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Recent studies have identified symptoms related to the mental disorders in athletes and have highlighted the importance of exploring factors that may contribute to athletes' mental health. The current study examined whether self-criticism operates as a mediator process in the association between athletes' perceptions of coach-related critical attitudes with depressive symptoms, and psychological health. 263 Portuguese adults, who compete in different sports, and completed self-report instruments on an online survey took part in the study. Path analyses results indicated the credibility of the examined model that accounted for 32% and 28% of the variance of psychological health and depressive symptoms, respectively. Athletes who perceived their coach as more critical in relation to their attitudes and performance reported higher levels of self-criticism, that tended to be linked with more symptoms of depression and lower levels of psychological health. These findings clarified the role of critical attitudes from the coach on athletes' mental health and indicated that self-criticism is a maladaptive process in dealing with failures. This study offers significant insights into clinical psychology in the context of sport by suggesting that critical attitudes of the coach as perceived by the athletes and self-criticism may associate to negative indicators of mental health., Author(s): Sara Oliveira [sup.1] , Marina Cunha [sup.1] , António Rosado [sup.2] , Cláudia Ferreira [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.8051.c, 0000 0000 9511 4342, CINEICC - Center for Research in [...]

The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Athletes' Perceptions of the Coach-related Critical Attitudes Scale (APoCCAS), using three independent samples of Portuguese adult athletes. In the first stage, the items were developed to assess athletes' perceptions of coach-related critical attitudes and the items' factorial structure were explored via a principal components analysis. In a second stage, the findings of Principal Components Analysis were confirmed and cross-validated using confirmatory factor analysis with two independent samples of athletes. The development of a pool of items resulted in a 10-item with a unifactorial structure. This scale presented high internal consistency, adequate convergent validity, and presented a negative association with self-reassurance and positive associations with self-criticism, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. The APoCCAS demonstrated to be a short and reliable measure of the athletes' perceptions regarding coach-related critical attitudes and seems to be useful for practice and research fields in clinical sport psychology. By highlighting the associations between the athletes' perception of coach-related critical attitudes and mental health indicators, this study could create a space to alert coaches towards the effect of their attitudes on athletes' mental health., Author(s): Sara Oliveira [sup.1] , Inês A. Trindade [sup.1] , António Rosado [sup.2] , Marina Cunha [sup.1] , Cláudia Ferreira [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.8051.c, 0000 0000 9511 4342, CINEICC [...]

The present study assesses the factor structure, psychometric adequacy, and invariance across sex and age of the Relational Provisions Loneliness Questionnaire (RPLQ). Discriminant validity with an external criterion was also tested. In a sample of Portuguese adolescents, from 7th to 9th grade (N = 817), Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) were conducted to test a four-factor model of loneliness (lack of integration and/or intimacy in peer group and/or family). Results evidenced empirical support for the structure of the RPLQ loneliness scale, which fitted very well the proposed model, and provided adequate fit to the Portuguese data. There was substantial support for the construct validity (factorial, convergent, and discriminant) and reliability of the RPLQ. Measurement invariance (configural, metric, and scalar) was established across sex and age. Finally, it was assured discriminant validity, provided by the contrast with the social functioning dimensions in peer group. Overall, our findings support the conceptualization of loneliness in adolescence by peer- and family-related loneliness through lack of integration and intimacy. In a single instrument, the RPLQ loneliness scale combines measures of four important aspects of adolescents' social life. This seems to be an adequate instrument to be used in the study of adolescents' loneliness, in its different forms and across relational contexts.

The coach-created motivational climate refers to the environmental factors that influence the athletes' emotional, cognitive, physical and social experiences and could be more or less empowering. The present study aimed to determine the connection between the empowering and disempowering motivational climate (EDMC) with other variables, from several sports (328 males and 118 females; M age = 17.60 years; SD = 6.27) completed questionnaires assessing perceptions of coach-created motivational climates, burnout, fear of failure and grit. Structural equation modeling revealed that the empowering motivational climate is negatively related with burnout and with fear of failure. In addition, the disempowering motivational climate is positively related with burnout and with fear of failure. In turn, the grit dimension, perseverance of effort, was not significantly associated with burnout; it showed, however, a significantly negative association with fear of failure. The EDMCs were not related with grit-perseverance of effort and grit-consistence of interests. Overall, this study suggests that creating empowering environments can play a crucial role in mitigating emotional and physical exhaustion, as well as the fear of failure that athletes often experience in the context of sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aimed to validate The Compassionate Coach Scale-Coaches Version (CCS-CV) that assesses the compassion coaches' experience towards their athletes. Two independent samples of coaches completed self-reported measures. The calibration sample (N = 196) was used to test the structure of the CCS-CV through a confirmatory factor analysis, and the validation sample (N = 287) was used to confirm its structure, through cross-validation, and examine aspects of its validity. One higher-order factor with two lower-order factors presented an adequate fit to the data. CCS-CV demonstrated high internal consistency, convergent, discriminant, and external validity. CCS-CV is a reliable measure that allows the assessment of the compassion coaches' experience towards their athletes and seems to be a significant contribution for practical and research fields in sports context. The present study contributes to the availability of a new instrument that allows an assessment of qualities that could be beneficial to coaches and their athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to test a model that hypothesized that the compassionate coach, as perceived by the athletes, has an impact on athlete-related social safeness and psychological health, through shame and self-criticism. The sample comprised 270 Portuguese adult athletes, who practiced different competitive sports. The path analysis results confirmed the adequacy of the proposed model, which explained 45% of the psychological health's variance. Results demonstrated that athletes who perceive their coaches as more compassionate tend to present higher levels of social safeness (feelings of belonging to the team) and of psychological health, through lower levels of shame and self-criticism. These novel findings suggest the importance of the adoption of supportive, warm, safe, and compassionate attitudes from coaches in athletes' mental health. This study also offers important insights by suggesting that feelings of acceptance and connectedness in team relationships may be at the root of athletes' emotional processes and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purposes of the present multistudy were to develop and provide initial construct validity for measures based on the model of parental involvement in sport (Study 1) and examine structural relationships among the constructs of the model (Study 2). In Study 1 (n.sub.parents = 342, n.sub.athletes = 223), a confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify the psychometric properties of the measures. Content and construct validity were evaluated, as well individual and composite reliability. Multi-group analysis with two independent samples provided evidence of factorial invariance. In Study 2 (n.sub.parents = 754, n.sub.athletes = 438), structural equation modeling analysis supported the hypothesised model in which athletes' perceptions of parents' behaviours mediated the relationship between parents' reported behaviours and the athletes' psychological variables conducive to their achievement in sport. The findings provide support for the parental involvement in sport model and demonstrate the role of perceptions of parents' behaviours on young athletes' cognitions in sport., Author(s): Pedro Teques [sup.1] [sup.2] , Sidónio Serpa [sup.3] , António Rosado [sup.3] , Carlos Silva [sup.4] , Luís Calmeiro [sup.5] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) School of Social Sciences, Education and [...]

Cultural intelligence is the capability of a person to adapt effectively to different cultures. This capability has been investigated in areas such as management, military, and education. However, there are no studies in sport referring to this capability. It is important to study cultural intelligence in sport because of the increased globalisation resulting from coaches' and athletes' migration across countries and clubs. This study aimed to develop the Cultural Intelligence in Sport (CQsport) and examine its factorial structure and psychometric properties; and examine coaches' cultural intelligence and their perceived cross-cultural training needs. Participants were 209 football coaches either with or without international experience. Participants completed an online survey consisting of CQsport and a cross-cultural training needs questionnaire. We used a multigroup analysis, within the structural equation model (SEM) approach, to test group differences in the CQsport and performed a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for comparisons across groups concerning cross-cultural training needs. Coaches with international experience rated themselves with more cultural intelligence in the sports context than coaches with no international experience on the metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioural dimensions. Coaches with international experience also self-rated fewer training needs than coaches without international experience. This study represents the first attempt to examine football coaches' cultural intelligence and their cross-cultural training needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]