Cognitive appraisal of dissertation stress among undergraduate students

The present study examined changes in primary and secondary appraisal, and coping strategies utilized in the final weeks leading to dissertation submission. Sixty volunteer Sports Studies dissertation students (male: n = 29; female: n = 31) completed an adapted Cognitive Appraisal of Health Scale (CAHS: Kessler, 1998), and Brief COPE (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) on 4 occasions over the 6 weeks before dissertation submission. Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant main effect for gender, with no main effect for changes over time and no significant interaction effect. Results demonstrated that males perceived the dissertation to be significantly more threatening and iess challenging than females. With regard to coping, males used more active coping, positive reframing, planning, and acceptance of the stressor, with lower scores for self-blame, venting of emotions, and behavioral disengagement. The results suggest that, for this student population, the dissertation did not become increasingly stressful in the period before submission. Clear relationships were also evidenced between primary appraisal, secondary appraisal, and coping. Future research should seek to identify factors that moderate the influence of situational stressors on coping responses among undergraduate students

Walking on Thin Ice: Exploring Demands and Means of Coping During an Extreme Expedition

The present exploratory study was undertaken with two experienced explorers in order to examine daily events, perceived demands, coping strategies, and mood during a unique 636–675 km ‘‘double solo’’ crossing of Lake Baikal, a frozen lake in Siberia. A 59-year-old female explorer and a 49-year-old male explorer completed a daily survey and written diary during the expedition to collect situational data. Two semi-structured interviews were also completed, one within 24 hours and a second within four months of their return. These interviews sought to identify demands and coping efforts perceived as being most pertinent during their expedition. Guided by the work of Skinner et al. (2003), families of coping were organized around three human concerns (autonomy, relatedness, and competence) and two targets of coping (self or context). Findings illustrate two very different expedition experiences as evidenced by demands faced and coping strategies utilized, which influenced perceptions of workload and emotions experienced. Each explorer brought idiosyncrasies, which, when combined with different expedition experiences, bore influence on coping behaviors (focused on the self or context) and outcomes relative to the concerns of autonomy, relatedness, and competency. In discussing the findings, recommendations are offered for those preparing to undertake expeditions in extreme environments

Beyond the technical: The role of emotion regulation in lacrosse officiating.

Emotions can influence the performance of referees leading to a need to examine emotions experienced, and regulation strategies used by referees. The present study assessed emotions and emotion regulation strategies of 19 referees officiating at an Under-19 Lacrosse World Championship. Using survey methods and focus group interviews, officials responded to five questions: (a) What emotions were experienced? (b) What events elicited emotions? (c) How did lacrosse officials manage their own emotional states prior to, throughout, and following a competitive game? (d) How did officials manage others' emotional states? (e) What were the perceived consequences of these strategies? Results indicate that emotions fluctuated throughout the tournament as referees encountered intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion-eliciting events. These fluctuations are suggested to come from a progressively diminished capacity for emotion regulation. Participants used emotion regulation strategies that could be classified into Gross' (1999) families of emotion regulation strategies, often relying on suppression, emotion contagion, and preventative refereeing. Collectively, the results offer new insights into referee emotion regulation at international events

Using mentors to facilitate the delivery of a longitudinal coping intervention amongst national junior netball players

This study evaluates the utility of mentors in facilitating a longitudinal intervention designed to enhance the coping skills of junior national netball players (mentees). Mentors used information packs to develop five coping competencies amongst mentees including: planning and organization; goal setting; emotional intelligence; problem solving and communication. On completion of the intervention, semi-structured interviews were completed with eight mentees and eight mentors to ascertain their experiences with Mentoring. Results identified factors that helped and hindered mentoring during the five stages of Kram’s (1983) behavioral model of mentoring. These included the interpersonal skills and roles adopted by mentor and mentee and opportunities for mentoring. These findings are discussed with the objective of better understanding the role of mentors in implementing coping interventions. To conclude, practical suggestions are offered in order to increase accessibility to mentors and enhance the mentor experience

Does the Brief Self-Control Scale Assess Relatively Stable Individual Differences in Self-Control Among Endurance Athletes?

Endurance athletes are a population where self-control in the form of following training plans, race plans, and pacing schedules is key to performing successfully. A valid and stable measure of self-control has theoretical and applied value through the ability to identify athletes who might be susceptible to poor self-control. The present study reports the test-retest stability of the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS). 132 endurance athletes (18-65 years) completed the 13-item BSCS on two occasions, separated by two weeks. Stability was measured by calculating the test-retest differences for each questionnaire item, with a stable item showing 90% of respondents’ test-retest differences within a reference value of ±1. Analyses revealed seven items to be stable with the question, Q11 = “I am able to work effectively toward long-term goals”, demonstrating greatest stability (96.3%). In contrast, six items showed relatively poor stability with test-retest difference scores ranging from 83.4-89.4%. Chi-square tests of independence revealed no associations with categorical levels of age, gender, sport, and training habits. In the context of the current findings, we argue that the six unstable items do not represent dispositional self-control behaviours among endurance athletes. Future researchers are encouraged to assess the stability of individual items rather than favoring a summary statistic, particularly when developing trait measures

Toward improved triadic functioning: Exploring the interactions and adaptations of coaches, parents and athletes in professional academy soccer through the adversity of COVID-19

© 2021 The Authors. Published by Frontiers Media. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.609631On March 23rd, 2020, elite soccer academies in the UK closed in compliance with the government enforced lockdown intended to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. This forced parents, players, and coaches to reconsider how they interacted with, and supported, one another. The aims of the present study were (a) to explore the perceptions of players, parents, and coaches (i.e., the athletic triangle) regarding how they interacted and collaborated with one another during the COVID-19 pandemic to support wellbeing and performance, and; (b) to identify opportunities to enhance workings of those within the athletic triangle resulting from adaptions made following enforced lockdown. Using an interpretive description methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five coaches, six players, and six parents from an English elite academy soccer club. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings highlighted (a) the importance of support and the different means of communication used between members of the athletic triangle to facilitate such support; (b) the increased understanding of each member of the athletic triangle, leading to enhanced relationships, and; (c) how members of the athletic triangle adapted practice to facilitate relationship development during the pandemic and beyond. The identification of these considerations has implications for coach and parent education initiatives to allow for optimal functioning of the athletic triangle as elite academy soccer clubs return from lockdown. These include (a) the importance of continued communication between coach, athlete and parent; (b) increasing understanding of each individual within the athletic triangle; and (c) utilising key interpersonal and technological skills learnt during the lockdown to further facilitate engagement within the athletic triangle

Inconsistency of decision-making, the Achilles heel of referees

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Sports Sciences on 12/12/2016, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1265143 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.This study assessed whether decisions made by six qualified referees were consistent when watching the live 2016 televised Champions League Final. Referees were paired off into three separate rooms. Two referees watched the game with no supporters present. Two watched the game surrounded by Real Madrid supporters, and the remaining two watched the game surrounded by Athletic Madrid supporters. Referees were asked to decide whether each decision made by the on-field referee was either correct or incorrect. Results identified two types of refereeing inconsistency. The first type was a systematic tendency of the supporting crowds (both rooms) to influence the adjudicating referees to make fewer incorrect (disagree with the on-field referee) decisions (8 and 5) than referees in the “no supporters” room (19) (χ2 = 11.22 [df = 2], P = 0.004). The second type of inconsistency was the home advantage “bias”, where the surrounding crowd influenced the adjudicating referees to favour their team, by disagreeing with the decision made by the on-field referee (χ2 = 6.0 [df = 2], P = 0.0498). One explanation for these inconsistencies is that referees adopt a coping strategy of “avoidance”, i.e., when faced with difficult decisions, referees simply avoid making unpopular decisions by waving “play on”

Gendered performances and identity construction among UK female soccer players and netballers: a comparative study

This paper examines the gendered performances and identity construction of UK female University soccer players and netballers (n = 31). Focus group interviews explored their sporting experiences with reference to body perceptions, and perceptions of their sporting bodies outside sporting contexts. Three themes resulted from data analysis, these being; (1) UK culture, body performances and femininity, (2) sporting culture, body performances and femininity and (3) transiency of body satisfaction across sport and nonsport contexts. Findings suggest that sport may not always provide an opportunity to challenge and resist dominant discourses. In both netball and soccer, a range of surveillance and management practices were used that served to perpetuate the value of a ‘feminine’ and assumed heterosexual body, and legitimize their sport participation through an emphasis on a hyper-femininity. The influence of sport subcultures on gendered performances and identity construction, along with implications for marketing sports participation to women are discussed

Considerations of control groups: Comparing active-control with no treatment for examining the effects of brief intervention

© 2021 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3390/sports9110156Background: A large-scale online study completed by this research team found that brief psychological interventions were associated with high-intensity pleasant emotions and predicted performance. The present study extends this work using data from participants (n = 3376) who completed all self-report data and engaged in a performance task but who did not engage with an intervention or control condition and therefore present as an opportunistic no-treatment group. Methods: 41,720 participants were selected from the process and outcome focus goals intervention groups, which were the successful interventions (n = 30,096), active-control (n = 3039), and no-treatment (n = 8585). Participants completed a competitive task four times: first as practice, second to establish a baseline, third following an opportunity to complete a brief psychological skills intervention, and lastly following an opportunity to repeat the intervention. Repeated measures MANOVA indicated that over four performance rounds, the intensity of positive emotions increased, performance improved, and the amount of effort participants exerted increased; however, these increases were significantly smaller in the no-treatment group. Conclusions: Findings suggest that not engaging in active training conditions had negative effects. We suggest that these findings have implications for the development and deployment of online interventions.Published versio