Developmental Trajectories of Motivation in Physical Education: Course, Demographic Differences and Antecedents

This study investigated changes in student motivation to participate in physical education and some determinants of these changes over a period of three years. Measures were taken twice a year, from the age of 13 until the age of 15 years, from a sample of Greek junior high school students. Multilevel modeling analyses showed significant decreases in task-involving teacher climate, relatedness, identified regulation, and intrinsic motivation. In contrast, there were significant increases in ego-involving climate and amotivation. For some of these variables the observed linear decreases or increases were somewhat reversed by the beginning of the last year of the junior high school. No significant changes were observed in competence need satisfaction and in extrinsic and introjected regulations. We found substantial between-student variability in the intercepts and growth trajectories of most variables and, therefore, we tested a number of theoretical and demographic predictors to partly account for such variations. The results indicated that increases in maladaptive motivation in physical education over time are not uniform across all students and may be partly tackled by facilitating competence need satisfaction. Keywords: Self-determination theory, changes in motivation, Greek students, psychological need satisfaction, motivational regulation

Developmental changes in achievement motivation and affect in physical education: Growth trajectories and demographic differences.

Objective: We examined changes in student achievement goals, perceptions of motivational climate and affective responses in secondary school physical education. Method: Greek junior high school students (N ¼ 394; 191 males and 203 females) responded to a multisection questionnaire twice a year from the ages of 12 to 15 years. Results: Multilevel modeling analyses showed significant linear decreases in perceptions of taskinvolving teacher climate, task and ego goal orientations, which were somewhat reversed by the beginning of the last year of the junior high school. Significant linear decreases were also observed for enjoyment whereas there were significant linear increases for perceptions of ego-involving climate and boredom. There was significant variability in the intercepts and/or average changes over time for all variables and, therefore, we included demographic and theoretical predictors in an attempt to account for such variations. Conclusion: The results indicated that decreases in adaptive motivation over time vary across students and in some cases may be tackled by fostering a task-involving teacher climate

Achievement Goals and Sportspersonship Orientations in Team Sports. The Moderating Role of Demographic Characteristics

The present study investigated whether achievement goals have differential effect on sportspersonship orientations in competitive sport and the moderating role of several demographic characteristics. Participants were 407 team sport athletes. The athletes completed a questionnaire including measures of achievement goals, dosage sportspersonship orientations and demographic characteristics. The results of the analyses indicated that all achievement goals were significant predictors of sportspersonship orientations. Furthermore, medications demographic characteristics moderated several achievement goals ? sportspersonship orientations relationships. These findings provide insightful information on the application of the 2×2 achievement goal approach in sports and the role of athletes? demographic characteristics

Effects of a Music-Movement Program in Elementary School Physical Education Classes on Pupils’ Rhythmic Ability

The aim of this study was to develop a short music-movement program and evaluate its effectiveness in improving elementary school pupils’ rhythmic ability. The sample of the study comprised two hundred forty-five pupils (10.5±.526 years) assigned to control and experimental group. Pupils were tested on their ability to synchronize hand clapping and walking to 48beats at the rhythmic patterns of 2/4, 7/8, and 9/8 using the Digital Rhythmic Ability Evaluation Tool (DRAET). Participants completed DRAET before, immediately after and two months after the implementation of the program. Pupils in the intervention group attended the music-movement program during the warm-up phase of the lesson, whereas those in the control group attended the regular warming up proposed in the national curriculum. The program was implemented twice a week for 13 weeks. The results of the ANOVA with repeated measures on time revealed a significant improvement of rhythmic ability in intervention group pupils as compared to control group pupils. The effect of the program was retained in the follow-up measurement. The findings of the study support the effectiveness of a music-movement program on pupils’ rhythmic ability. Keywords: rhythmic ability, physical education, music-movement, intervention program

Effects of a Music-Movement Program in Elementary School Physical Education Classes on Pupils’ Motor Skills

This study aimed to develop a short music-movement program and evaluate its effectiveness in improving elementary school pupils’ motor skills. Two hundred forty-five pupils (10.5±.526 years) randomly assigned into intervention and control group participated in the study. The pupils performed two tasks, selected from the Bruinninks Oseretsky Motor Proficiency Test (2nd edition) related to rhythmic coordination: (a) Dribbling a ball-Alternating hands and (b) Stepping sideways over a balance beam. All Participants completed the tests before, immediately after and two months after the implementation of the program. Pupils in the intervention group attended the music-movement program during the warm-up phase of the standard Physical Education (PE) lesson, whereas those in the control group attended the regular PE warming up according to the national curriculum. The program was implemented for 13 weeks twice a week. The results of the ANOVA with repeated measures on time revealed a significant improvement of both motor skills in intervention group pupils as compared to control group pupils. A follow-up measurement indicated that the effect of the program was maintained two months after the intervention. The findings of the study support the effectiveness of a music-movement program during the warm-up phase of the PE lesson on fifth and sixth grade pupils’ motor skills. Keywords: motor skills, physical education, music-movement, intervention program, warm-up phase, rhythmic coordination DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-21-11 Publication date:July 31st 201

Moral Disengagement and Risk Prototypes in the Context of Adolescent Cyberbullying: Findings From Two Countries

Cyberbullying is associated with a wide range of mental health difficulties and behavioral problems in adolescents and research is needed to better understand psychological correlates of this behavior. The present study used a novel model that incorporated Social Cognitive Theory and the prototype/willingness model to identify the correlates of behavioral willingness to engage in cyberbullying in two countries. Adolescent students were randomly selected from secondary schools in Italy (n = 1710) and Greece (n = 355), and completed anonymous measures of moral disengagement, descriptive norms, risk prototype evaluations and behavioral willingness to engage in cyberbullying. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that willingness to engage in cyberbullying was associated with moral disengagement, prototype evaluations and descriptive social norms in Italy, and with gender, moral disengagement and descriptive social norms in Greece. Regression-based multiple mediation modeling further showed that the association between moral disengagement and cyberbullying willingness was mediated by prototype evaluations in Italy and by descriptive norms in Greece. The implications of our findings are discussed in the context of self-regulating cyberbullying perpetration in adolescents and informing school-based policies and interventions to prevent cyberbullying behavior

Are nutritional supplements a gateway to doping use in competitive team sports? The roles of achievement goals and motivational regulations

Objectives The study investigated the moderating role of achievement goals and motivation regulations on the association between self-reported nutritional supplement (NS) use, doping likelihood, and self-reported doping behaviour among competitive athletes. Method Four hundred and ninety seven competitive team sport athletes (64% males;M age = 23.54 years, SD = 5.75) completed anonymous questionnaires measuring self-reported use of prohibited substances and licit NS; beliefs about the "gateway" function of NS; achievement goals; and motivational regulations. Results Hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that self-reported doping was associated (Adjusted R2 = 33%) with NS use, a stronger belief that NS use acts as a gateway to doping, amotivation, controlled motivation, mastery approach, and performance avoidance goals. Higher likelihood to use doping substances in the future was associated (Adjusted R2 = 41.7%) with current NS use, stronger belief that NS act as a gateway to doping, autonomous motivation, and performance avoidance goals. A series of moderated regression analyses showed that NS use significantly interacted with mastery approach, mastery avoidance, performance avoidance goals, autonomous motivation controlled motivation, and with amotivation in predicting self-reported doping. Finally, NS use significantly interacted with mastery approach goals, performance avoidance goals, and controlled motivation in predicting future doping likelihood. Conclusions Achievement goals and motivational regulations are differentially associated with both doping likelihood and self-reported doping, and may account for the observed association between self-reported NS use and doping substances; thus, providing an alternative explanation to the "gateway hypothesis" that emphasizes the role of motivation

Doping use in sport teams : the development and validation of measures of team-based efficacy beliefs and moral disengagement from a cross-national perspective

Objectives: The main goal of this research focused on the development and validation of three instruments designed to assess athletes' self-regulatory efficacy in team contexts, team collective efficacy and team moral disengagement with relevance for doping use across three European countries. Design: The research relied on three distinct studies. A first qualitative study focused on item development. The second study assessed the factor structure and internal reliability of each of the new team instruments. The third study provided evidence for instrument validity by assessing the hypothesis that efficacy measures and moral disengagement would contribute to team athletes' doping intentions. The latter two studies also focused on the relations among measures and on measurement reliability, both within and across countries. Method: The first study relied on focus group data collected from twenty-one team sport professionals (mean age=34; SD=11.65). Four hundred and fourteen adolescent athletes (mean age=16.69; SD=1.55) participated in the second study, whereas seven hundred forty-nine adolescent team athletes (mean age=16.43; SD=1.69) participated in the third study. For the latter two studies, team athletes were recruited across Italy, Germany and Greece and provided data on the new team measures. Only athletes participating to the third study provided data on prospective doping intentions. Results: The findings of the three studies supported the empirical goals of the investigation and provided evidence for the factor structure, reliability and validity of the team instruments. Furthermore, multigroup findings supported the hypothesis that the new instruments would have equivalent measurement and validity characteristics across the three European countries. The conclusions focus on the conceptual and practical implications of these findings

Behaviours and beliefs related to whistleblowing against doping in sport: a cross-national study

Background: Whistleblowing has been recognized as an important deterrent of doping in elite competitive sport. The present study examined athletes’ knowledge of external whistleblowing channels and on how and where to report doping misconduct, perceived trust in different whistleblowing reporting channels, whistleblowing behaviour and athletes’ reasons for reporting (or not) doping misconduct. Methods: Athletes from Greece (n = 480), the Russian Federation (n = 512) and the United Kingdom (n = 171) completed a structured questionnaire on demographics, knowledge of different whistleblowing channels, perceived trust in internal and external whistleblowing channels, past whistleblowing behaviour and reasons for reporting (or not) doping misconduct. Results: The British athletes reported greater awareness of whistleblowing reporting channels (e.g., WADA’s Speak Up and IOC’s reporting platform) than did athletes from Greece (all p < 0.001) and Russia (p = 0.07, and p = 0.012) respectively. However, British athletes reported the lowest scores on knowledge of how and where to report doping misconduct, as compared to athletes from Greece and Russia. The majority of respondents reported greater trust to their coach or a club manager than to other whistleblowing channels, however, responses regarding other channels varied by country. Among athletes who detected doping misconduct 62% of athletes did not report it, while 38% reported it. Reasons for and against reporting doping misconduct reflected in eight themes that were identified using thematic analysis. Conclusion: Athletes showed low awareness of external whistleblowing channels and they predominantly trusted internal whistleblowing channels. Sportspersonship, confidence in resources and personal benefits were among the reasons that facilitate reporting doping misconduct. The present findings indicate that cultural context may play a role in the ways athletes perceive whistleblowing, and this should be taken into account by future interventions to promote the reporting of doping misconduct