Asian Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology最新文献

Recent technological developments, such as automatic broadcasting systems and computer vision, are enabling cost-effective data gathering, bringing big data analytics to youth sports. In a recent insightful article, Bar-Eli et al. (2023) discussed among other issues the subjective and objective talent selection approaches, advocating for the use of big data analytics to harness the benefits of both methods. My aim in this commentary is to complement that big data predictive tools also were found to be vulnerable to biases that render their decisions unfair. Therefore, artificial intelligence in the domain of youth talent identification should be approached with caution and in-depth consideration of ethical issues needs to be undertaken before these predictive tools can be widely adopted.

Thriving, or the concurrent experience of healthy well-being and high-level performance, may serve as a valuable construct when studying the optimal student-athlete experience. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been shown to positively impact well-being and performance, yet these interventions rarely use thriving as an outcome variable with athletes. The purpose of the present study began to examine the impact of an MBI for improving student-athlete experiences of thriving via a quasi-experimental longitudinal design. College athletes from the United States (n = 55) from three sports were randomly assigned to either a control or a 7-session MBI. While comprehensive measures of thriving did not yield significant change for those in the MBI relative to the control, multiple thriving characteristics and outcomes were improved after the intervention compared to the control group. MBI participants reported significant improvement for subjective performance satisfaction, mindful awareness, and the use of mindfulness to regulate emotions. Exploratory analysis revealed those in the MBI, relative to the control, experienced improvements of optimism and a sense of meaning and purpose. Student-athletes qualitatively reported sport and life benefits related to thriving (e.g., self-regulation, focus, awareness, vitality, intentional actions) while also suggesting improving MBIs with systematic reminders to meditate, more meditation opportunities within the sport environment, and autonomy-supportive instruction. These preliminary data support the use of MBIs to facilitate characteristics and outcomes of thriving, while also offering suggestions for practical improvements when implementing MBIs with student-athletes.

When making talent-selection decisions in sport, coaches, scouts, program directors, and policymakers typically adopt two approaches: The subjective approach, also known as the coach's eye, where these professionals select or de-select athletes based on their personal observations and impressions; and the objective approach, where they apply a multi-faceted formula for awarding scores to the athletes' motor skills (such as agility and coordination) and psychological capabilities (such as leadership and motivation) – as a mean for predicting their future success. These two approaches are often perceived as complementary in the strive to reach optimal selection decisions in sport. In this conceptualized article, we examine challenges associated with such talent-selection decisions, and address the coach's eye as an example of a subjective assessment approach. We also address the concept of fast and frugal heuristics for making selection decisions in sport, while elaborating on bounded rationality and the human machine paradigm. Finally, in addition to discussing certain "built-in" limitations in sport-selection decisions, based on judgment and decision-making models, we provide a rationale for adding the big-data approach, as a mean for enhancing links between the subjective and objective assessments currently used in talent-selection decisions in sport.

The purposes of the present study were to examine the domain specificity of flow and its relationships with different motivation regulations in sport and academic. The sample consisted of 224 competitive student-athletes (126 males, 97 females, 1 missing) from Singapore universities with mean age of 22.73 years (SD = 2.76). Data was collected through a self-reported questionnaire to assess seven motivation types in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and flow disposition in sport and academic domains. Findings revealed that there is a positive link between flow in sport and in academic at a cross-domain level. In addition, male student-athletes reported higher flow tendencies in both sports and academics. Male student-athletes in individual sport reported higher intrinsic motivation (IM) to accomplish and flow tendencies than male in team sport, but female student-athletes in team sport reported higher IM to accomplish and flow tendencies to accomplish than individual sport. IM to experience stimulation positively predicted flow in sport, while in academic domain, IM to know and identified regulation are positive predictors of flow. The findings of this study showed that IM to experience stimulation in sport and academic domains could positively predict flow.

Physical education (PE) provides an important achievement setting for researchers to investigate social comparison processes, however, our understanding of how these processes function, and their consequences, remains limited in this setting. The present study aimed to determine the role of two frames of reference (the class and a chosen individual), motives for comparison, and motivational regulations in predicting physical self-concept (PSC), self-efficacy, and positive/negative affect in PE. Four hundred and ninety-one adolescents (M_age = 14.75, SD = 0.90 years, nested within 28 PE classes and nine teachers) completed a multi-section inventory assessing the key constructs. Multilevel modeling analysis showed that students’ perceptions of ability compared to the class as a whole were pertinent in determining all outcomes whereas comparisons with an individual were less influential. As for the effects of motives for comparison, both self-efficacy and positive affect were positively predicted by self-evaluation and self-improvement. In terms of motivational regulations, findings suggested that more autonomous forms of motivation positively predicted PSC, self-efficacy and positive affect, and were inversely related with negative affect. The results also endorsed the utility of studying intrapersonal moderators of social comparisons in PE, and provide important implications for professional practice.

We examined whether motivational climate (autonomy-supportive coach climate; controlling coach climate) and basic psychological need satisfaction/thwarting (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness) were related to sport commitment (enthusiastic and constrained commitment) and self-reported behavioural outcomes (i.e., behavioural effort; intention to continue) in sport. Participants were 229 young adult athletes from a range of sports (M age = 19.70 years; SD = 1.51 yrs) who had participated in their sport for an average of 10.1 years (SD = 4.03 yrs). Path analyses revealed positive associations amongst autonomy-supportive climate, need satisfaction, enthusiastic commitment, and self-reported behavioural outcomes. Similarly, positive links were found amongst controlling climate, need thwarting, constrained commitment, and, to a lesser extent, behavioural outcomes. We also examined mediation effects: (a) the relationship between need satisfaction and behavioural effort was partially mediated by enthusiastic commitment; (b) the relationship between need satisfaction and future intentions was fully mediated by enthusiastic commitment; while (c) no significant mediation effects were found for need thwarting, commitment dimensions, and behavioural outcomes. Our results highlighted the role of enthusiastic commitment as an important psychological construct mediating the relationship between athlete need satisfaction and behavioural outcomes. We extended previous research examining sport commitment by integrating the multidimensional Sport Commitment Model (enthusiastic and constrained commitment) with need satisfaction and need thwarting in an effort to investigate self-reported behavioural outcomes in sport. Future research employing longitudinal research designs is needed to examine these relationships over time and with behavioural measures of effort, intention to continue, and actual persistence.

Retaining volunteers is critical for sport and social development. This two-wave prospective survey was conducted to examine the relationship between sport volunteers’ work climate, motivation, emotional exhaustion (core burnout dimension), and continuance intention to volunteer for sporting events. Volunteers (n = 160) completed a survey measuring work climate and motivation at baseline (T1), and another survey measuring emotional exhaustion and continuance intention at follow-up with one-month interval (T2). Results of path analysis showed that T1 work climate was a significant positive predictor of T1 autonomous motivation and a negative one of T1 controlled motivation. T1 controlled motivation significantly and positively predicted T2 emotional exhaustion, but T1 autonomous motivation was not a significant predictor of T2 emotional exhaustion. T2 emotional exhaustion was a significant negative predictor of T2 continuance intention. These findings suggest the need to decrease volunteers’ controlled motivation and emotional exhaustion for volunteer retention.

Two studies examined the validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the Controlling Coach Behaviors Scale (CCBS). The CCBS is a multidimensional self-report measure designed to evaluate sports coaches’ controlling interpersonal style from the perspective of self-determination theory (SDT). It comprises 15 items measuring the controlling use of rewards, negative conditional regard, intimidation, and excessive personal control on a seven-point Likert scale. The study 1 sample comprised 526 university student-athletes (M_age = 19.59 years, SD = ±0.94, 364 females) who completed the Japanese CCBS, which was developed through back-translation. Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for the tenability of the hypothesized factor structure of the Japanese CCBS (CFI=.927; NNFI=.909; RMSEA=.079). Moreover, the results supported the invariance of the scale across sex, sport types, and competitive levels. The subscale internal consistency and discriminant validity scores were all acceptable. Test-retest reliability evidence was obtained in Study 2 (N=108), suggesting a positive and significant intraclass correlation between the pre-test and the post-test CCBS (ICC range: .65–.87). These findings support the Japanese CCBS as a valid and reliable measure for use in research which will enhance our understanding of coaches’ controlling interpersonal styles in sports.

Adolescents living in high-density cities may face a unique set of mental health challenges due to exposure to environmental stressors and academic pressure from competition for limited educational opportunities. It is still unclear towards the integrated effects of sufficient physical activity, reduced recreational screen time and adequate sleep duration on improving mental health and well-being among adolescents living in high-density cities. The present study aimed to investigate the associations between meeting 24-h movement guidelines and mental well-being in Chinese adolescents living in high-density cities. A total of 816 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 14.77 years, SD = 0.81) completed a self-administrated questionnaire comprising 24-h movement behaviors, mental well-being, and covariates. Linear mixed-effects models were used to for data analyses. Findings of the current study indicated that there was a positive association between the number of guidelines being met and mental well-being in adolescents after adjusting for covariates. Compared to not meeting any guidelines, adolescents who met the sleep and physical activity guidelines, or the physical activity and screen time guidelines, or all the three guidelines had a positive association with adolescent mental well-being. Our findings enhance our understanding of the relationship between compliance with 24-h movement guidelines and mental well-being among adolescents living in high-density cities.