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A Multilevel Approach to Motivational Climate in Physical Education and Sport Settings: An Individual or a Group Level Construct?

Athanasios Papaioannou, Herbert W. Marsh, and Yannis Theodorakis

Motivational climate is inherently a group-level construct so that longitudinal, multilevel designs are needed to evaluate its effects on subsequent outcomes. Based on a large sample of physical education classes (2,786 students, 200 classes, 67 teachers), we evaluated the effects of classroom motivational climate (task-involving and ego-involving) and individual goal orientations (task and ego) on individual students’ outcomes (intrinsic motivation, attitudes, physical self-concept, and exercise intentions) collected early (T1) and late (T2) in the school year. Using a multilevel approach, we found significant class-average differences in motivational climate at T1 that had positive effects on T2 outcomes after controlling T1 outcomes. Although there was no support for a “compatibility hypothesis” (e.g., that task oriented students were more benefited by task-involving motivation climates), the stability of goal orientations was undermined by incompatible climates.

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Motivational Predictors of Physical Education Students’ Effort, Exercise Intentions, and Leisure-Time Physical Activity: A Multilevel Linear Growth Analysis

Ian M. Taylor, Nikos Ntoumanis, Martyn Standage, and Christopher M. Spray

Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000), the current study explored whether physical education (PE) students’ psychological needs and their motivational regulations toward PE predicted mean differences and changes in effort in PE, exercise intentions, and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) over the course of one UK school trimester. One hundred and seventy-eight students (69% male) aged between 11 and 16 years completed a multisection questionnaire at the beginning, middle, and end of a school trimester. Multilevel growth models revealed that students’ perceived competence and self-determined regulations were the most consistent predictors of the outcome variables at the within- and between-person levels. The results of this work add to the extant SDT-based literature by examining change in PE students’ motivational regulations and psychological needs, as well as underscoring the importance of disaggregating within- and between-student effects.

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The Impact of an Experiential Education Program on the Self-Perceptions and Perceived Social Regard of Physical Education Students

Sandra L. Gibbons, Vicki Ebbeck, Rebecca Y. Concepcion, and Kin-Kit Li

This study investigated the effectiveness of an 8-month Team Building through Physical Challenges (TBPC; Glover & Midura, 1992) program on the self-perceptions and perceived social regard of middle school physical education students (N = 1802). Data were analyzed using multilevel analyses where midpoint and final evaluations were conducted separately. Results revealed that at the midpoint evaluation, students in the experimental and control conditions were not different on any of the subscales assessed. At the end of the program, students in the experimental condition, compared with those in the control condition, showed significantly higher scores on 6 of the 10 subscales assessed and the effect sizes were medium to very large. The findings support the effectiveness of the TBPC program in creating positive psychological outcomes for students in a field-based setting.

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Attribution of Causality in Sport Events: Validation of the Wingate Sport Achivememt Responsibility Scale

Gershon Tenenbaum, David Furst, and Gilad Welmgarten

Attribution of causality, based on Rotter's (1966) and Weiner's (1979) models, was investigated in a sport setting. The Wingate Sport Achievement Responsibility Scale (WSARS) was developed in order to examine attribution of causality separately for individual and team athletes after successful and unsuccessful events. The scale included feedback from the coach, audience, and teammates. Additional attributions were added in order to examine sport related properties of attributions. In order to examine the distinction between sport-specific attributions and general locus of control (LOG), 69 team athletes and 38 individual athletes were administered the Rotter I-E LOG Scale and the WSARS (Tenenbaum & Weingarten, 1983). Both Rotter's Scale and the WSARS were found to be reliable and valid scales through the probabilistic Rasch Model. Correlational analysis of both scales showed that attribution of causality in team and individual sports were positively related but produced low correlations, which suggests that sport attribution should be examined separately from general LOG. In addition, successful events should be examined separately from unsuccessful events and a distinction should be made between individual and team athletes.

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Book Reviews

Mark H. Anshel

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Book Reviews

Jeffery P. Simons

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Predictive Validity of a Three-Dimensional Model of Performance Anxiety in the Context of Tae-Kwon-Do

Wen-Nuan Kara Cheng, Lew Hardy, and Tim Woodman

We tested the predictive validity of the recently validated three-dimensional model of performance anxiety (Chang, Hardy, & Markland, 2009) with elite tae-kwon-do competitors (N = 99). This conceptual framework emphasized the adaptive potential of anxiety by including a regulatory dimension (reflected by perceived control) along with the intensity-oriented dimensions of cognitive and physiological anxiety. Anxiety was assessed 30 min before a competitive contest using the Three-Factor Anxiety Inventory. Competitors rated their performance on a tae-kwon-do–specific performance scale within 30 min after completion of their contest. Moderated hierarchical regression analyses revealed initial support for the predictive validity of the three-dimensional performance anxiety model. The regulatory dimension of anxiety (perceived control) revealed significant main and interactive effects on performance. This dimension appeared to be adaptive, as performance was better under high than low perceived control, and best vs. worst performance was associated with highest vs. lowest perceived control, respectively. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of the regulatory dimension of anxiety.

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Frontal Midline Theta Is a Specific Indicator of Optimal Attentional Engagement During Skilled Putting Performance

Shih-Chun Kao, Chung-Ju Huang, and Tsung-Min Hung

The purpose of this study was to determine whether frontal midline theta activity (Fmθ), an indicator of top-down sustained attention, can be used to distinguish an individual’s best and worst golf putting performances during the pre-putt period. Eighteen golfers were recruited and asked to perform 100 putts in a self-paced simulated putting task. We then compared the Fmθ power of each individual’s 15 best and worst putts. The results indicated that theta power in the frontal brain region significantly increased in both best and worst putts, compared with other midline regions. Moreover, the Fmθ power significantly decreased for the best putts compared with the worst putts. These findings suggest that Fmθ is a manifestation of sustained attention during a skilled performance and that optimal attentional engagement, as characterized by a lower Fmθ power, is beneficial for successful skilled performance rather than a higher Fmθ power reflecting excessive attentional control.

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Students’ Tripartite Efficacy Beliefs in High School Physical Education: Within- and Cross-Domain Relations With Motivational Processes and Leisure-Time Physical Activity

Ben Jackson, Peter R. Whipp, K.L. Peter Chua, James A. Dimmock, and Martin S. Hagger

Within instructional settings, individuals form relational efficacy appraisals that complement their self-efficacy beliefs. In high school physical education (PE), for instance, students develop a level of confidence in their teacher’s capabilities, as well as estimating how confident they think their teacher is in their (i.e., the students’) ability. Grounded in existing transcontextual work, we examined the motivational pathways through which students’ relational efficacy and self-efficacy beliefs in PE were predictive of their leisure-time physical activity. Singaporean students (N = 990; age M = 13.95, SD = 1.02) completed instruments assessing efficacy beliefs, perceptions of teacher relatedness support, and autonomous motivation toward PE, and 2 weeks later they reported their motivation toward, and engagement in, leisure-time physical activity. Structural equation modeling revealed that students reported stronger other-efficacy and RISE beliefs when they felt that their teacher created a highly relatedness-supportive environment. In turn, their relational efficacy beliefs (a) supported their confidence in their own ability, (b) directly and indirectly predicted more autonomous motives for participation in PE, and (c) displayed prospective transcontextual effects in relation to leisure-time variables. By emphasizing the adaptive motivational effects associated with the tripartite constructs, these findings highlight novel pathways linking students’ efficacy perceptions with leisure-time outcomes.

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Differential Perceptual and Motivational Patterns When Different Goals Are Adopted

Athanasios Papaioannou

This study examined how perceived motivational climate in physical education is related to (a) perceptions of teachers’ differential treatment toward high and low achievers, (b) reported motivation and anxiety of children with high and low perceived competence during play or exercise with high- or low-ability children. One thousand three hundred ninety-three high school students completed measures of the above variables. The perception of teacher’s differential treatment was positively related to the perception of an environment emphasizing social comparison and negatively related to the perception of a climate emphasizing personal progress. Perceived competence had no effect on intrinsic motivation when extremely high learning goals were adopted. When low learning goals were adopted, motivation decreased for children with low perceived ability playing with high achievers and for children with high perceived ability playing with low achievers. A high learning-oriented climate should be created to enhance equality and maximize motivation.