Mental Preparation Strategies of Olympic Archers During Competition: an exploratory investigation

Extensive interviews were conducted with all eight members of the 1996 Italian Olympic archery team regarding psychological factors associated with excellence and mental preparation strategies adopted during competition. Hierarchical inductive analysis revealed that positive expectations, concentration, facilitating emotions, body awareness and technical preparation were the mental aspects described by archers necessary for effective performance. Furthermore, the archers outlined a variety of mental preparation strategies including (a) autonomic control (emotion control, somatic control, internal dialogue, and focus on shooting), (b) imagery (visualization, self‐talk), (c) task‐focused concentration (body and action control, thought control) and (d) reaction to mistake (focus on correct execution, mistake disregard, shooting analysis). The idiosyncratic nature of the athlete's competition strategies highlights the need of gaining information about the particular demands of the sport and the mental procedures spontaneously developed by the performer, to provide suitable counselling or psychological intervention.     

Student satisfaction in higher education: a meta-analytic study

This paper discusses the results of a meta-analysis performed to identify key antecedent and consequent constructs of satisfaction in higher education. We offer an integrated model to achieve a better understanding of satisfaction in the context of higher education. To accomplish this objective, we identified 83 studies that were valid and relevant to the research objective of the current study, generating a total of 469 observations. We identified studies published from 1986 to 2016 and analyzed six antecedent dimensions (perceived value of educational services, resources provided to the student, service quality perception, marketing orientation, identity of the higher education institution, university environment) and one consequent dimension related to satisfaction. The 7 dimensions exhibited a total of 51 relationships. We believe that the originality of the findings clearly contributes to future academic research in higher education.     

Les graphes de flux dans l'Enseignement secondaire

Sans résuméTravail effectué dans le cadre du groupe de recherche en didactique de la mathématique du Conseil National des Recherches.     

Students' transition into higher education: The role of self-efficacy,regulation strategies,and academic achievements

Transition into higher education (HE) has received increased interest in recent years, since it represents a challenging period for students. The aim of this study was to further understand the associations between self-efficacy, academic achievements, and regulation in first-year university students during their transition into HE. The convenience sample consisted of 374 first-year university students (230 females, 61.5%), aged from 18 to 33 (M = 19.86, SD = 1.51) and recruited from an Italian university. Self-efficacy was assessed using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire; regulation strategies were assessed with the Inventory of Learning Patterns of Students; and a self-reported grade point average was taken as an indicator of each student's academic performance. Result shows that students' self-efficacy was positively associated with self-regulation and negatively associated with a lack of regulation. Students with higher self-efficacy and self-regulation strategies had better academic performance. Female students performed better in academic activities and adopted more external regulation strategies. The findings represent an opportunity for university institutions to consider the interventions they provide to first-year students in order to facilitate the successful transition from secondary school; they also provide researchers with further knowledge about the effect of self-efficacy, and regulation strategies on students' adjustment to HE.     

Multifaceted Impact of Self-Efficacy Beliefs on Academic Functioning

This research analyzed the network of psychosocial influences through which efficacy beliefs affect academic achievement. Parents' sense of academic efficacy and aspirations for their children were linked to their children's scholastic achievement through their perceived academic capabilities and aspirations. Children's beliefs in their efficacy to regulate their own learning and academic attainments, in turn, contributed to scholastic achievement both independently and by promoting high academic aspirations and prosocial behavior and reducing vulnerability to feelings of futility and depression. Children's perceived social efficacy and efficacy to manage peer pressure for detrimental conduct also contributed to academic attainments but through partially different paths of affective and self-regulatory influence. The impact of perceived social efficacy was mediated through academic aspirations and a low level of depression. Perceived self-regulatory efficacy was related to academic achievement both directly and through adherence to moral self-sanctions for detrimental conduct and problem behavior that can subvert academic pursuits. Familial socioeconomic status was linked to children's academic achievement only indirectly through its effects on parental aspirations and children's prosocialness. The full set of self-efficacy, aspirational, and psychosocial factors accounted for a sizable share of the variance in academic achievement.     

The Theory of Planned Behavior Within the Stages of the Transtheoretical Model: Latent Structural Modeling of Stage-Specific Prediction Patterns in Physical Activity

This is the first study to test whether the stages of change of the transtheoretical model are qualitatively different through exploring discontinuity patterns in theory of planned behavior (TPB) variables using latent multigroup structural equation modeling (MSEM) with AMOS. Discontinuity patterns in terms of latent means and prediction patterns for the different stage groups were examined. Adults (n = 3,462) were assessed on their physical activity stages of change and TPB variables. The TPB was separately examined within the five stage groups. The TPB measurement model fit was acceptable. Latent mean analyses with post-hoc contrast and MSEM indicated discontinuity patterns. Results underscore the qualitative differences between the stages that may guide further research and the design of interventions integrating the approaches.     

Efficacy of an intervention to improve fluency in children with developmental dyslexia in a regular orthography

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a method to improve reading fluency in children with dyslexia. The method, which we named "subsyllabic," was aimed at automatizing the recognition of syllables within words in connected texts, presented by ad hoc software. Two versions of this method--one self-paced and the other one with automatic syllable identification-were compared to a method based on phonemic awareness, assisted reading, and other psycholinguistic exercises. The efficacy of the two versions of the subsyllabic method was further studied by repeating the first version twice and the second version three times using an AB design, with each phase lasting approximately 3 months. This part of the study provided not only follow-up data but also useful information on if and how fluency may change after repeated treatment. Outcomes obtained by a total of 63 children with dyslexia suggested that the subsyllabic method was superior to the control method and that the use of an automatic presentation of target syllables produced better results. Furthermore, we observed that fluency improved approximately at the same rate after each treatment repetition. Our data support the possibility of improving reading fluency at a significant clinical level, at least for regular orthographies. The crucial component of the subsyllabic method seems to be the facilitation of syllable recognition within words in connected texts and the emphasis on their rapid recognition using an automatized procedure.     

The geometric curvature of the spine during the sirshasana,the yoga’s headstand

This study analysed the behaviour of the geometric curvature of the spine during sirshasana. The position of dorsal retroreflective markers was computed via stereophotogrammetric analysis in six males and five females (29.4 ± 8.8 years, 63.0 ± 11.4 kg, 1.66 ± 0.08 m [average ± standard deviation]). The spinal points were projected onto the sagittal and frontal planes of the trunk, a polynomial was fitted to the data and the two-dimensional geometric curvature was quantified. The inferior lumbar lordosis decreased compared to the orthostatic position and gait, which may favour the posterior protrusion of the lumbar spinal nucleus pulposus in people with posterior herniation. The lateral deviation at the middle of the thoracic spine increases during sirshasana, which may reflect increased difficulties for postural control and spinal loads. It could be useful for promoting positive spinal structural and functional chronic adaptations for healthy participants, if the yoga programme is carefully planned and the spinal alignment is carefully monitored during a headstand. However, it may aggravate some spinal diseases, especially scoliosis.