The effects of mood status and competitive anxiety in elite basketball players

Interest has developed in studying the relationship between pre-competitive mood and anxiety with athletic performance (eg. Beedie, Terry & Lane, 2000; Morgan, Ellickson, O'Connor & Bradley, 1992). The most commonly used instrument for measuring mood states in sport psychology is the Profile of Mood States (POMS). A weak to moderate relationship exists between pre-competitive mood and the performance of similarly skilled athletes (Cox, 2002). The current study examined the relationship between pre-game mood status (POMS), competitive-anxiety (SCAT), task-ego orientation (TEOSQ) and game statistics during the season of an elite basketball competition

Attentional and explanatory style characteristics of injured professional rugby league players: a prospective study

Injury has both physical and psychological sequelae for athletes. In addition to this, psychological variables influence the nature and duration of the injury experience. Psychological research into the injury experiences of professional rugby league players is limited and fragmented. The aim of the research was to determine which psychological variables may be related to the subsequent injury experiences of professional rugby league players. During a two year prospective study, professional level rugby league players (N=53) completed psychometric scales and had their injury experiences recorded. The psychometric scales utilised consisted of the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) and the Extended Attributional Style Questionnaire (EASQ). The injury variables included the number of injuries, injury severity, and time taken to resume playing. A comparison of playing position indicated that forwards spent less time on the field due to being involved with a greater amount of full body contact (F1, 47=16.78, p=0.00; d=0.98). Forwards sustained more injuries than backs as a result of more physical contact (F1, 47=4.21, p=0.04; d=0.24). Such differences supports the continued differentiation between playing position in future studies on professional rugby league players. Discriminant function analysis revealed one significant function (λ = 0.15, p<0.01) indicating that professional rugby league players, who are overloaded by information (OIT), have lowered self-esteem (SES), and lower physical orientation (PO) had more severe injuries. Classification procedures correctly classified 84.9% of participants into their respective injury severity groups. The TAIS and the EASQ had adequate test-retest reliability indicating attentional, control, interpersonal and attributional variables to be stable over time. Spearman rank order correlations between TAIS and EASQ subscales revealed that players who tend to make global attributions were more likely to have better attentional style (p<0.05), less likely to become overloaded (p<0.01), process information more successfully (p<0.01) and have higher self-esteem (p<0.01). Participants who made both global and stable attributions were more likely to have better attentional style (p<0.05), less likely to become overloaded by information (p<0.01), were less impulsive (p<0.05) and had higher self-esteem (p<0.01). In the instance of stable attributions, individuals were less likely to worry (p<0.05) and better able to express themselves (p<0.05). When explanatory style was compared with severity of injury, players who made global (F2, 53=5.91, p=0.00, d=0.86) and stable (F2, 53=5.60, p=0.00; d=0.84) attributions had a higher proportion of severe injury ratings. Utilisation of a prospective design is recommended for future research with injured athletes. Further research on the mechanisms underlying the relationship between attentional and attributional style and injury is recommended

Perceptions of pain and coping strategies of outrigger canoe paddlers

Ability of an athlete to withstand high levels of pain is an important quality if they are to excel within their sport (Scott & Gijsbers, 1981). Self-regulation and the impact of pain on an athlete depends upon their coping strategies and ability to reduce or minimise its effects (Turk & Rudy, 1992). This research explored the perceptions of pain that outrigger canoeists experienced whilst competing, and the cognitive strategies they used to cope with pain. Specifically it was hypothesized that the catastrophising subscale on the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (Rosensteil & Keefe, 1983) will be significantly correlated with perceptions of pain. Gender will be explored to determine if variance occurs on perception of pain. Further the relationships between self-efficacy and perceived pain will be considered

Attentional style characteristics of injured professional rugby league players

Injury is of high prevalence in rugby league and has negative physical and psychological consequences for the players that experience them (National Health and Medical Research Council, 1994). Rugby league requires players to execute a range of skills including kicking, jumping, passing, catching, and tackling. These skills require a\ud combination of speed, agility, strength, anaerobic and aerobic power. Played by a large number of Australian male athletes, around 30% of injuries incurred playing rugby league are classified as major (Gabbett, 2001). It is generally considered that insufficient information is\ud available on football injuries and that professional athletes should be considered separately to the general population. Psychological research of injury in rugby league is limited and psychological characteristics measured in prospective studies of rugby league injury have not previously been considered

The effects of ß-hydroxy-ß-methylbutyrate (HMB) and HMB/creatine supplementation on indices of health in highly trained athletes

This study aimed to investigate the effects of 6 wk oral supplementation of b-hydroxy-b-methylbutyrate (HMB) and HMB combined with creatine monohydrate (HMBCr) on indices of health in highly trained athletes. Elite, male rugby league players (n = 28) were allocated to 1 of 3 groups: a control group (n = 6), a HMB group (3 g/d; n = 11), or a HMBCr group (3 g/day HMB, 3 g/d Cr; n = 11). Testing prior to, and immediately following, supplementation included a full blood count, plasma testosterone and cortisol, blood electrolytes, lipids, urea and glucose, sperm count and motility, and assessment of psychological state. A 3 × 2 factorial ANOVA revealed no effect of HMB or HMBCr on any of the measured parameters except minor changes in blood bicarbonate and blood monocyte and lymphocyte counts. Blood bicarbonate was significantly decreased in the HMB post-supplementation sample compared to the control and HMBCr groups. Blood monocyte and lymphocyte counts showed no within-group changes for HMB or HMBCr supplementation but were significantly different from the control. However, the majority of these readings remained within normal range. HMB and HMBCr were concluded to have no adverse effects on the parameters evaluated in this study when taken orally by highly trained male athletes over a 6-wk period.\u

Effect of clothing colour on body image perception

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of clothing colour on body image (BI) perception in university aged women. Twenty-six healthy, active females had their photographs taken while wearing tight fitting white, black and bright coloured clothing costumes. Photographs were both enlarged and reduced by 20% with participants asked to digitally manipulate the chest, waist, hips, thigh and calf regions of their own photographs to achieve their perceived BI. Satisfaction with their current BI was assessed using the original photograph and a Likert scale. All participants reported high current BI satisfaction. BI perception, assessed in absolute and relative terms, for all body sites and whole body was similar for white, black and bright coloured clothing. However, BI perception was overestimated for the enlarged compared to the reduced image format. These results demonstrated that image format, and not clothing colour, significantly influenced BI perception in healthy females

Physical and psychological correlates of academic performance in male and female university students

Studying at university can be a stressful experience due to academic workload, financial cost, and performing within a competitive environment (Park & Adler, 2003). The self-esteem of students has been demonstrated to be significantly related to academic performance (Crocker, Karpinski, Quinn, & Chase, 2003). Further, the perception of\ud stressful situations between males and females appears to differ (Misra, McKean, West & Russo, 2000). The aim of this study was to determine whether physical and psychological\ud functioning changed over the course of a university semester. Further, the study sought to determine the role of these variables and participation in exercise on academic performance by male and female university students