ABSTRACT
The Athlete Stress Inventory of 49 items was developed. Using factor analysis on the intercorrelations of responses of 148 women student-athletes, four orthogonal factors of stress in athletes were identified-Negative Mood, Team Compatibility, Physical Well-being, and Academic Efficacy. Scales for these factors were reliable and valid. The predictive validity of these scores was investigated by correlations with the athletic performance of 32 women athletes on three intercollegiate teams-tennis, gymnastics, and basketball. Stress scores (except Emotional Mood) reported four days prior to competition tended to be significantly correlated with performance for the individual sports (tennis and gymnastics) but not for the group sport (basket-ball). The correlation involving Physical Well-being was not significant for gymnasts.
Subject(s)
Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data , Sports Medicine , Stress, Physiological/diagnosis , Stress, Psychological/diagnosis , Adaptation, Psychological , Anxiety/diagnosis , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Female , Humans , Life Change Events , Psychometrics , Reproducibility of Results , Sports/psychologyABSTRACT
This study examined the relations between physical activity, weight discrepancies, body-cathexis, and indicators of psychological well-being in college women. Factor analysis and zero-order correlation, and partial correlation analyses show that physical activity was not directly related to psychological well-being, however, physical activity did reduce weight discrepancies and improved body-cathexis. When specific body types were examined, there were distinctive patterns of satisfaction with body parts and processes depending on whether the women's body types conformed to or deviated from idealized weights and heights.
