Relationships Among Values, Achievement Orientations, and Attitudes in Youth Sport

This research examines the value-expressive function of attitudes and achievement goal theory in predicting moral attitudes. In Study 1, the Youth Sport Values Questionnaire (YSVQ; Lee, Whitehead, & Balchin, 2000) was modified to measure moral,competence, and status values. In Study 2, structural equation modeling on data from 549 competitors (317 males, 232 females) aged 12–15 years showed that moral and competence values predicted prosocial attitudes, whereas moral (negatively) and status values (positively)predicted antisocial attitudes. Competence and status values predicted task and ego orientation, respectively, and task and ego orientation partially mediated the effect of competence values on prosocial attitudes and of status values on antisocial attitudes, respectively. The role of sport values is discussed, and new research directions are proposed

Applied Research Automatic Self-Talk Questionnaire for Sports (ASTQS): Development and Preliminary Validation of a Measure Identifying the Structure of Athletes’ Self-Talk

The aim of the present investigation was to develop an instrument assessing the con­tent and the structure of athletes’ self-talk. The study was conducted in three stages. In the first stage, a large pool of items was generated and content analysis was used to organize the items into categories. Furthermore, item-content relevance analysis was conducted to help identifying the most appropriate items. In Stage 2, the factor struc­ture of the instrument was examined by a series of exploratory factor analyses (Sample A: N = 507), whereas in Stage 3 the results of the exploratory factor analysis were retested through confirmatory factor analyses (Sample B: N = 766) and at the same time concurrent validity were assessed. The analyses revealed eight factors, four pos­itive (psych up, confidence, anxiety control and instruction), three negative (worry, disengagement and somatic fatigue) and one neutral (irrelevant thoughts). The find­ings of the study provide evidence regarding the multidimensionality of self-talk, suggesting that ASTQS seems a psychometrically sound instrument that could help us developing cognitive-behavioral theories and interventions to examine and modify athletes’ self-talk

Preliminary Exploration of Bystander Intention to Stand Up for a Female-Peer Targeted in Sexual Harassment in Greek Academia

University students’ intentions to stand up for a female-peer victimized in a sexual harassment incident by peer and/or professor as perpetrator were explored using the planned behavior theory. The participants were 296 Greek male and female undergraduate students. Using a standard planned behavior theory questionnaire, hypothetical scenarios of sexual harassment conveyed through (a) unwanted verbal comments of sexual content, (b) unwanted physical contact, and (c) gender based taunting, were presented to participants. In all scenarios, bystander intention to stand up was predicted. Specifically, we found that it is more likely for a student-bystander to intervene when perceiving a strong social pressure as significant others would also stand up for a victim; his/her self-control beliefs are strong over the behavior to stand up; and when his/her attitude is negative and unfavorable toward the witnessed conduct. In both peer- and professors-as-perpetrator scenarios, female students, more than males, held significantly more negative attitudes towards sexual harassment and stronger intentions to intervene. Considering female students’ well-being, findings are related to the characteristics of the Greek society and the lack of protective laws and policies against sexual harassment in Greek academia

From the lab to the field: effects of self-talk on task performance under distracting conditions

This study explored the effectiveness of self-talk strategies on task performance under conditions of external distraction in laboratory and field experiments. In the laboratory experiment, 28 sport science students (mean age 21.48 ± 1.58 years) were tested on a computer game requiring attention and fine execution following a baseline assessment and a short self-talk training. In in the field experiment, 28 female basketball players (mean age 20.96 ± 4.51years) were tested on free-throwing, following a baseline assessment and a six-week intervention. In both settings the final assessment took place under conditions of external distraction (non-continuous, sudden, loud noise). Analyses of covariance showed that participants of the self-talk group performed better than participants of the control group. Findings suggest that self-talk can counter the effects of distraction on performance, and indicate that the attentional effects of self-talk is a viable mechanism to explain the facilitating effects of self-talk on performance

Self-talk and emotions in tennis players during competitive matches

A theory-driven classification recently introduced to sport psychology distinguishes between goal-directed self-talk as a controlled type of self-talk, and spontaneous self-talk as an uncontrolled type of selftalk. Based on this classification, the aim of this study was to explore the relationship between self-talk and emotions. To this end, twenty competitive tennis matches were video-recorded. Shortly after the match, the players were confronted with situations from the match and asked to rate the intensity of their emotions experienced, the intensity of their outward emotional reactions, and to report on their self-talk. Multilevel fixed and random effect models showed that the intensity of emotions experienced and outward emotional reactions were lower in instances where players reported solely goal-directed self-talk than in instances where players reported solely spontaneous self-talk. Moreover, in the fixed model, the intensity of emotions experienced was also lower in instances where players reported goal-directed self-talk in conjunction with spontaneous self-talk, compared to instances where players reported solely spontaneous self-talk. Finally, exploratory analyses suggest that these effects are mostly true for negative emotions rather than positive ones. Overall, the findings support the relevance of dualprocess self-talk approaches. These findings encourage players to gain awareness about their emotions through spontaneous self-talk, while they can use goal-directed self-talk for emotion regulation. Lay summary: During a match, most tennis players talk a lot to themselves. This study shows that their self-talk is related to (a) the emotions they experience and (b) the emotions they show to the outside. Specifically, a goal-oriented type of self-talk is related to less intense emotions. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE Players can gain awareness about their emotional states through spontaneous self-talk. Players can use goal-directed self-talk to proactively and reactively regulate emotions. Video-assisted recall can be helpful to assess and learn to deal with challenging psychological states during sport competitions

Antecedents and Consequences of Outward Emotional Reactions in Table Tennis

Fritsch J, Finne E, Jekauc D, Zerdila D, Elbe A-M, Hatzigeorgiadis A. Antecedents and Consequences of Outward Emotional Reactions in Table Tennis . Frontiers in Psychology. 2020;11: 578159.The purpose of the present study was to shed light on the behavioral component of emotions by investigating antecedents and consequences of outward emotional reactions during table tennis competitions. With regards to the antecedents of outward emotional reactions, in line with appraisal theories, we considered the importance and the controllability of the situation as two important constructs. Fifteen table tennis matches, involving in total 21 players (7 females) with a mean age of 16.71 (SD = 0.70), were video recorded during the finals of the youth National Championship in Greece. Based on the footage, outward emotional reactions after every point were classified as neutral, positive, or negative. Situational factors in relation to the scoring system, bearing the importance and the controllability of the situation, were formed to assess antecedents of outward emotional reactions. To measure the consequences of outward emotional reactions, the impact on the outcome of the next point was assessed. Generalized linear models with a logit link were computed separately for positive outward emotional reactions after having won a point and negative outward emotional reactions after having lost a point. In general, the results show that while situational factors bearing the importance of the situation could predict positive and negative outward emotional reactions, the effects of situational factors bearing the controllability of the situation were less conclusive. In addition, the results also showed interactive effects between the two constructs for both positive and negative outward emotional reactions. With regard to the consequences of outward emotional reactions, negative and positive outward emotional reactions could not predict the outcome of the next point. To conclude, this study highlights the behavioral component of emotions as a viable alternative to enhance our understanding of the role of emotions in sport