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Motivation, particularly different types of motivation (i.e., intrinsic, extrinsic, and amotivation), is a topic that has been of interest to both psychologists and sport psychologists. One area of interest in sport psychology is the assessment of different types of motivation. The Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) (Pelletier et al., 1995) was created to assess an athlete’s intrinsic motivation, extrinsic-motivation, and a motivation toward sport participation. The psychometric properties of the SMS, however, have not been tested on a sample of college athletes in the U.S., which is an important component if researchers and applied sport psychologists are to use the SMS with this population. A total of 270 U.S. college athletes participated in this study. Results provided some evidence for the reliability and validity of the SMS for this population, although a confirmatory factor analysis yielded relatively poor fit indices, indicating problems with model specification. A “piecewise” model testing approach, in which different components of the model were tested separately, indicated that the biggest problems with model specification may involve the extrinsic and amotivation components of the measure.

One of the challenges facing the field of applied sport psychology involves addressing the needs of athletes of various racial/ethnic backgrounds. An important step in facing this challenge is providing sport psychology graduate students with training in multicultural issues. A review of current models of sport psychology graduate training reveals a lack of emphasis on multicultural training. In this article we offer a description of multicultural training. We also provide a rationale for its inclusion in sport psychology programs and present several models and ideas for implementing multicultural training.

The purpose of this study was to use confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to revise the factor structure of the CSAI-2 using one data set, and then to use CFA to validate the revised structure using a second data set. The first data set (calibration sample) consisted of 503 college-age intramural athletes, and the second (validation sample) consisted of 331 intercollegiate (Division I) and interscholastic athletes. The results of the initial CFA on the calibration sample resulted in a poor fit to the data. Using the Lagrange Multiplier Test (Gamma) as a guide, CSAI-2 items that loaded on more than one factor were sequentially deleted. The resulting 17-item revised CSAI-2 was then subjected to a CFA using the validation data sample. The results of this CFA revealed a good fit of the data to the model (CFI = .95, NNFI = .94, RMSEA = .054). It is suggested that the CSAI-2R instead of the CSAI-2 be used by researchers and practitioners for measuring competitive state anxiety in athletes.

Intercollegiate athletes have been identified as an at-risk group for heavy alcohol consumption. The purpose of the present study was to use a longitudinal design to assess for off-season versus in-season differences in alcohol consumption within a sample of intercollegiate athletes. Previous research has suggested that athletes drink less during their competitive seasons, but conclusions from this body of research have been tempered by methodological limitations in the previous studies. Results from 160 athletes competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I level indicated that alcohol use and negative alcohol-related consequences decreased during the athletes' competitive seasons. These results are interpreted in terms of the theory of planned behavior and social norms theory. Implications for alcohol prevention programs among college athletes are also addressed.

Large-scale, national research studies have consistently indicated that college students participating in athletics consume more alcohol than nonathletes. Theorists have speculated that a number of risk factors could be associated with heavy drinking among this group, although research in the area has been sparse. The purpose of the current study was to assess the relationship between one possible risk factor, competitiveness, in a sample of recreational and elite college athletes to determine whether competitiveness was related to alcohol use among these athletes. Data were collected from a sample of 298 undergraduates from a large university in the northeastern United States. Results showed that competitiveness was associated with higher amounts of alcohol consumption. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.

Heavy alcohol consumption is a well-known health compromising addictive behavior. A lesser known addictive behavior that may cause physical and psychological harm is exercise dependence. Research has shown that heavy drinking co-occurs with other addictive behaviors, but until recently little was known about the co-occurrence of alcohol use and exercise dependence. The purpose of the current study was to examine this relationship and assess whether the co-occurrence could be accounted for by personality characteristics. Participants were 283 undergraduate students at a large, Northeastern university. All students reported consuming alcohol in the past 30 days and the majority (95.9%) reported exercising at least occasionally. Results indicated that alcohol use and alcohol-related problems co-occurred with exercise dependence and that personality characteristics did not fully account for the relationship. These findings have implications for clinicians and prevention specialists working with college students and provide several avenues for future research in an innovative area.

Research has shown that college student-athletes are at increased risk for hazardous alcohol use. As such, this study examined social and cognitive influences on athletes’ alcohol consumption by exploring the association between injunctive norms (parental, teammate, and coach approval) and hazardous alcohol use among college athletes, and testing whether alcohol expectancy outcomes and valuations would mediate this association. College student-athletes (n = 301; mean age = 19.4, SD = 1.3) completed self-report questionnaires assessing their drinking behaviors and perceptions of alcohol use in their social environment. Structural equation modeling revealed, in all but one case, a direct association between each of the injunctive norms variables and hazardous alcohol use. In addition, negative expectancy valuations mediated the association between teammate approval and hazardous alcohol use. Injunctive norms emerged as an important factor in student-athletes’ alcohol use. Implications for alcohol intervention programming among student-athletes are discussed.