The relationship between prenatal testosterone (2D:4D), Big 5 Personality traits and GRIT in different cultural contexts

Digit ratio (2D:4D; a putative correlate of prenatal testosterone) has been shown to be predictive of important personality factors such as mental toughness, optimism and academic achievement. However, to date no study has attempted to investigate prenatal testosterone levels as a predictor of GRIT (persistency and constancy) and the Big 5 personality traits Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Research has also alluded to the potential gender and cultural differences in biological underpinnings of psychological functioning. This study included a sample of Dubai and UK undergraduate students and examined associations between prenatal testosterone (2D:4D), GRIT and Big 5 personality traits (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism). UK and Dubai participants followed the same testing procedure and completed a self-report measure for GRIT and Big 5 personality traits, followed by providing a right-hand scan, which was later used to measure 2D:4D using Vernier Callipers. Results showed that in Dubai participants, the measured psychological variables explained a greater amount of variance in 2D:4D than in UK participants. Openness to experience was a strong significant predictor of 2D:4D in Dubai participants whereas, GRIT, conscientiousness and openness to experience were all significant predictors of 2D:4D for UK participants

Online abuse in sport: why athletes are targeted and how they can end up winning

First paragraph: For some sports stars, a certain level of adulation is just part of the job. But many are also now subjected to abuse and malicious campaigns on social media. It recently emerged that Liverpool FC have hired a therapist to help players deal with the effects of online trolling

Online abuse in sport: why athletes are targeted and how they can end up winning

First paragraph: For some sports stars, a certain level of adulation is just part of the job. But many are also now subjected to abuse and malicious campaigns on social media. It recently emerged that Liverpool FC have hired a therapist to help players deal with the effects of online trolling.https://theconversation.com/online-abuse-in-sport-why-athletes-are-targeted-and-how-they-can-end-up-winning-17456

Applying Cognitive Analytic Theory to understand the abuse of athletes on Twitter

Athletes and governing bodies have raised ethical concerns related to the negative psychological effects of Twitter for professional athletes. There remained a need to systematically understand the processes involved in negative fan athlete social media interactions by categorising social media data using psychological theory. This study aimed to examine the attributional (specific or global negative comments) and contextual (sport specific and general life context or ‘no context’) factors of Twitter content that were Tweeted by fans about high profile sports people. In order to retrieve preliminary social media data to explore this phenomenon, Tweet data was collected data using Twitter’s Search API related to the top 10 highest paid athletes (a crude initial ranking of ‘high profile’) as ranked by Forbes 2020 and the data was retrieved on April 26, 2020. The search and retrieval strategy used a combination of sentiment analysis and qualitative filtering in order to isolate negative tweets directed at sports athletes. Preliminary findings highlighted that negative tweets directed at sports athletes can be accurately classified into three broad themes: i) global negative projections (no context) ii) global negative projections (sport performance context), and iii) specific negative projections (personal context). The socio ecological theory was used as a holistic model to understand the broader processes involved in fan athlete social media interaction when considering these types of negative engagement between fans and athletes. Twitter can be used as a means for the public to direct negative projections towards athletes and our study puts forward a number of applied and research recommendations for researchers and sport management staff to educate and protect athletes from the negative consequences of ‘twitter abuse’

Validating the Essen Climate Evaluation Schema modified for people with learning disabilities in a low‐risk secure forensic setting

Background: Research has shown that an empowering and nurturing yet challenging work climate is beneficial for people receiving clinical services as it increases patient satisfaction, motivation, engagement, therapeutic alliance and functional improvement. Therefore, for inpatients, monitoring, encouraging and understanding ward climate holds considerable potential for improving forensic mental health services. To date, the most widely employed tool for ward-climate, the EssenCES, has been evidenced as useful in medium and high security hospitals, but little tested with people with learning disabilities or in low security services. Aims: To establish the internal consistency and factor validity of the EssenCES, modified for easier reading, in a low secure hospital unit for people with learning disabilities. Method: Language in the EssenCES was simplified and picture supplements added to facilitate comprehension. Patients completed the scale as part of their clinical routine, supported by NHS employed psychology assistants. The research team, entirely independent of NHS staff, extracted data form the electronic records of purposively sampled residents in a low-secure forensic hospital setting for people with learning disabilities. Findings: 276 records (70% men) were acquired. The EssenCES was shown to have good factor validity and retained the original three factor model including the subscales: therapeutic hold, safety and cohesion. One single-item from the ‘therapeutic hold’ subscale was removed to improve the internal consistency (p<0.05). Conclusions: This study adds preliminary support for the use of the EssenCES (with removal of one item) in individuals with learning disabilities within low-risk secure forensic hospital settings

Relationships Between Flow, Mental Toughness, and Subjective Performance Perception in Various Triathletes

The current study examined the relationship between mental toughness, subjective performance and dispositional flow in high performing triathletes. A sample of 114 Iron men and triathletes (Mage=28.81 years, SD=3.45), taken from triathlon clubs, completed self-report questionnaires measuring mental toughness, subjective performance and dispositional flow. Pearson’s correlations revealed a significant and positive relationship between global mental toughness and subjective performance rating (r=0.62, p <0.01) and between global mental toughness and all dispositional flow subscales (r= 0.67 – 0.81, p<0.05). Linear regression analyses found mental toughness subscales accounted for 64% of the variance in dispositional flow. Subjective performance rating did not add significantly to the model. Overall, the findings suggest that mental toughness may allow iron man competitors and triathletes to exert the cognitive and emotional control necessary to experience flow and therefore perform better. The findings are discussed in the context of competitive ironman and triathlon

Strategies for measuring mental toughness in Higher Education:Measurement of Impact

There is an increasing awareness that higher education institutions face significant challenges in managing and supporting students as they transition into university life. If Higher Education institutions struggle to achieve this important aim, this can lead to an increase in student drop-out. This can of course present significant financial implications and challenges and worse still, result in mental health challenges in students. The concept of Mental Toughness has been shown in a substantial number of investigations, to develop our understanding of why some people might be more vulnerable to these pressures than others. Importantly, it provides both a means of identifying those people and insights about ways they can be best supported. This chapter proposes a well-researched Mental Toughness framework to facilitate and support universities with these challenges and highlights three key strategies for managing this successfully