Linking Perfectionism with Moral Behaviors in Sport: The Mediating Role of Burnout and Moral Disengagement.

Purpose: Research has identified a range of intrapersonal variables associated with moral behaviors in sport. However, research investigating how perfectionism and burnout are associated with prosocial and antisocial behavior toward teammates and opponents in sport has received scant attention. In the present study, we address this issue by examining whether perfectionism is associated with prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport directly and indirectly via burnout and moral disengagement. Method: A total of 312 team sport players completed validated measures for each variable. Results: Path analyses revealed that perfectionistic concerns had a negative relationship with prosocial behavior toward teammates and an indirect positive association with antisocial behavior toward both teammates and opponents via being positively associated with burnout, which in turn, was positively associated with moral disengagement. In contrast, perfectionistic strivings had a positive association with prosocial behavior toward teammates, and an indirect positive association with antisocial behavior toward teammates and opponents via moral disengagement. Conclusion: Our findings offer new insights into how perfectionism and burnout are associated with prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport, as well as highlight the need to consider perfectionistic tendencies and approaches to help reduce burnout and moral disengagement in the regulation of antisocial behavior in sport.

Perfectionism and doping willingness in athletes: The mediating role of moral disengagement.

Although trait perfectionism has been related to doping attitudes in athletes, research investigating variables that could account for relationships between perfectionism and doping outcomes has received scant attention. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether perfectionism was related to doping willingness directly, and indirectly via moral disengagement. We recruited a sample of 204 student athletes (M age = 19.12 years, SD = 1.17, n = 81 females - 39.70%) who completed measures of perfectionistic strivings, perfectionistic concerns, doping moral disengagement, and doping willingness. Multiple regression analyses revealed a significant positive relationship between perfectionistic concerns and doping willingness (ß = .13, p < .05) and a nonsignificant relationship between perfectionistic strivings and doping willingness (ß = -.01, p > .05). Moreover, bias-corrected bootstrapped indirect effects revealed that doping moral disengagement mediated the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and doping willingness (ab = .12; 95% CI = 0.02 to 0.21). The findings suggest that the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and doping extends beyond attitudes - to doping willingness - and the propensity to morally disengage explains why this is the case.

A three-sample study of perfectionism and field test performance in athletes.

Field tests are commonly used by sport scientists for performance monitoring and evaluation. While perfectionism predicts performance in a range of contexts, it is currently unclear whether perfectionism predicts performance in such tests. To address this lack of understanding, the present study examined the relationships between perfectionism and fitness-based field test performance across three athlete samples. After completing a measure of perfectionism (striving for perfection and negative reactions to imperfection), sample one (n = 129 student athletes) participated in a series of countermovement jumps and 20-metre sprint trials, sample two (n = 136 student athletes) participated in an agility task, and sample three (n = 116 junior athletes) participated in the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test (level one). Striving for perfection predicted better sprint and Yo-Yo test performance. Negative reactions to imperfection predicted worse sprint performance. Mini meta-analyses of the combined data (N = 381) showed that striving for perfection was positively related to performance (r+ = .24), but negative reactions to imperfection was unrelated to performance (r+ = -.05). The present findings indicate that striving for perfection may predict better fitness-based field test performance, while negative reactions to imperfection appears to be ambiguous.

The relationship between perfectionistic self-presentation and reactions to impairment and disability following spinal cord injury.

Univariate and multivariate relationships between perfectionistic self-presentation and reactions to impairment and disability following spinal cord injury were examined. A total of 144 adults with spinal cord injury ( M = 48.18 years old, SD = 15.96) completed self-report measures. Analyses revealed that, after controlling for time since injury and gender, perfectionistic self-presentation predicted six of eight reactions, shock, depression and internalised anger particularly strongly. In addition, at multivariate level, perfectionistic self-presentation was positively related to non-adaptive reactions and negatively related to adaptive reactions. The findings suggest that perfectionistic self-presentation may contribute to poorer psychosocial adaptation to spinal cord injury.

A Three-Wave Longitudinal Test of Self-Determination Theory's Mediation Model of Engagement and Disaffection in Youth Sport.

Research adopting self-determination theory (SDT) supports a mediation model whereby coach motivational styles (autonomy support and interpersonal control) predict athletes' engagement and disaffection in youth sport via the satisfaction and frustration of psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness). Our study extends this research by examining SDT's mediation model longitudinally with three waves of data. Two hundred fifty-two youth sports participants (Mage = 12.98; SD = 1.84; range = 11-17; female n = 67) completed measures of study variables at the start, middle, and end of a competitive soccer season. Cross-lagged path analyses revealed that associations between the two coach motivational styles and athletes' engagement were mediated by psychological need satisfaction. Furthermore, a positive reciprocal association between psychological need satisfaction and engagement emerged over time. This study therefore supports the temporal assumptions underpinning SDT's mediation model but, importantly, evidences a mutually reinforcing interplay between athletes' psychological needs and their engaged behavior.

Relationships between the coach-created motivational climate and athlete engagement in youth sport.

Youth sport is a source of well-being for adolescents, yet experiences vary and attrition can be high. We sought to better understand the coach behaviors that foster positive experiences in youth sport by examining relationships between the motivational climate and athlete engagement (viz., confidence, dedication, enthusiasm, and vigor). We reasoned that a mastery climate (emphasis on effort and learning) would correspond with higher engagement, whereas a performance climate (emphasis on ability and outcome) was expected to correspond with lower engagement. Two-hundred sixty adolescent soccer players completed measures of engagement and perceived coach motivational climate. All dimensions of engagement were positively predicted by a mastery climate. Furthermore, cognitive aspects of engagement were positively predicted by a performance climate. Canonical correlation analysis indicated that a composite of engagement was positively associated with a mastery climate. Results suggest that a mastery climate offers a means of promoting higher levels of overall engagement.