Psychology of Sport and Exercise最新文献

This study advances understanding of the impact of flat-screen and virtual reality (VR) remote exercise environments in a home setting on affective attitudes towards physical exertion, with either a human or an avatar trainer.

Employing a two-by-two factorial design, we manipulated both the medium (flat screen vs. VR) and the type of trainer (human vs. avatar). A total of 108 participants engaged in the study using a custom VR application for the Oculus Quest 2 headset or training videos, both prepared specifically for this study. The participants underwent a 15-min high-intensity interval training (HIIT) regimen, completing six workouts in their homes within fourteen days. Data on their exercise experiences and their affective attitudes towards exercise were collected using the CAWI technique. These were next analysed using a model that presumes that exercise experiences can increase motivation to exercise. We also studied the roles of spatial presence and trainer relatedness.

Our results show that VR physical training shifted affective attitudes towards exercise positively, in contrast to the flat-screen groups. Moreover, using a digital avatar as a trainer had no negative effect on this favourable change in attitude. The change in affective attitude was influenced primarily by baseline levels and the wellbeing experienced during training. The factors we added to the original model—relatedness to the trainer and spatial presence—also contributed significantly to wellbeing. Perception of competence was a critical determinant of wellbeing, while perceived exertion was largely irrelevant. The HIIT protocol in the study was suitable for VR exercise.

Entrainment emerges when oscillatory movements synchronize with environmental stimuli processing. The purpose of this experiment was to assess how cognitive-motor entrainment during a dual-task would influence the quality of gait and affect episodic long-term memory. Twenty-one participants (22.56 y/o; 64 % F) walked at preferred paces while listening to 40-item word lists. In separate sessions, unique word lists were presented predictably on every fourth stride, unpredictably related to stepping, or predictably while standing. Memory tests administered 24-hr after encoding revealed that predictable word presentation led to better free-recall performance than unpredicted (p = .044); recognition memory was not impacted. Gait phase parameters during the predicted condition were more stable than the unpredicted condition or baseline assessments. Cognitive-motor entrainment may alleviate dual-task costs and enhance memory retention.

People’s subjective sense of meaning in life is a flourishing research topic in psychology but remains underexplored in sport psychology. This study uses a person-oriented method to shed light on meaning in the lives of elite athletes (i.e., latent profile analysis) to identify distinct profiles of sources of meaning in life, and compare the extent to which these profiles differ in relation to athletic identity, life satisfaction, and self-esteem. A sample of 593 Swiss elite athletes (50.4% women, 49.6% men; M_age = 24.78 years, SD = 4.93) participated in the study. The Meaning and Purpose Scales (MAPS) were used to assess athletes’ perceptions of meaningfulness, crisis of meaning, and sources of meaning. Athletes demonstrated higher overall meaningfulness, lower crisis of meaning, and prioritized different sources of meaning compared to the general population. Latent profile analysis revealed three distinct meaning profiles: (1) athletes with multiple meanings (n = 351), (2) athletes with low meaning (n = 126), and (3) faith-based athletes (n = 110). Notably, the athletes in the first and last profile exhibited higher life satisfaction and self-esteem. The identified profiles demonstrate that athletes differ both in the degree and the types of meaning in life. The findings align with studies outside of sport that suggest that meaning in life, in addition to being an end-value in itself, is also related to enhanced life satisfaction and self-esteem. Personalized meaning-focused interventions can be valuable for applied practice with elite athletes.

Athletes’ stories about their experiences in elite sport inevitably evoke the notion of meaning, a concept, which has appeared in many shapes and forms within sport psychology. Qualitative scholarship, for example, has generated a large literature base on the meaning of experience (i.e., implicit meaning) in elite sport. However, the experience of meaning(fulness) (i.e., existential meaning) has received less scholarly attention and has rarely been the explicit study object. To assist theorizing and the empirical investigation of meaning and purpose in elite sport in these early stages, we take stock of the emerging body of literature in sport psychology. The article has three parts: Firstly, we distinguish between implicit and existential meaning to delineate our study object. Secondly, we introduce psychological theory to show how existential meaning can be conceptualized (e.g., dimensions, sources, crisis of meaning). Thirdly, we analyzed 23 studies in a narrative review approach to understand how meaning (n = 17) and purpose (n = 6) in elite sport have been understood, and what we know about these concepts empirically. The current scholarship revealed itself heterogenous in terms of study designs, methodologies, theoretical frameworks, and conceptualizations of meaning and purpose. Findings are discussed in eight overarching themes (e.g., moments when meaning and purpose are questioned; as mechanism and indicator of growth following adversity) to map the reviewed literature comprehensibly and to provide a foundation for applied work. The article concludes by highlighting unresolved issues and proposing future directions for studying and applying existential meaning in elite sport.

Introduction

The aims of this study were (a) to identify links between transdiagnostic psychological processes and mental health disorder (MHD) symptoms, and (b) to examine differences in MHD and transdiagnostic psychological processes as a function of demographic variables, including, gender, status as an athlete (elite vs. non-elite), number of training sessions per week, previous severe injuries, and use of medical care following severe injuries.

Methods

A total of 159 competitive athletes aged between 18 and 40 years old (44 % female; mean age = 24.20 ± 4.88 years) participated in this cross-sectional study. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire along with validated questionnaires evaluating MHD symptoms and transdiagnostic processes including: motivation to practice sport, emotional competencies, self-efficacy, repetitive negative thinking, meta-cognitive beliefs, and impulsive and perfectionist behaviors.

Results

MHD symptoms were positively correlated with controlled forms of motivation, repetitive negative thinking, meta-cognitive beliefs, and impulsive and perfectionistic behaviors; and negatively correlated with emotional competencies and self-efficacy. Gender differences showed that women were more likely to experience MHD, higher levels of repetitive negative thinking, meta-cognitive beliefs, and lower levels of emotional competencies and self-efficacy than men. Finally, elite athletes showed higher personal standards than their non-elite counterparts and those training more than four times per week showed significantly higher perfectionistic behaviors.

Discussion

These results are in line with previous findings in clinical psychology and shed light on the role of transdiagnostic processes and the risk of MHD in a sample of French athletes. Further research on the identification of key risk factors for MHD in competitive athletes is needed.

Acute stress is frequent in sports and rehabilitation contexts and can impact cognitive processes essential for motor learning. This study aimed to investigate the influence of induced acute stress on the learning of a precise manual task, examining its effect on five key parameters of fine motor control: trajectory error, trajectory error direction, time error, tracing accuracy, and task accuracy. A double-masked, randomized clinical trial with 62 participants (average age 20.65 ± 2.54 years; 39 females; 23 males) was conducted. To examine the effects of stress, participants were assigned to either a stress or a control group through stratified randomization by sex. Initially, all participants underwent the Maastricht Acute Stress Test (in its acute stress and control versions, respectively). Subsequently, they performed the precise manual task on a graphic tablet at three stages of the learning process: acquisition, short-term retrieval, and long-term retrieval. Electrodermal activity and heart rate variability were recorded to assess stress induction. Data analysis from 30 stress group participants and 25 control group participants revealed no statistically significant differences between groups in any of the variables studied at the three learning stages. Both groups exhibited statistically significant improvements in time error, trajectory error direction, and tracing accuracy during both short-term and long-term retrieval compared to acquisition. Our findings suggest that acute physical and psychological stress does not markedly impair learning a precise manual task of adhering to a specific trajectory and pace among young adults.

Although the independent within-person association between physical activity and sedentary behaviour with valence in daily life has been extensively studied, few studies have used compositional data analysis to examine how different movement behaviour compositions are related to valence in daily life. This study aimed to examine the within-person association between wake-time movement behaviour compositions with affective valence and the extent to which replacing time spent sedentary with physical activity was associated with valence within individuals in daily life. A 7-day ecological momentary study design was used whereby 94 Canadian university students (M_age = 19.45, SD = 2.21, 78.7 % female) reported on affective valence using an adapted version of the Feeling Scale at 7 randomly timed prompts each day. In addition, activPAL accelerometers were worn continuously by participants on their right thigh for the duration of the study to determine time spent engaging in sedentary behaviours and physical activity. Compositional data analysis with isotemporal substitution models were used to examine the within-person association between movement behaviour compositions and affective valence. The within-person association between movement behaviours and affective valence was weak (r² = 0.013). Nevertheless, engaging in less sedentary time than usual and instead engaging in physical activity was significantly related to more positive affective valence. Considering light intensity physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) separately, replacing time spent sedentary with time engaged in MVPA and LPA both had a significant positive association on affective valence, although the association with MVPA was stronger than the association with LPA. The results provide unique insights into how replacing sedentary time with physical activity in daily life, especially MVPA, may be associated with more feelings of pleasure. These results may be useful to help inform the development of just-in-time adaptive interventions.

Enjoyment has emerged as a critical factor in understanding dropout and participation in the Norwegian youth soccer context (Persson et al., 2020; Solstad et al., 2022). Moreover, the children-to-youth sport transition within this context represents a shift in underlying values and aims (Hjelseth, 2016). The purpose of this mixed methods study was thus to investigate youth soccer players’ enjoyment within the children-to-youth sport transition context. The quantitative phase consisted of 214 soccer players (28.2 % girls, M^age = 12.56 years) who completed a questionnaire, and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The quantitative data informed the selection of participants for qualitative interviews in the next phase. A total of 10 soccer players (6 boys and 4 girls) who had reported different levels of enjoyment were interviewed. Coding reliability thematic analysis was applied to analyze the qualitative data. The results indicated that expectation of success and the mastery-approach goal had a positive relationship with enjoyment. The qualitative data further revealed that love for the sport, being with friends, and learning and mastery were sources of enjoyment for the players. A key finding was that players experienced increased seriousness in the transition, which may have a negative impact on their enjoyment. In conclusion, coaches should emphasize players’ expectations of success, learning, and intrapersonal mastery, while creating a team culture that values friendship and passion for the sport. These strategies can enhance enjoyment, potentially sustaining youth participation in soccer during the children-to-youth sport transition.

Objective

To establish whether physical fitness and cognitive self-perceptions act as mediators in the link between global fitness and cognitive performance measured objectively in adolescents. We also compared differences across sex.

Methods

A total of 1296 adolescents (50 % girls) from grades 5 to 8 (ages 10–14) participated in this cross-sectional study. The ALPHA-fitness test battery assessed physical fitness, comprising cardiorespiratory, speed-agility, and muscular fitness components. We used the 1–5-point International Fitness Scale for physical fitness self-perception, and the 1–10 scale for cognitive performance self-perception. Objective cognitive performance was assessed using a neurocognitive battery consisting of eight tasks. Using principal component analysis, these tasks were grouped into three domains: attention, working memory, and problem solving. We examined three serial mediation models adjusted for sex, standardized body mass index, maturation, and school vulnerability index.

Results

Physical fitness and cognitive self-perceptions mediated the effects on attention (B = .0027, CI = .0011 to .0047), memory (B = .0025; CI = .0003 to .0055 and B = .0035; CI = .0009 to .0063), and problem-solving (B = −.0137; CI = −.0231 to −.0052 and B = .0072; CI = .0043 to .0106). By sex, boys showed mediation in all domains, while girls only showed mediation in problem-solving.

Conclusions

Adolescents' perceptions play a crucial and positive mediating role in linking objective measures of physical fitness to cognitive performance outcomes, particularly when self-perceptions of physical fitness and cognition are considered together. Therefore, educating families and school/health environments about the importance of adolescent perceptions, while fostering self-awareness and reinforcing their capabilities, is essential.