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Drawing from theory of the multidimensional nature of social identity, the purpose of this study was to assess an adapted measure of social identity in sport that captures the extent to which parents identify with their child's team. Using the Social Identity Questionnaire for Sport (SIQS) with items specifically modified for parents, we assessed competitive youth sport parents' perceptions of ingroup ties, cognitive centrality, and ingroup affect. Using an exploratory and confirmatory analysis process, a conceptually grounded three-factor structure was supported in a sample of 788 ice hockey parents. Measurement invariance testing found strong invariance for the measurement tool based on participants' biological sex, previous sport experience, and proximal competition outcome. Finally, differences emerged when comparing latent means across their child's most recent game outcome. Taken together, this study offers a novel tool to better understand and measure perceptions of social identity among sport parents.

In the current study, the structural and external validity of data derived from two shorter versions of the Multidimensional Assessment of Teamwork in Sport (MATS) were examined using multilevel analyses. Evidence of model–data fit was shown for both a 5-factor model comprising 19 items (with subscales assessing teamwork preparation, execution, evaluation, adjustments, and management of team maintenance) and a single-factor model comprising five items (providing a global estimate of teamwork). In general, data from both versions were positively and significantly correlated with (and distinct from) athletes' perceptions of team cohesion, collective efficacy, performance satisfaction, enjoyment in their sport, and commitment to their team and their coaches' transformational leadership. The measures appear well suited to detect between-teams differences, as evidenced by intraclass correlation coefficients and acceptable reliability estimates of team-level scores. In summary, the 19-item Multidimensional Assessment of Teamwork in Sport-Short and five-item Multidimensional Assessment of Teamwork in Sport-Global provide conceptually and psychometrically sound questionnaires to briefly measure teamwork in sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the pervasive belief that sport can serve as a vital context for positive youth development (PYD), the associated empirical evidence to support these claims is less compelling. To advance the field, the purpose of this scoping review was to better understand how sport-based PYD researchers conceptualize PYD, and both operationally define and measure PYD outcomes. A final sample of 78 non-experimental, quantitative research articles involving 90,665 youth (Mage = 14.16 years) met inclusion criteria. Results revealed a wide and inconsistent array of (a) conceptual models and definitions for PYD, (b) constructs used to operationalize PYD, and (c) measures used to assess these PYD constructs. Only 38 of the studies (48%) explicitly conceptualized PYD using a formal definition and/or framework and there were a total of 243 unique operational definitions to represent PYD through sport (assessed a total of 632 times). In light of these findings, we offer a set of recommendations with the intent to strengthen future quantitative, sport-based PYD research. We believe that adherence to these guidelines carries the potential to enhance future theoretical and practical contributions, and help to better understand sport as a vehicle for positive development for youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to prospectively examine the relationship between social identity and exercise adherence among older adults. Eighty group-based older adult exercise class attendees (Mage = 68.00) completed a baseline questionnaire assessing the three dimensions of social identification (ingroup ties, cognitive centrality, ingroup affect) with their exercise class, and recorded their exercise class attendance using a logbook over a four-month period. Results highlighted in-group affect as a significant predictor of exercise class adherence, meaning older adults who reported positive feelings and emotions associated with their exercise class membership were also more likely to attend class across time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In competitive sport environments, coaches and sport psychology practitioners work to optimize individual and team performance. One strategy identified as a key to optimal sport performance is athlete self-awareness. This study evaluated the efficacy of a novel, online post-event reflection (PER) tool. Using a mixed methods design, 22 members of a competitive women's ice hockey team completed the PER across one season. The PER demonstrated efficacy through tailored insight used as a basis for athlete discussions, complementing other performance-related feedback. Follow-up interviews with three team members and the head coach provided additional support for the efficacy of the PER. Lay summary: In competitive sport environments, coaches and sport psychology practitioners work to optimize individual and team performance. This study provides evidence to support the use a novel, online post-event reflection tool by athletes, coaches, and sport psychology practitioners to enhance athlete self-awareness of mental skills and performance. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: When striving to optimize performance, coaches and sport psychology practitioners should consider strategies to enhance athlete self-awareness The post event reflection (PER) tool is an effective online tool for athletes, coaches, and sport psychology practitioners to enhance athlete self-awareness of mental skills and performance The PER is also a valuable diagnostic tool for coaches and sport psychology practitioners to identify individual athlete and team patterns in mental skills and performance [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systematic analysis of academic publishing and citation practices serves as an indication of the conceptual and intellectual structure of a defined field of study. To highlight the structure of research in sport-based positive youth development, 198 peer-reviewed articles published between 1999 and 2020 were subject to citation network analysis. Descriptive analyses highlighted a steady increase in publication frequency across two decades (annual growth rate = 3.36%) and outlined the most prominent contributors to PYD research as a function of authors, articles, and sources. Further, we mapped the conceptual structure of PYD research in sport using a co-occurrence keyword network and thematic map, and the intellectual structure of the research by producing a co-citation network of articles and authors in the field. In all, this review of publishing and citation practices in sport-based PYD is the first to bring the research together in full to map the emergence of conceptual trends over time as well as the authors, articles, and journals associated with these developments. We conclude with recommendations related to foundational PYD texts, elements of a published manuscript used in bibliometric analysis, and a need for conceptual clarity in the field of sport-based PYD research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980s, research on relative age effects (RAEs) consistently shows that relatively older individuals are advantaged in sport and other contexts. With the recent proliferation of studies on RAEs, periodic knowledge synthesis becomes imperative. Our purpose was to conduct a cross-disciplinary citation network analysis of RAEs literature to enhance our knowledge of RAEs citation structures and the interconnectivity of RAEs studies. We analysed 484 RAEs articles found in Web of Science that were published before 2022. Descriptive results revealed a 12.6% annual growth rate for total RAEs articles published since 1980. The articles appeared in 151 journals, had 1,180 unique authors, and averaged 23.9 citations received. Three theoretical/review papers had the most substantial influence on the field. For the conceptual structure of the field, it was apparent that RAEs research focused mainly on sport performance, maturity, and competition. Regarding intellectual structure, three distinct clusters of articles were cited together, and 13 authorship clusters were detected with few between-cluster connections. The results describe a field with productivity but little interconnectivity among authors and papers. We offer insights into this trend and the role that influential authors/articles have in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through interactions with important social agents (coaches, parents, and peers), youth athletes will infer that being successful in sport falls somewhere along the continuum between (a) improvement and hard work and (b) winning at all costs. The environment created as a result of these interactions has important implications for athlete mental health and future sport participation. This study examined the relationships between peer-initiated motivational climate, athlete wellbeing, and intention to return to the team. Youth athletes (N = 130; M age = 13.45 years) from nine competitive ice hockey teams completed a questionnaire near the end of season. Using mixed-effects linear modeling, findings revealed that a task-related peer climate significantly predicted wellbeing (β = 0.32, 95% CI [0.18, 0.47]) and intention to return (β = 0.43, 95% CI [0.17, 0.68]), whereas an ego-related peer climate was not significantly related to wellbeing (β = 0.10, 95% CI [−0.07, 0.26]) or intentions to return (β = −0.29, 95% CI [−0.58, 0.01]). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used ecological sampling methods to examine associations between youth athletes' experiences receiving and engaging in behaviors indicative of in-group ties, cognitive centrality, and in-group affect (i.e., social identity) during a 3-day competitive ice hockey tournament. Forty-five youth (Mage = 12.39 years; SDage = 1.14 years; 94% male) from nine teams wore an electronically activated recorder that captured brief (50-s) audio observations throughout the tournament. Participants also completed daily diary questionnaires for each day of competition. Multilevel structural equation modeling demonstrated that athletes were more likely to engage in behaviors indicative of in-group affect and cognitive centrality on days when they received as higher-than-average frequency of behaviors indicative of cognitive centrality from teammates, coaches, and parents. The findings suggest that when team members interact in ways that demonstrate they are thinking about their team, they influence fellow members to behave in ways that promote a sense of "us." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging evidence suggests that team success is associated with communication among group members. This study built on those findings by examining the degree to which members on a winning (n = 13) and a losing (n = 13) men's soccer team exchanged task-related information during a single head-to-head game. Social network analysis was used to compute athlete information exchange at the individual and team levels by asking players to identify the specific members with whom they exchanged information during the game. As hypothesized, athletes on the winning team had higher average individual degree centrality and higher network-density scores than athletes on the losing team. This indicates that individual members on the winning team exchanged task-related information with more of their teammates and, as a result, engaged in more collective information exchange as a team. While replication is necessary to increase generalizability, this study suggests a possible link between the degree that team members exchange information (at the individual and team level) and team performance outcome (i.e., win or loss). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organized sport is a context in which to promote positive youth development (PYD). Interventions with a PYD lens are often implemented to promote a wide range of physical or psychosocial benefits through sport participation. To date, no meta-analytic review of the effect of these interventions has been conducted. This is important because such interventions are held in high regard when it comes to policy development. In the present study, we conducted seven meta-analyses to evaluate the overall effect of sport-based interventions on PYD outcomes. Aspects of the study design and sample also were tested as moderators. In total, 35 studies (from 29 published articles) reporting on 74 effect sizes highlighted small to medium effects of PYD interventions on competence, confidence, and life skills outcomes. No significant overall effects were found for outcomes related to character, connection, PYD climate, and health. Further, moderation analyses showed that: (a) character was moderated by study design, sport type, and study duration; (b) competence was moderated by design and participant sex; and, (c) life skills were moderated by design, sport type, duration, and participant age. Implications for theory and practice concerning the use of sport-based interventions to influence PYD are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research in sport has identified a relationship between communication as a social property (i.e., acceptance, distinctiveness, positive conflict, and negative conflict) and task cohesion. Operationalizing communication in this manner is viewing the construct through a social lens. Given that forming task-cohesion perceptions alsomight be linked to howmembers exchange information, examining the relationship between communication as information exchange and cohesion appears worthwhile. Results from a hierarchical regression (N = 176) revealed that team member communication as both a social property and information exchange positively predicted perceived task cohesion while controlling for teamperformance (R²adj = .52). Relevant to the study purpose, it was found that communication as information exchange not only contributed unique variance to task cohesion after controlling for communication as a social property and teamperformance, β = 0.32, sr (semipartial correlation) = .24, but also resulted in a reallocation in variance from the previously significant communication social properties predicting task cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social identity approach has become an important framework for understanding effective leadership. The present study is the first to longitudinally examine the relative impact of coaches' and athlete leaders' identity leadership on athletes' identification with their team, as well as the subsequent relationships with key team and individual outcomes. To investigate these research questions, 18 sport teams (N = 279) completed a questionnaire early and late in their season competition. To analyse these data, we conducted structural equation modelling and controlled both for baseline values and the nested structure of our data. Results revealed that it was mainly the identity leadership of athlete leaders (and not of the coach) early in the season that predicted athletes' team identification later in the season. This increased team identification in turn fed into both team outcomes (i.e., task climate, team resilience, team performance) and individual outcomes (i.e., well-being, burnout, and individual performance). The mediating role of team identification suggests that by building a shared sense of 'we', athlete leaders can improve the team's effectiveness and enhance athletes' well-being. Accordingly, we conclude that empowering athlete leaders and strengthening their identity leadership skills is an important way to unlock sport teams' full potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has found that perceived information exchange between sport team members was positively associated with greater task cohesiveness. The purpose of the current research (two studies) was to extend these findings and test if (a) the proportion of teammates with whom an athlete exchanges information and (b) the proportion of members in the group collectively who exchange information were associated with perceived task cohesion. Participants (N = 205) from intact teams in Study 1 identified the proportion of team members with whom they regularly exchanged information using a nomination procedure, and a one-way ANOVA was used to differentiate between three groups (i.e. athletes who identified that they interacted with a larger, moderate, and smaller proportion of teammates) in terms of task cohesion. Results revealed a significant group effect, partial η2 =.16, p <.001. As predicted, those interacting with a larger proportion of teammates reported greater task cohesion than those interacting with a moderate and smaller proportion of teammates (all ps <.05). Using a hypothetical vignette design, a sample of team sport athletes (N = 177) in Study 2 read a team description and were presented with a corresponding communication network graphic that varied in overall network density. As hypothesised, those exposed to the team portrayed with higher network density reported higher anticipated task cohesion than those exposed to the lower network density team description vignette (p <.001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positive benefits for youth participating in sport have been well documented. Yet, keeping athletes returning to sport has been a concern. While various factors have been examined to explain this attrition, facets of the sport group experience have started to emerge. From a group perspective, it has been established that athlete intentions to return to a sport team the following season are positively associated with perceived team cohesion. While cohesion is a key group construct, other group factors are worthy of examination. The purpose of the current study was to build upon the research base by examining whether the relationship between cohesion and intention to return would be moderated by another group factor—the level of groupness ascribed to the team. At the end of a competitive season, youth soccer athletes (N = 156) completed measures of task cohesion, groupness, and intention to return to their team in the future. Results revealed that the task cohesion-intention to return relationship was significantly moderated by groupness, p = .03. Simple slopes analysis revealed that the strongest relationship between task cohesion and intention to return occurred under conditions of lower groupness. These initial results indicated that intention to return was highest when the team was perceived as higher in task cohesion, regardless of groupness perceptions. However, when the team was perceived to be lower in task cohesion, those who perceived their team as being more like a group indicated a greater willingness to return to the team in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the outcomes of cohesion are well established, we know less about the potential antecedents that inform these perceptions. This study examined the effort-cohesion relationship, with a primary focus on teammate effort as a cue for task cohesion. Youth soccer players (N = 92) completed different measures of effort and task cohesion early and late in the season. Results of a path analysis revealed a significant relationship between the proportion of teammates players nominated as working hard early in the season and players' perceptions of task cohesion early and late in the season (ps < . 05). Late season task cohesion was significantly related to late season self-reported effort (p < .05). Effort nominations received from teammates were not significantly related to task cohesion at either measurement period (ps > .10). bindings are discussed in terms of the conceptualization of cohesion, and implications are drawn regarding the triangulation of self-reported effort metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present study was to examine the reciprocal relationship between peer-initiated motivational climate and group cohesion. Measures of peer climate and cohesion were completed across the first half of a competitive season. Controlling for early season perceptions of the dependent variables, hierarchical regression results from 189 participants revealed that early season ego-related climate negatively predicted task cohesion near midseason (p <.01), and task cohesion at early season positively predicted task-related climate at midseason (p <.01). The current study offers preliminary insight into the direction of the relationships between the two constructs in competitive youth sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]