Perfectionism and burnout in canoe polo and kayak slalom athletes: The mediating influence of validation and growth-seeking

Recent research suggests that validation-seeking and dimensions of perfectionism may be antecedents of athlete burnout. The present investigation examined whether validation and growth-seeking mediate the relationship between selforiented and socially prescribed perfectionism and burnout. One-hundred and fifty canoe polo and kayak slalom athletes recruited from the top two divisions in the UK completed measures of validation and growth-seeking (GOI), perfectionism (HMPS), and athlete burnout (ABQ). Analyses supported the mediating role of validation-seeking in the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and burnout. However, while bivariate correlations indicated that self-oriented perfectionism was positively related to both validation and growth-seeking, neither mediated the self-oriented perfectionism-burnout relationship. The findings suggest that validation-seeking may be an important psychological factor in the development of burnout for athletes exhibiting high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism. The relationship between self-oriented perfectionism and athlete burnout remains unclear because of its association with multiple motives and with socially prescribed perfectionism

A Three-Wave Longitudinal Test of Self-Determination Theory's Mediation Model of Engagement and Disaffection in Youth Sport.

Research adopting self-determination theory (SDT) supports a mediation model whereby coach motivational styles (autonomy support and interpersonal control) predict athletes' engagement and disaffection in youth sport via the satisfaction and frustration of psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness). Our study extends this research by examining SDT's mediation model longitudinally with three waves of data. Two hundred fifty-two youth sports participants (Mage = 12.98; SD = 1.84; range = 11-17; female n = 67) completed measures of study variables at the start, middle, and end of a competitive soccer season. Cross-lagged path analyses revealed that associations between the two coach motivational styles and athletes' engagement were mediated by psychological need satisfaction. Furthermore, a positive reciprocal association between psychological need satisfaction and engagement emerged over time. This study therefore supports the temporal assumptions underpinning SDT's mediation model but, importantly, evidences a mutually reinforcing interplay between athletes' psychological needs and their engaged behavior

Perfectionism, burnout, and engagement in dance: The moderating role of autonomy support

Previous findings highlight the relationships between 2 × 2 perfectionism and burnout in dancers, but researchers are yet to examine the relationships between 2 × 2 perfectionism and, the opposing outcome of, engagement in dance. Similarly, we know little about the factors that may moderate these relationships. We therefore sought to extend previous research by examining the relationships between 2 × 2 perfectionism and both burnout and engagement in dancers, and by assessing whether autonomy support moderated the relationships between subtypes of perfectionism and the two opposing outcomes. Adolescent dancers (N = 244, female n = 198, M age = 15.00 years, SD = 2.90 years) completed measures capturing four subtypes of perfectionism (pure personal standards perfectionism, pure evaluative concerns perfectionism, mixed perfectionism, and non-perfectionism), burnout dimensions (reduced sense of accomplishment, emotional/physical exhaustion, devaluation), engagement dimensions (confidence, dedication, vigour, enthusiasm), and autonomy support provided by their dance teacher. Moderated regression analyses supported all four hypotheses of the 2 × 2 perfectionism model for burnout (all dimensions) and dedication, vigour, and enthusiasm, and supported three hypotheses for confidence (Hypotheses 1a, 2 and 3). In addition, autonomy support moderated the relationships between subtypes of perfectionism and burnout (reduced accomplishment and devaluation) and engagement (all dimensions). The findings suggest that providing autonomy support offers a potential strategy to prevent burnout and promote engagement in perfectionistic dancers

Deep water flow speed and surface ocean changes in the subtropical North Atlantic during the last deglaciation

Climate fluctuations during the last deglaciation have been linked to changes in the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) through its modulation of northward marine heat transport. Consequently, much research into the causes of rapid climate change has focused on the northern North Atlantic as a key component of global ocean circulation. The production of cold, deep waters in the Southern Ocean is an important factor in the Earth's heat budget, but the involvement of deep Southern Sourced Water (SSW) in deglacial climate change has yet to be fully established. Here we use terrigenous silt grain size data from two ocean sediment cores retrieved from the western subtropical North Atlantic to reconstruct past changes in the speed of deepwater flow. The first core site is located under the influence of Lower North Atlantic Deep Water (LNADW), and is representative of changes in the MOC. The second core site is close to the modern boundary between LNADW/SSW and is therefore ideally positioned to detect changes in SSW delivery to the North Atlantic. We find evidence for a broad-scale difference in flow speed changes at the two sites, with the presence of a vigorous, but poorly ventilated SSW mass at ~ 4200 m water depth during the cold episodes of the last deglaciation when shallower (2975 m water depth) grain size and geochemical data suggest that Northern Sourced Water (NSW) was suppressed

Effect of formant frequency spacing on perceived gender in pre-pubertal children's voices

<div><p>Background</p><p>It is usually possible to identify the sex of a pre-pubertal child from their voice, despite the absence of sex differences in fundamental frequency at these ages. While it has been suggested that the overall spacing between formants (formant frequency spacing - ΔF) is a key component of the expression and perception of sex in children's voices, the effect of its continuous variation on sex and gender attribution has not yet been investigated.</p><p>Methodology/Principal findings</p><p>In the present study we manipulated voice ΔF of eight year olds (two boys and two girls) along continua covering the observed variation of this parameter in pre-pubertal voices, and assessed the effect of this variation on adult ratings of speakers' sex and gender in two separate experiments. In the first experiment (sex identification) adults were asked to categorise the voice as either male or female. The resulting identification function exhibited a gradual slope from male to female voice categories. In the second experiment (gender rating), adults rated the voices on a continuum from “masculine boy” to “feminine girl”, gradually decreasing their masculinity ratings as ΔF increased.</p><p>Conclusions/Significance</p><p>These results indicate that the role of ΔF in voice gender perception, which has been reported in adult voices, extends to pre-pubertal children's voices: variation in ΔF not only affects the perceived sex, but also the perceived masculinity or femininity of the speaker. We discuss the implications of these observations for the expression and perception of gender in children's voices given the absence of anatomical dimorphism in overall vocal tract length before puberty.</p></div

Passion and burnout in elite junior soccer players: The mediating role of self-determined motivation

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between forms of passion (harmonious and obsessive; Vallerand et al., 2003) and athlete burnout, and whether these relationships are mediated by self-determined motivation. The proposed model posited that because harmonious passion originates from an authentic self, it will be positively associated with self-determined regulation. Conversely, because obsessive passion originates from ego-invested structures within the self, it will be negatively associated with self-determined regulation. In turn, consistent with research examining the relationship between motivation regulation and athlete burnout, self-determined regulation was expected to be negatively associated with athlete burnout. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Method: This model was tested in 149 (M age¼ 16.2, s ¼ 2.0, range¼ 12e21) male junior athletes who attended soccer academies in the UK. Participants completed the Passion Scale (Vallerand et al., 2003), the Sport Motivation Scale (Pelletier et al., 1995), and the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (Raedeke & Smith, 2001). Results: Harmonious passion was negatively related to a latent athlete burnout factor, whereas obsessive passion was unrelated to a latent athlete burnout factor. The relationship between harmonious passion and burnout was fully mediated by self-determined regulation. Conclusions: The results suggest that harmonious passion may offer some protection from burnout for athletes due to higher levels of self-determined motivatio

Using discrete choice experiments to investigate subject preferences for preventive asthma medication

Background and objective: Long-term adherence to inhaled corticosteroids is poor despite the crucial role of preventer medications in achieving good asthma outcomes. This study was undertaken to explore patient preferences in relation to their current inhaled corticosteroid medication, a hypothetical preventer or no medication. Methods: A discrete choice experiment was conducted in 57 adults with mild-moderate asthma and airway hyper-responsiveness, who were using inhaled corticosteroid ≤500 μg/day (beclomethasone equivalent). In the discrete choice experiment, subjects evaluated 16 hypothetical scenarios made up of 10 attributes that described the process and outcomes of taking asthma medication, with two to four levels for each attribute. For each scenario, subjects chose between the hypothetical medication, the medication they were currently taking and no asthma medication. A random parameter multinomial logit model was estimated to quantify subject preferences for the aspects of taking asthma medication and the influence of attributes on medication decisions. Results: Subjects consistently made choices in favour of being able to do strenuous and sporting activities with or without reliever, experiencing no side-effects and never having to monitor their peak flow. Frequency of collecting prescriptions, frequency of taking the medication, its route of administration and the strength of the doctor recommendation about the medication were not significant determinants of choice. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that patients prefer a preventer that confers capacity to maximize physical activity, has no side-effects and does not require daily peak flow monitoring. © 2007 The Authors

Loss of PINK1 Increases the Heart's Vulnerability to Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury.

Mutations in PTEN inducible kinase-1 (PINK1) induce mitochondrial dysfunction in dopaminergic neurons resulting in an inherited form of Parkinson's disease. Although PINK1 is present in the heart its exact role there is unclear. We hypothesized that PINK1 protects the heart against acute ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) by preventing mitochondrial dysfunction

Helicity within the vortex filament model

Kinetic helicity is one of the invariants of the Euler equations that is associated with the topology of vortex lines within the fluid. In superfluids, the vorticity is concentrated along vortex filaments. In this setting, helicity would be expected to acquire its simplest form. However, the lack of a core structure for vortex filaments appears to result in a helicity that does not retain its key attribute as a quadratic invariant. By defining a spanwise vector to the vortex through the use of a Seifert framing, we are able to introduce twist and henceforth recover the key properties of helicity. We present several examples for calculating internal twist to illustrate why the centreline helicity alone will lead to ambiguous results if a twist contribution is not introduced. Our choice of the spanwise vector can be expressed in terms of the tangential component of velocity along the filament. Since the tangential velocity does not alter the configuration of the vortex at later times, we are able to recover a similar equation for the internal twist angle to that of classical vortex tubes. Our results allow us to explain how a quasi-classical limit of helicity emerges from helicity considerations for individual superfluid vortex filaments