Achievement goals, competition appraisals, and the psychological and emotional welfare of sport participants

Grounded in the 2x2 achievement goal framework (Elliot & McGregor, 2001), a model was tested examining the hypothesized relationships between approach and avoidance (mastery and performance) goals, challenge and threat appraisals of sport competition, and positive and negative indices of well-being (i.e., self-esteem, positive, and negative affect). A further aim was to determine the degree to which the cognitive appraisals mediated the relationship between the four achievement goals and the indicators of athletes' welfare. Finally, measurement and structural invariance was tested with respect to gender in the hypothesized model. An alternative model was also estimated specifying self-esteem as an antecedent of the four goals and cognitive appraisals. Four hundred and twenty-four team sport participants (Mage=24.25) responded to a multisection questionnaire. Structural equation modeling analyses provided support for the hypothesized model only. Challenge and threat appraisals partially mediated the relationships observed between mastery-based goals and the well-being indicators. Lastly, the hypothesized model was found to be invariant across gender.     

Identification with sport teams as a function of the search for certainty

Based on ideas from subjective uncertainty reduction theory, we examined the extent to which individuals hold similar sport team preferences to their family and friends. We also assessed the extent to which perceived sport importance and personal need for structure are influential in the development of team identification. Australian high school students aged 15.5+/-1.0 years (mean+/-s) completed questionnaires containing the Personal Need for Structure Scale, the Relational-Interdependent Self-Construal scale, a Team Identification Scale, and items assessing perceptions of sport importance and team preferences. As expected, correlations indicated that preferences for sport teams were significantly related to the preferences of family and friends. Separate analyses of variance confirmed the remaining hypotheses. More specifically, individuals who perceived that sport was important identified with the team more than individuals who perceived sport to be less important. Also, individuals high in personal need for structure scored higher in cognitive/affective team identification than those low in this need. Individuals with differing needs for structure did not differ in their scores on other dimensions of team identification. The results support the notion that cognitive/emotional attachments to sport teams are influenced by perceptions of the importance of sport and by needs for subjective structure. It is possible that other psychological motives, such as the desire for self-esteem, facilitate the development of evaluative dimensions of team identification.     

Dynamical analysis of winter terrain park jumps

Jump features in winter terrain parks frequently pose a hazard to patrons and may represent a significant liability risk to winter resorts. By performing a simple dynamic analysis of terrain park jumps, the relative risk to impact injuries for any proposed jump design can be quantified thereby allowing terrain park designers to minimize the risk from this class of injury.     

Understanding the role of shaft stiffness in the golf swing

Theoretically, shaft stiffness can alter shot distance by increasing clubhead speed or altering clubhead orientation at impact. A 3D forward dynamics model of a golfer and flexible club simulated the downswing. A genetic algorithm optimized the coordination of the model’s muscles (four torque generators) to maximize clubhead speed. The maximum torque output and maximum rate of torque development from the torque generators were varied to simulate the swing of golfers that generate different clubhead speeds. Four shafts of varying stiffness (flexible, regular, stiff, and completely rigid) were entered into these simulations to examine the role that shaft flexibility had on clubhead speed and orientation at impact. Shaft stiffness was found to have a meaningful effect only on clubhead orientation (dynamic loft and dynamic close) at impact. There was no evidence to support the premise that matching the stiffness properties of the shaft with the golfer would improve clubhead speed.     

Factor structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised,Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test,and Peabody Individual Achievement Test in a psychiatric sample

This study analyzed the factor structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) in a psychiatric sample that ranged in age from 6 to 16 years (mean age = 11.1 years; SD = 3.0). The resultant factor structure of this sample was compared with patterns reported on normal and learning-disabled children. The subjects were 329 children under inpatient and outpatient care who had been referred for emotional disturbances. The results were similar to previous factor analytic studies of the WISC-R and PIAT, showing four factors: Verbal Comprehension, Verbal Achievement, Perceptual Organization, and Number Facility. The implications for the interpretation of these tests in a psychiatric sample and the appropriateness of a maximum likelihood technique in analysis of psychometric data are discussed.