Can we speak of a negative psychological tetrad in sports? A probabilistic Bayesian study on competitive sailing

INTRODUCTION: Researchers display an interest in studying aspects like the mental health of high-performance athletes; the dark side of sport, or the earliest attempts to study the so-called dark triad of personality in both initiation and high-performance athletes. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to determine the possible existence and magnitude of negative psychological aspects within a population of competition sailors and from a probabilistic point of view, using Bayesian Network analysis. METHODS: The study was carried out on 235 semi-professional sailors of the 49er Class, aged between 16 and 52 years (M = 24.66; SD = 8.03). RESULTS: The results show the existence of a Negative Tetrad-formed by achievement burnout, anxiety due to concentration disruption, amotivation and importance given to error-as a probabilistic product of the psychological variables studied: motivation, anxiety, burnout and fear of error. CONCLUSION: These results, supported by Bayesian networks, show holistically the influence of the social context on the psychological and emotional well-being of the athlete during competition at sea

A PROFILE OF THE SPORTING HABITS OF STUDENTS BETWEEN 10-16 YEARS OLD FROM MAJORCA ISLAND

This article is part of a wider research study about sporting habits which was carried out with young people between 10 and 16 years old from Majorca Island. In this paper we are analyzing what is the profile of Majorcan young athletes by gender, socio-demographic and sport level. A sample of 4301 boys and girls from Majorca were surveyed. The sample was obtained from multistage sampling. A specifically designed questionnaire was used. The results obtained in this study confirm a clear regression in physical activity to increment age of males and females. Also noteworthy are the clearly significant differences between men and women in this age group in terms of sports, frequency, and type of sport practiced. The practicing of sport by parents promotes a greater participation in children. Also, gender marks some differences in relation to the practice of sports in these ages

A Socioeducational Intervention about Parental Attitudes in Grassroots Football and Its Effects

Despite the importance and usefulness of previous observational methodology investigations’ outcomes, there is no evidence about the creation or evaluation of a socioeducational intervention for parents in sport. Therefore, researchers do not have the possibility to apply a socioeducational intervention to their parental observations. This investigation was focused on the effects of the application of a socioeducational intervention with parents of 12 football teams in the U-15 years category in the Balearic Islands (Spain) during the 2016–17 season. Furthermore, six teams formed the control group (CG) and six constituted the experimental group (EG). This research was divided into three phases: (1) pre-test, (2) socioeducational intervention, and (3) post-test. The 12 matches recorded during the first phase and the 12 matches recorded during the third phase were observed and coded by trained observers using LINCE and POISE (parents’ observation instrument at sport events). Results showed a decrease in negative comments and an increase in positive comments during the matches, confirming the socioeducational intervention performed with that aim. This study suggests that the present socioeducational intervention demonstrates improvements on parental attitudes in grassroot football and, due to this reason, we encourage authors to use it and provide feedback

Systematic observation of the verbal behavior of families of young athletes in grassroots and team sports

[eng] Some of the more protective and favorable factors for the development and health in children and teenagers are family and sport, so family involvement in the children's sports activities is vital in their sports process. The purpose of this study was to analyze the verbal behavior (positive, negative, and neutral comments) of family spectators of school-age athletes regarding sociodemographic and sporting variables. The sample consisted of 190 family spectators of 215 male and female (Mage = 11.66; SD = 1.60) football, basketball, and volleyball players. The Parents' Observation Instrument at Sport Events (POISE) was used for the observation and LINCE was used to codify the verbal comments made. After registering 38,829 comments, the results showed statistically significant differences in relation to the comments made and the gender of athletes, geographical area, kind of sport, and the sporting category. The findings highlight that in a competitive environment, the comments made by spectators related to athletes do not seem to be initiators of potentially violent situations but rather are dependent on the atmosphere in question. Further research is required in this area to foster positive conduct relating to grassroots sports

Is Fair Play Losing Value in Grassroots Sport?

[eng] The objective of this study is to analyse the relationship between the attitude towards fairplay, gamesmanship and cheating in young athletes from the Balearic Islands. The sample includes 35 football, basketball and handball teams with a total of 1172 young athletes (949 boys and 223 girls) with an average age of 12.50 years and an age range between 10-16 years in the novice, juvenile and cadet categories during the 2016-2017 season, where the adapted Spanish version of the Sports Deception Disposition Questionnaire (CDED) and the Fair Play Attitude Scale (EAF) was put in force. The results show that our young athletes value sports positively as fun. Gamesmanship, as it is not delimited and regulated, is accepted progressively, especially in football. Cheating, on the other hand, is not commonly accepted. Gamesmanship, Cheating and Hard play correlate positively with the factor of victory and negatively with fun. With regard to gender, men obtain higher results in the so-called antisocial behaviors of sports, while women obtain higher results in pro-social sport behavior