Search

Additional file 1: Table 1. Resources shared with participants. Table 2. Interview Guide. Table 3. Means of Study Variables.

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Kinesiology & Health Studies, University of Regina. vii, 68 p. Research has been conducted on passion through a variety of activities, including sport. Passion, according to Vallerand et al. (2003), is “a strong inclination toward an activity that individuals like [or love], that they find important, in which they invest time and energy, and which comes to be internalized into one’s identity” (p. 507). Defined by the dualistic model of passion, harmonious passion describes a passion freely chosen because it had become valuable and meaningful to a person; conversely, obsessive passion describes a passion where individuals feel compelled to participate because some feelings of social acceptance, self-esteem, etc. are attached to the activity (Mageau et al., 2009; Rousseau, Vallerand, Ratelle, Mageau, & Provencher, 2002; Vallerand, 2012; Vallerand et al., 2003, 2006, 2007). A review of the literature shows harmonious passion relates positively to positive emotions such as enjoyment, higher self-esteem, and self-compassion (e.g. Kowalski, Mack, & Sabiston, 2015); whereas obsessive passion relates positively to negative factors of well-being such as guilt, anxiety, rumination (Mageau, Carpentier, & Vallerand, 2011; Mageau & Vallerand, 2007; Mageau et al., 2009), and a lack of self-compassion (Schellenberg, Bailis, & Mosewich, 2016). While self-compassion serves to manage through emotionally difficult experiences in sport in effectively healthy ways, a fear of self-compassion can have an effect on whether a person (athlete) displays self-compassion. In this study, participants were players on a female, elite, team sport (N = 26). These athletes completed an online survey that included measures of deliberate practice (Helsen, Starkes, & Hodges, 1998), passion (Vallerand et al., 2003), self-compassion (Neff, 2003), and fear of self-compassion (Gilbert et al., 2011). Descriptive statistics and correlation analyses describe ii the sample. Findings show higher levels of harmonious passion than obsessive passion, low levels of deliberate practice both in and out of season, moderate levels of self-compassion, and low levels of fear of self-compassion. In terms of correlations, there was a significant moderate positive correlation between harmonious and obsessive passion, and a significant strong negative correlation between self-compassion and fear of self-compassion, as well as a significant strong positive correlation between strikeouts (pitcher-only statistic) and in-season deliberate practice. Student yes

Regardless of the level of sport competition, setbacks are inevitable and can promote stress, requiring effective coping skills. Well-developed coping skills are required for athletes to not only reach their performance potential, but also to have healthy sport experiences. The purpose of the present study was to further explore setbacks and coping in sport experienced by a group of high-performance women athletes. Through exploration of their experiences, relevant setbacks and resultant coping efforts were identified, providing insight into the effectiveness of resources for this population, as well as areas of stress and coping deserving more attention. Using a phenomenological orientation, five high-performance women athletes were interviewed about their experiences with setbacks in sport. Thematic analysis revealed that poor performance, performance plateau and injury were common setback experiences. Managing setbacks involved having a positive approach, dealing with self-criticism, using social suppo...

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Kinesiology & Health Studies, University of Regina. v, 54 p. In the field of competitive sports there is an emphasis on the growth of technical, tactical, and physical aspects as it relates to coach performance. However, little emphasis is placed on how coaches cope with stress and adversity that accompanies their career choice. The purpose of the present research is to establish the background of coping with the stressors by professional (paid to coach) hockey coaches using the conceptual model of hardiness. Hardiness has been used to describe stress resistant individuals (Kobasa, 1979). Kobasa (1979) indicates that hardiness involves the three C’s – commitment, control, and challenge. Commitment is the ability to interpret situations as interesting and worthwhile; control is the ability to influence one’s surroundings through effort; and challenge involves the ability to learn and grow from positive and negative experiences. Nine male coaches who were presently coaching in the Western Hockey League, Canada West League (Canadian Interuniversity Sport), Austrian Elite League, National Collegiate Athletic Association, American Hockey League, or the National Hockey League were asked to complete an open-ended survey. The survey was conducted via email to discuss individual coaching behaviours with respect to how they handle the stressors of their position. Through an interpretive lens of the experiences of nine professional coaches, a record was provided of coping strategies and experiences through the conceptual framework of hardiness. Findings were in line with commitment, control, and challenge (hardiness attributes) and included seven subthemes that portrayed examples of experience as it relates to stressors. Subthemes were developed through a thematical analysis of the responses within the survey. Subthemes that emerged from the commitment attribute included passion and authentic modeling. Subthemes that arose around control included communication, positivity/emotional control, and building accountability. Finally, the challenge attribute subthemes revolved around learning and flexibility. As stated earlier, there is a premium on technical, tactical, and physical aspects as key topics in coach performance. This research attempts to bridge the gap in the mental attributes needed to keep pushing forward in times of stress for professional coaches at an elite level. The methods used do not promote or suggest if a coach that participated was hardy. What it may suggest, is that taken together, all the coaches comments would demonstrate how a “hardy” coach would deal with stressors. Student yes

This study investigated the effects of a self-compassion intervention on negative cognitive states and self-compassion in varsity women athletes. Athletes who self-identified as being self-critical were randomly assigned to a self-compassion intervention (n = 29) or attention control group (n = 22). The self-compassion intervention consisted of a psychoeducation session and writing components completed over a 7-day period. Measures of self-compassion, state self-criticism, state rumination, and concern over mistakes were collected pretreatment, at 1 week posttreatment, and at a 4-week follow-up. A mixed factorial MANOVA with follow-up post hoc tests demonstrated moderate-to-strong effects for the intervention at post test and follow-up (Wilks’s Λ = .566, F (8, 42) = 4.03, p < .01, η2 = .43). The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the self-compassion intervention in managing self-criticism, rumination, and concern over mistakes. Fostering self-compassionate frames of mind is a potential coping resource for women athletes dealing with negative events in sport. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Self-compassion has demonstrated many psychological benefits (Neff, 2009). In an effort to explore self-compassion as a potential resource for young women athletes, we explored relations among self-compassion, proneness to self-conscious emotions (i.e., shame, guilt-free shame, guilt, shame-free guilt, authentic pride, and hubristic pride), and potentially unhealthy self-evaluative thoughts and behaviors (i.e., social physique anxiety, obligatory exercise, objectified body consciousness, fear of failure, and fear of negative evaluation). Young women athletes (N = 151; Mage = 15.1 years) participated in this study. Self-compassion was negatively related to shame proneness, guilt-free shame proneness, social physique anxiety, objectified body consciousness, fear of failure, and fear of negative evaluation. In support of theoretical propositions, self-compassion explained variance beyond self-esteem on shame proneness, guilt-free shame proneness, shame-free guilt proneness, objectified body consciousness, fear of failure, and fear of negative evaluation. Results suggest that, in addition to self-esteem promotion, self-compassion development may be beneficial in cultivating positive sport experiences for young women.

ERLANDSON, M. C., L. B. SHERAR, A. D. MOSEWICH, K. C. KOWALSKI, D. A. BAILEY, and A. D. G. BAXTER-JONES. Does Controlling for Biological Maturity Improve Physical Activity Tracking? Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 800–807, 2011. Tracking of physical activity through childhood and adolescence tends to be low. Variation in the timing of biological maturation within youth of the same chronological age (CA) might affect participation in physical activity and may partially explain the low tracking. Purpose: To examine the stability of physical activity over time from childhood to late adolescence when aligned on CA and biological age (BA).Methods: A total of 91 males and 96 females aged 8–15 yr from the Saskatchewan Pediatric Bone Mineral Accrual Study (PBMAS) were assessed annually for 8 yr. BA was calculated as years from age at peak height velocity. Physical activity was assessed using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children/Adolescents. Tracking was analyzed using intraclass correlations for both CA andBA (2-yr groupings). To be included in the analysis, an individual required a measure at both time points within an interval; however, notall individuals were present at all tracking intervals.Results: Physical activity tracking by CA 2-yr intervals were, in general, moderate inmales (r= 0.42–0.59) and females (r= 0.43–0.44). However, the 9- to 11-yr CA interval was low and nonsignificant (r= 0.23–0.30).Likewise, tracking of physical activity by BA 2-yr intervals was moderate to high in males (r= 0.44–0.60) and females (r= 0.39–0.62).Conclusions: Accounting for differences in the timing of biological maturity had little effect on tracking physical activity. However,point estimates for tracking are higher in early adolescence in males and to a greater extent in females when aligned by BA versus CA. This suggests that maturity may be more important in physical activity participation in females than males.Key Words:LONGITUDINAL,CHILDHOOD, ADOLESCENT, PUBERTY Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Women athletes often struggle with attaining the muscular body needed to compete successfully, while at the same time negotiating expectations to conform to a lean and toned ideal. The purpose of this study was to explore women track and field athletes’ meanings of muscularity. Four adult and four adolescent women participated in focus groups and one-on-one interviews, exploring issues surrounding the body, including ideals and expectations. The participants also took photographs to represent their perceptions of their own muscularity. Four themes emerged: (a) many faces of muscularity, (b) a blurred line between appearance and performance, (c) a culture of comparison, and (d) a journey towards self-acceptance. Muscularity was identified as a complex and context specific experience, reflecting the multiple meanings of muscularity and the periods of struggle on the journey towards self-acceptance of the body. Refereed/Peer-reviewed