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This study examined how goal conflict influences the pattern of the moderating effects of intention stability on the intention-behavior relations in the context of physical activity participation. A longitudinal study of 136 young adult students with three waves of data collection (a 2-week interval between waves) was conducted. Results showed a significant three-way interaction among intention, goal conflict, and intention stability in explaining vigorous-intensity physical activity (ß = -.25, p < .05). Consistent with our expectation, the pattern of the three-way interaction revealed that when the level of goal conflict was low, the intention-behavior relations were stronger with stable intentions and weaker with unstable intentions. However, when the level of goal conflict was high, the intention-behavior relations were weaker with stable intentions and stronger with unstable intentions. Possible underlying processes of goal conflict and intention stability on the intention-behavior relations are discussed.

This study explored the relationship between children's self-esteem and attributions for performance in both physical and social achievement domains. Children's physical and social self-esteem as well as perceptions of and attributions for performance and interpersonal success in a summer sports program were assessed. Multivariate analyses revealed a significant relationship between self-esteem and causal attributions for both physical and social domains. For physical competence, children high in self-esteem made attributions that were more internal, stable, and higher in personal control than did low self-esteem children. For social competence, children high in self-esteem made attributions that were more internal, stable, and higher in personal and lower in external control than did children low in self-esteem. These results provided support for a self-consistency approach to self-esteem.

This study examined longitudinal differences in use of transtheoretical model (TTM) behavior change constructs in maintainers (who reached and maintained exercise guidelines), relapsers (who reached guidelines, then regressed), and nonchangers (who did not reach guidelines). Data from two population-based TTM-tailored randomized trial intervention groups targeting exercise behavior (N = 1050) were pooled, and analyses assessed differences in TTM constructs between the three groups at baseline, 12 months, and 24 months. Findings indicated that relapsers tended to use TTM variables similarly to maintainers with the exception of self-efficacy, consciousness raising, and most behavioral processes of change, at 24 months. Nonchangers, however, used all TTM variables less than maintainers at nearly every time point. Findings suggest that relapsers remain more active than nonchangers in terms of use of change processes. Poor response to interventions (nonchangers) may be predicted by low baseline engagement in change processes. Although relapsers reverted to physical inactivity, their overall greater use of TTM constructs suggests that their efforts to change remain better than those of the stable nonchanger group. Future research can focus on treatment engagement strategies to help the stable nonchangers initiate change and to help relapsers to maintain treatment gains.

Youth sport literature contends that the development of self-esteem is influenced by social interactions in the physical domain. However, little research has investigated the role of the peer group in developing perceptions of physical competence and social acceptance. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship, between competence in physical skills and interpersonal competence with peers in a sport setting. Children (N=126) completed measures assessing perceptions of physical competence and peer acceptance» perceptions of success for athletic performance and interpersonal skills, causal attributions for physical performance and interpersonal success» and expectations for future success in these two areas. Teachers' ratings of children's actual physical ability and social skills with peers were also obtained. Canonical correlation analyses indicated a strong relationship (r ^c = .75) between indices of physical competence and peer acceptance. Children who scored high in actual and perceived physical competence and who made stable and personally controllable attributions for sport performance also scored high in actual and perceived peer acceptance and made stable attributions for successful peer interactions.

This field study investigated sport-related and psychological predictors of children&#x0027;s performance outcomes (win-loss) across two consecutive rounds of a competitive wrestling tournament. The 76 wrestlers studied were 9- to 14-year-old boys, and the sport-related variable examined involved their years of competitive wrestling experience. The psychological predictors investigated were the participants&#x0027; prematch performance expectancies and their characteristic prematch cognitions including: (a) worries about failure and (b) concerns about the performance expectations and evaluative reactions of their parents and coach. The data for each round were separately analyzed by logistic regression analysis. The most influential and stable predictors of performance outcomes across both tournament rounds were competitive experience and prematch performance expectancies. In addition, characteristic failure cognitions significantly predicted win-loss in the first round of the tournament. In total, win-loss was successfully predicted in 78 and 80% of the cases for round 1 and 2, respectively, by these predictors.

This study was designed to examine perceptions of causality and perceptions of success in women&#x0027;s intercollegiate gymnastics and to determine the relative influence of perception of success on causal explanations for performance and the reciprocal influence, if any, of causal attributions on perceptions of success. Intercollegiate gymnasts were asked to indicate how successful they felt their performance had been on each of four Olympic gymnastic events. The gymnasts also completed the Causal Dimension Scale (Russell, 1982) following performance of each event. The score awarded by the judges for each event was employed as an objective, absolute measure of performance. Multivariate analyses of variance that revealed more internal, stable, and controllable attributions for performance were made by those gymnasts who scored high and perceived their performance as more successful than those gymnasts who scored lower and perceived their performance as less successful. The results of this study are discussed in terms of new approaches to attribution research in sport.

Based on the working hypothesis that optimal psychological strategies for athletic performance can be employed only when the nature of the task is understood, an instrument was developed that identified systematically the varying physical, cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal requirements of a wide range of athletic activities, A sample of 753 Naval Academy midshipmen with experience and expertise in different sports rated their sport along a number of dimensions, constituting the items in the instrument. These ratings were submitted to a principal-component factor analysis, and 41' items were retained and organized into eight subscales based on the component loadings. Items and subscales were psychometrically stable and homogeneous. Standardized profiles were then constructed for the rated requirements of 48 sports. An additional principal-component analysis yielded second-order components which led to the combining of sports with similar profiles. The 48 sports were thereby reduced to 18 clusters. Some applications of this approach are offered, as well as ideas for future research.

This article presents three studies representing the development stages of a theoretically driven measure employed to assess the frequency of use of the self-presentational strategy of self-handicapping in exercise contexts (Self-Handicapping Exercise Questionnaire: SHEQ). First a pilot study was conducted to examine the nature of the phenomenology of self-handicaps reported in exercise settings. Study 2 involved item creation, item trimming, and model confirmation. Study 3 concerned factorial validation, cross-validating the self-handicapping measure created in the second study. The outcome was a 20-item measure assessing self-handicapping claims in exercise. The results of both model-testing studies indicated three unique and stable factors addressing self-handicapping claims about making exercise a routine, training in an exercise facility, and healthy physical functioning. Self-handicapping responses were not moderated by gender, age, or exercise setting. Further use and development of the SHEQ is discussed.

Physical activity is associated with an antidepressant effect in clinical depression. Self-efficacy is one mechanism proposed to explain this effect. In this study we compared the changes in mood following exercise sessions with high and stable self-efficacy (stationary bike exercise) to exercise sessions with initially low but increasing self-efficacy (martial arts). The experimental design incorporated repeated measures and counter-balancing. Twelve clinically depressed participants completed 45-min exercise sessions consisting of stationary bike use and martial arts. A waiting control condition of 30 minutes was conducted before each exercise session. During martial arts, statistically significant increases in positive affect, reductions in negative affect and state anxiety, and increased self-efficacy were observed. During the stationary bike exercise no statistically significant changes were found. The results indicate that an increase in self-efficacy may be important for mood benefits to occur.

The purposes of this study were to identify sources of self-confidence in athletes within the sport-confidence framework of Vealey (1986, 1988), develop a reliable and valid measure of sources of sport-confidence, and extend the conceptual framework of sport-confidence to include sources and test predictions within the expanded model. In Phases 1, 2, and 3 of the study, the preliminary conceptual basis for sources of sport-confidence was developed and initial psychometric evidence supported the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Sources of Sport-Confidence Questionnaire (SSCQ) with 335 college athletes. In Phase 4, a confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized nine-factor structure of the SSCQ using 208 high school basketball players as participants. The theoretical and practical significance of certain sources of confidence in building stable and enduring self-confidence and motivation in sport are discussed based on the study results.