The effect of phosphatidylserine on golf performance

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ESTRATÉGIAS DE COPING EM ATLETAS DE FUTEBOL FEMININO: ESTUDO COMPARATIVO

RESUMO Introdução: Os atletas de alto rendimento sofrem com uma série de fatores causadores de perturbações psicológicas, que podem acarretar danos ao seu desempenho final. Com a competitividade elevada e o nivelamento nos treinamentos físico e tático, as estratégias de coping (enfrentamento) para superar essas perturbações podem fazer a diferença entre um elenco campeão ou perdedor. Objetivos: Analisar e comparar as estratégias de coping entre atletas de alto rendimento e praticantes de futebol feminino. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo quantitativo, descritivo, transversal e com amostragem não probabilística. A amostra foi composta por 56 atletas, divididas em dois grupos: G1 - atletas de alto rendimento e G2 - praticantes de futebol feminino. O instrumento utilizado foi o Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 (ACSI-28), validado para o Brasil (ACSI-25BR) e um questionário sociodemográfico contendo 12 questões, elaborado pelos próprios autores. Para a análise dos dados foi usada a estatística descritiva, teste de normalidade de Shapiro-Wilk e o teste t de Student para dados independentes. O nível de confiança adotado foi de 95%. Resultados: Atletas de alto rendimento obtiveram maior pontuação média, estatisticamente significante, com relação às praticantes de futebol feminino nas dimensões: "desempenho sob pressão" (p = 0,048), "concentração" (p = 0,020) e "confiança/motivação" (p = 0,009). Conclusão: Atletas de alto rendimento obtiveram melhor desempenho em todas as dimensões, exceto em "treinabilidade" e "ausência de preocupação", quando comparadas ao grupo de praticantes de futebol feminino

An Ideographic Analysis of Amotivation in Compulsory School Physical Education

The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth account of amotivation in compulsory school physical education by examining its major causes, the way it is displayed, and how it can be tackled. From an initial participant pool of 390 British schoolchildren ages 14 to 15 years, 21 of them (15 girls and 6 boys) were selected to participate in semi-structured interviews. They were categorized as being amotivated based on their responses to a questionnaire measuring motivation in physical education. Three main perceived causes of amotivation were identified in the interviews: learned helplessness beliefs, low need satisfaction, and contextual factors. Amotivation was mainly displayed by nonattendance, low involvement in the class, and low intention to be physically active after leaving school. Students’ suggestions for reducing amotivation focused on the enhancement of positive affect, need satisfaction, and structural/organizational changes. The findings are discussed in conjunction with contemporary motivation theories and models of amotivation

Are adolescent elite athletes less psychologically distressed than controls? A cross-sectional study of 966 Norwegian adolescents

Jan H Rosenvinge,1 Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen,2 Gunn Pettersen,3 Marianne Martinsen,4 Annett Victoria Stornæs,2 Anne Marte Pensgaard5 1Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway; 2Department of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway; 3Department of Health and Caring Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway; 4Department of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Physical Education, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Hamar, Norway; 5Department of Coaching and Psychology, Norwegian School of Sports Science, Oslo, Norway Introduction: Psychological distress is increasing among adolescents and clusters with other mental health problems such as eating problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of psychological distress among young elite athletes and age-matched controls and whether prevalence figures may be attributed to perfectionism and eating problems. Methods: First-year athletes from all Norwegian elite sport high schools (n=711) and 500 ­students from randomly selected ordinary high schools were eligible for this cross-sectional study. In total, 611 athletes and 355 student controls provided self-report data about psychological distress, perfectionism, and eating problems (ie, body dissatisfaction and a drive for thinness), as well as their physical training/activity. Results: A significantly higher proportion of controls scored above the cutoff point for marked psychological distress. Physical activity above the recommended levels for this age group predicted psychological distress among the controls, while the opposite was found in the student elite athlete sample. In both samples, perfectionistic concerns, ie, concern over mistakes, predicted overall psychological distress. However, among elite athletes, perfectionistic concerns were particularly associated with clinically significant psychological distress. Moreover, the impact of eating problems was negligible. Conclusion: Results from this study highlight the need to target the maladaptive perfectionistic concerns to prevent psychological distress among young athletes as well as among their age-matched nonathlete counterparts. Keywords: psychological distress, competitive athletes, perfectionis

Measuring sports class learning climates: The development of the Sports Class Environment Scale

The development and validation of a new and unique learning climate instrument, the Sports Class Environment Scale (SCES), was the focus of this study. We began with a consolidation of the dimensions and items of the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2 and the Classroom Environment Scale. Field-testing of the SCES involved 204 competitive gymnasts from six metropolitan and four regional competitive gymnastics clubs in Queensland, Australia. Exploratory factor analysis provided a revised SCES with five scales labelled Task Involvement & Improvement, Ego Involvement & Mistakes, Coach-Athlete Communication, Effort, Order & Organisation, and Affiliation. Using scales of the revised SCES as dependent variables, multivariate analyses of variance were conducted to compare club types, genders and competitive levels. Effective measurement of sports class learning climates using the SCES could lead to a greater understanding of effective sports classes, and of coach and athlete behaviours in those classes, and provide a first step in monitoring sports class learning climates.Griffith Sciences, Griffith Institute for Drug DiscoveryNo Full Tex