Training patterns of athletes during pregnancy and postpartum.

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine exercise patterns and psychological variables mediating a return to training and competition after pregnancy. Competitive female athletes who had given birth within the last 10 years completed surveys concerning (a) training patterns before, during, and after childbirth, (b) childbirth complications and training advice, (c) perceptions of success in their postpartum comebacks to training, and (d) self-efficacy, social support, and perceived barriers to training during pregnancy and after childbirth. Results indicated that women decreased both cardiovascular and resistance training during pregnancy. Additionally, training efforts during pregnancy were independent of those during the pre- and postpartum periods. This finding suggests that athletes may be able to alter their training patterns during pregnancy without a significant impact on their postpartum training program.

Self-efficacy, psychosocial factors, and exercise behavior in traditional versus modified cardiac rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND: Self-efficacy and social support are established determinants of exercise adherence and have potential usefulness for tailoring independent exercise regimens for cardiac patients. Highly supervised traditional cardiac rehabilitation programs may be a barrier for independent exercise self-efficacy in low - and moderate-risk patients. PURPOSE: The authors evaluated changes in psychosocial measures including self-efficacy and social support in 80 cardiac patients with low to moderate risk randomized to a traditional cardiac rehabilitation protocol (TP) or modified protocol (MP). These measures also were assessed for their potential to predict subsequent exercise behavior. METHODS: The TP (n = 38) emphasized a supervised exercise regimen and included continuous electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring for 3 months. The lower cost MP (n = 42) emphasized independent exercise and included group education/support meetings, and gradually weaned patients from continuous ECG monitoring and direct medical supervision. RESULTS: Repeated measures analyses of variance indicated that MP patients had higher levels of self-efficacy for independent exercise without continuous ECG monitoring (P < .05). No other protocol differences were found. Multiple regression analyses using the pooled sample (excluding dropouts) indicated that self-efficacy for independent exercise was the only significant predictor of exercise over 6 months (R2=.28 [adjusted R2= .221 P < .01). In contrast to previous reports, social support for exercise was not a significant predictor of exercise behavior. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest cardiac rehabilitation programs for low- and moderate-risk patients should emphasize educational and patient monitoring methods that promote patient self-efficacy for independent exercise. Programs that emphasize highly supervised exercise including longer term use of continuous ECG monitoring may impair self-efficacy for independent exercise. Longer-term studies are needed to fully determine the value of using psychosocial measures for designing individualized exercise programs and predicting long-term exercise behavior in cardiac patients.

The relation of self-efficacy measures to sport performance: a meta-analytic review.

This meta-analysis examined the relationship between self-efficacy and performance in sport. Based on 45 studies (102 correlations), the average correlation between self-efficacy and sport performance was .38. Given the heterogeneity of findings, follow-up univariate and multivariate moderator analyses were conducted. Results indicated that the most important moderator was concordance, thereby highlighting the importance of matching the self-efficacy and performance measures. Additional moderators we examined included the types of self-efficacy measures, the types of performance measures, the nature of the task, and the time of assessments. These variables accounted for approximately 44% of the variance in the self-efficacy-performance relationship. Practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Perceived team and player efficacy in hockey.

This study was designed to examine both the pattern of team and player efficacy across a season of competition and the relationships among player efficacy, team efficacy, and team performance in collegiate ice hockey. The team and player efficacies of hockey players from 6 teams in a midwestern collegiate hockey league were assessed prior to 32 games. Official game statistics were factor analyzed to produce one useable performance measure, performance outcome. A consensus analysis demonstrated that players held homogeneous beliefs regarding their own and their teams' abilities to perform successfully. A meta-analysis of the regression equations for each team confirmed the homogeneity among teams and the predictive superiority of team efficacy in predicting team performance. Also, when team wins and losses were analyzed across the season, team efficacy significantly increased after a win and significantly decreased after a loss, but player efficacy was not affected.

Effects of batting performance feedback on motivational factors and batting performance in youth baseball.

The effects of batting feedback on motivational factors and batting of young baseball players were investigated. Hypotheses were that, compared to participants receiving feedback or no feedback on their batting average, those receiving contact average would exhibit (a) a greater increase in batting efficacy, (b) more enjoyment, satisfaction, and persistence, and (c) superior batting performance. Participants were 78 children from nine teams. Although analyses did not support the hypotheses, performance-to-efficacy correlations as well as other data provided tentative evidence for the premise that contact average may be more appropriate feedback for young players because (compared to batting average) it is less ambiguous and is based on a more realistic definition of success. Limitations and implications for coaches were discussed.

Teacher versus peer models revisited: effects on motor performance and self-efficacy.

This study reinvestigated and extended the findings of Landers and Landers (1973), which examined the influence of skilled and unskilled teacher and peer models on motor performance. Sixth grade females (N = 100) were randomly assigned to groups in a 2 x 2 (Model Type x Model Skill) factorial design or to a no-model group. In the treatment groups, subjects observed one of four unfamiliar models--(a) a skilled teacher, (b) an unskilled teacher, (c) a skilled peer, or (d) an unskilled peer--perform on the Bachman ladder task. Subjects performed 30 trials of the task and also completed self-efficacy questionnaires on three occasions. Results showed that subjects who watched a skilled model performed better than subjects who watched an unskilled model. Unlike the Landers and Landers study, no model type by model skill interaction was found. In addition, the skilled model group reported higher efficacy beliefs than the control group after performing and were more efficacious than the unskilled model subjects both after watching the model and after performing. These results suggest when students view unfamiliar models, the skill rather than the status of the model may be more salient.

Physical activity and adolescent female psychological development.

This study explored the relationship between self-reported past and present physical activity levels and high school adolescent women's self-image, sense of mastery, gender role identity, self-perceived physical ability, and self-perceived attractiveness. The Offer Self-image Questionnaire and the Bem Sex Role Inventory were administered to 149 high school adolescent women who were categorized as either physically active, physically inactive, decreasing in physical activity, or increasing physical activity. Results indicated the physically active group members reported self-image and coping characteristics that were significantly more positive than those reported by the physically inactive group members. They also reported significantly more masculine and feminine characteristics and higher physical ability ratings than inactive group members. The decreased activity group did not differ from any of the other groups. These results suggest that physical activity in adolescence, in comparison with physical inactivity, is associated with healthier emotional expression and emotional control, and higher levels of perceived mastery and coping skills for adolescent women. A decrease in physical activity over the course of adolescence does not necessarily result in psychological distress for adolescent women.

Psychological characteristics of elite young athletes.

The psychological aspects of youth sports participation is one area of research that has been identified as important by parents, coaches, and sport psychology researchers. Unfortunately, little research has been conducted on this topic with elite young athletes. This paper briefly reviews the psychological research on children in sport in the areas of participation motivation and psychological stress and then focuses on the psychological research with elite young athletes. The last section of the paper discusses issues and recommendations for studying the elite young athlete.

The social learning of aggression in youth football in the United States.

Our investigation was designed to examine a) the extent to which young male football players and nonplayers learned about illegal aggressive actions through the observation of college and professional football; b) if there was a relationship between youth football players' observations of illegal aggressive acts and the transmission of those acts to players' own games; and c) if there were differences between high school players' and youth league players' awareness of illegal aggressive acts and the use of those acts in their games. The volunteer subjects were 347 high school football players and 122 high school nonplayers between the ages of 15 and 18 years, and 125 youth league football players and 133 junior high or middle school nonplayers between the ages of 12 and 14 years. Results revealed that players consumed significantly more college and professional football than nonplayers. Although statistically significant, players learned, through observation, only one more illegal aggressive act on the average than nonplayers. High school players learned an average of only 1.4 more aggressive acts than youth league players. Results also revealed significant correlations between the number of illegal aggressive acts that players observed and the number of those acts used in their own games for both high school (r = .62) and youth league (r = .50) players. It appears that many illegal aggressive acts are observed through college and professional football by young football players and nonplayers and a relationship exists between the observation of illegal acts and their subsequent use in players' games.

Perceived competence among interscholastic sport participants and dropouts.

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between perceived competence and length of involvement in sport for sport participants and their counterparts who discontinued involvement. The relationship between participants (n = 239) and dropouts (n = 43) in a number of school-sponsored sports, years of experience and gender on perceived physical competence was examined using Harter's (1979) Perceived Competence Scale for Children. Results indicated a significant but somewhat low relationship between length of participation experience and perceived physical competence. The findings also indicated that participants in school-sponsored sports were significantly higher in perceived physical competence than were dropouts, and males were significantly higher in perceived physical competence than females.

The significance of "significant" results.

Based upon new analyses we have performed, Martens' (1969) CE data are shown to lack both internal and external validity. Also, compared to other PSI techniques, the chemical mixture used in Martens' study and our (1978) study is shown to produce prints of inconsistent quality.

Social facilitation during the initial stage of motor learning: a re-examination of Martens' audience study.

This study partially replicated Martens' (1969a) social-facilitation study of motor behavior. His very robust performance findings provided impressive confirmation for Zajonc's hypothesis, and his arousal findings have since been used as evidence for a nonlearned-drive basis for social facilitation. The present study also extended Martens' investigation by examining the separate and combined effects of an audience and videotape camera. The effects due to the presence of the audience and camera were not additive; instead, the audience detrimentally affected subjects' performance consistency and the camera resulted in more trials with errors greater than 30 msec after the performance criteria had been attained. Martens' most robust findings for constant error were not replicated, nor were some of his physiological arousal findings. His pattern of constant error results over all trials is atypical of known learning strategies that subjects use to reduce error over successive trials. Overall, audience effects accounted for only a very small portion of the variance.