthropometric characteristics, strength, and endurance on the performance of the sailor. Twenty-nine male sailors of the Laser class were evaluated according to age, navigation experience, strength and resistance tests in a simulator, body weight, size, sitting height, Body Mass Index (BMI), body fat percentage, trochanteric length, thigh length, tibial length, foot length, abdominal perimeter, and upper thigh perimeter. The results show that the variables were related to performance are age, navigation experience, height, and length of the thigh. The variables that are most related to performance are age and sailing experience. Seventy-six percent of the performance can be estimated using the following equation: 311.971 + (−1.089 × height) + (−1946 × age) + (−1.537 × thigh length). Performance in the Laser class will be determined by the tactics (age and sailing experience) and the morphological characteristics of the sailor (height and sitting height).