Performance assessment in sport: Formulation, justification, and confirmatory factor analysis of a measurement instrument for tennis performance

publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticleCopyright © 2000 Taylor & Francis. This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Journal of Applied Sport Psychology available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10413200008404223#.VNnjyp1FDcsThe present study reports the refinement and confirmatory factor analysis of a performance assessment instrument designed for tennis, first reported in Pees, Ingledew, and Hardy (1999). Background and justification for this study are reported, together with a detailed description of the sequential model-testing approach (Joreskog, 1993) adopted. The factor structure of the instrument was tested using a sample of 155 full-time tennis players. Analyses revealed good fit for the proposed model to the new data sample, and provided confirmation for the seven performance factors: Execution of (Flexible) Plan, Loss of Composure, Feeling Flat, Determination, Worry, Flow, and Effective Tactics. Performance factors discriminated between winners and losers. Performers should look at the various factors comprising overall performance; in a sense, the processes by which they come to achieve their successes

Social support dimensions and components of performance in tennis.

types: Comparative Study; Journal ArticleCopyright © 1999 Taylor & Francis. This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Journal of Sports Sciences, 1999 Vol. 17, Issue 5, pp. 421 – 429 available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/026404199365948The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between dimensions of social support and components of performance in tennis. A post-match performance measure was completed by 144 British tournament tennis players. Principal components analysis yielded eight components, labelled Execution of (Flexible) Plan, Loss of Composure, Feeling Flat, Positive Tension, Worry, Flow, Effective Tactics and Double Faults. Before the match, 46 players had also completed the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List. Stepwise regression analyses revealed significant effects of the Belonging and Appraisal dimensions of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List on five of the performance components. The correlations between total support and four of these performance components were also significant. Logistic regression analyses revealed no significant effects of the dimensions of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List or Total Support upon winning versus losing. Effects of social support upon performance were therefore only apparent when attention was focused on the components of performance

Examination of the validity of the Social Support Survey using confirmatory factor analysis.

types: Journal Article; Validation StudiesCopyright © 2000 Taylor & Francis. This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02701367.2000.10608915?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dpubmed#.VN3Q1p1FDcsThe Social Support Survey (SSS), validated by Richman, Rosenfeld, and Hardy (1993), is a multidimensional self-report measure of social support tested with student athletes. The SSS contains eight dimensions of support. For each dimension of support the same four questions are posed. The SSS could, therefore, be scored in two ways: (a) to derive a score for the support dimensions; (b) to derive a score for the questions posed across all eight support dimensions. Confirmatory factor analyses of the SSS on 416 university athletes revealed poor fits to models for both the eight support dimensions and the four questions across all eight dimensions. This problem was clarified by using a multitrait-multimethod model, which led to improved model fit but revealed that most of the SSS items were two-dimensional. Caution should, therefore, be exercised in using the SSS as a measure of multidimensional social support

The impact of genetic counselling about breast cancer risk on women's risk perceptions and levels of distress

Women referred to a familial breast cancer clinic completed questionnaires before and after counselling and at annual follow-up to assess their risk estimate and psychological characteristics. The aims were to determine whether those who attended the clinic overestimated their risk or were highly anxious and whether counselling influenced risk estimates and levels of distress. Women (n = 450) at this clinic were more likely to underestimate (39%) than overestimate (14%) their risk. Mean trait anxiety scores were higher than general population data (t = 4.9, n = 1059, P < 0.001) but not significantly different from published data from other screening samples. Overestimators (z = 5.69, P < 0.0001) and underestimators (z = –8.01, P < 0.0001) reported significantly different risk estimates (i.e. increased accuracy) after counselling, but significant inaccuracies persisted. Over- (n = 12) and underestimators (n = 60) were still inaccurate in their risk estimates by a factor of 2 after counselling. Thirty per cent of the sample scored above the cut-off (5/6) for case identification on a screening measure for psychological distress, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). GHQ scores were significantly lower after counselling (t = 3.6, d.f. = 384, P = 0.0004) with no evidence of increasing risk estimate causing increased distress. The risk of distress after counselling was greater for younger women and those who were more distressed at first presentation. The counselling offered was effective in increasing the accuracy of risk perceptions without causing distress to those who initially underestimated their risk. It is worrying that inaccuracies persisted, particularly as the demand for service has since reduced the consultation time offered in this clinic. Further work is needed to evaluate alternative models of service delivery using more sophisticated methods of assessing understanding of risk. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Who Looks Forward to Better Health? Personality Factors and Future Self-Rated Health in the Context of Chronic Illness

Background: Self-rated health (SRH) is an important predictor of objective health-related outcomes that, according to the Cognitive Process Model of SRH, is influenced by contextual factors (symptoms and personality). Although research indicates that personality contours SRH, less attention has been given to understanding the contributions of personality to future self-rated health (FSRH) or the contextual factors that play a role in shaping these effects. Purpose: The aim of the present study was to extend the theory and research on FSRH by exploring the contributions of personality, current SRH, and fatigue to FSRH in the context of chronic illness, and to test the potential mediating role of optimism for explaining these effects. Method: Two chronic illness samples (arthritis, N = 365, and inflammatory bowel disease, IBD; N = 290) completed identical surveys. A hierarchical regression model with age, education, and current health, and fatigue entered in the first two steps and traits entered in the last step, tested the effects of personality on FSRH. Mediation analyses controlling for contextual variables tested the explanatory role of optimism. Results: Fatigue was a significant contributor to FSRH accounting for 11 % of the variance in the arthritis sample and 17 % in the IBD sample over the demographic variables. Both Agreeableness and Neuroticism accounted for additional significant but modest variance in FSRH (4 %); Agreeableness was associated with higher FSRH, whereas Neuroticism was associated with lower FSRH. For both traits, optimism fully explained the associations with FSRH. Conclusion: After accounting for the influence of fatigue and other variables, the contributions of high Agreeableness and low Neuroticism to FSRH are modest in the context of chronic illness, and these associations may be explained by optimism

Attribution in sport psychology: further comments on Faulkner and Finlay (2005)

publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticleCopyright © 2005 Elsevier B.V. NOTICE: This is the author’s version of a work accepted for publication by Elsevier. Changes resulting from the publishing process, including peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting and other quality control mechanisms, may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2005, Vol. 6, Issue 2, pp. 213 – 214 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2004.09.004Commentar