Profiles of perfectionism, parental climate, and burnout among competitive junior athletes.

Recent research suggests that groups of athletes which differ in terms of perfectionism and perceptions of achievement climate can be identified. Moreover, these groups also differ in terms of burnout symptoms. The purpose of the current study was to extend this research by examining whether discernible groups can be identified based on scores of perfectionism and perceptions of parent-initiated climate and, then, whether these groups differ in terms of burnout. Two-hundred and thirty-seven Swedish junior athletes (124 males and 113 females aged 16-19) from a variety of sports completed measures of athlete burnout, multidimensional perfectionism, and parent-initiated motivational climate. Latent profile analysis identified four groups: non-perfectionistic athletes in a task-involving climate, moderately perfectionistic athletes in a task-involving climate, highly perfectionistic athletes in a task-involving climate, and highly perfectionistic athletes in a mixed climate. The latter two groups reported higher levels of burnout in comparison to other groups. The findings suggest that junior athletes high in perfectionism may be at comparatively greater risk to burnout and that this may especially be the case when they perceive their parents to emphasize concerns about failure and winning without trying one's best.

Tobacco use habits among Swedish female youth athletes and the influence of the social environment.

AIM: This study examined the prevalence of tobacco habits and the influence of the social environment among Swedish female athletes representing both individual and team sports in Sweden. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A self-reported cross-sectional survey was performed with 791 female athletes 15-24 years old representing ten of the most common sports in Sweden. The questions related to the participants' involvement in sports and their tobacco habits. RESULTS: Findings revealed that a large proportion of the female athletes had never smoked (65%) or used snus (74%). However, a considerable portion of the participants had tried smoking (27%) or using snus (20%), especially those involved in team sports. Results also showed statistically significant associations between female athletes' smoking habits and those of both their mothers and their peers, but not with the tobacco habits of their coaches, indicating that coaches do not influence the female athletes' use of tobacco. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, this study indicated that the vast majority of female athletes did not use tobacco. A significant portion had sometimes tried tobacco, especially members of team sports, but this behaviour did not seem to be influenced by the tobacco habits of their coaches.