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This study examined sources of sport confidence and their relationship to trait sport confidence with master athletes. The study employed 216 athletes from 50 to 96 years of age in track and field, tennis, and swimming, using the Sources of Sport Confidence Questionnaire (SSCQ; Vealey, Hayashi, Garner-Holman, & Giacobbi, 1998). Confirmatory factor analysis failed to replicate the proposed 9-factor structure of the SSCQ. Exploratory factor analyses revealed an 8-factor structure with similar factors to the SSCQ, but with fewer items and the elimination of the situational favorableness factor. Physical/mental preparation and mastery were the highest ranked sources among the athletes. A simultaneous multiple regression analysis indicated that physical/mental preparation and demonstration of ability were significant predictors of trait sport confidence for master athletes. Our findings suggest that the SSCQ needs more psychometric work if it is to be used with this type of population.

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.

This study examined temporal changes in sources of sport-confidence during the build up to an important competition. Elite individual athletes (N = 54) completed the Sources of Sport-Confidence Questionnaire (SSCQ) at five precompetition phases (6 weeks, 4 weeks, 3 weeks, 2 weeks and 1 week before competition). A two-factor (gender x time-to-competition) MANOVA revealed no significant interactions, but highlighted both time-to-competition and gender main effects. Time-to-competition main effects indicated the importance placed upon demonstration of ability, physical/mental preparation, physical self-presentation and situational favorableness sources of sport-confidence changed during the precompetition phase. Gender main effects revealed that female athletes demonstrated a significantly greater reliance on sources associated with mastery, physical self-presentation, social support, environmental comfort and coach’s leadership than male athletes. These findings emphasize the benefit of considering sources of sport-confidence as competition approaches; they may have implications for the design and timing of confidence based interventions.

The main purpose of the study was to examine crucial parts of Vealey’s (2001) integrated framework hypothesizing that sport confidence is a mediating variable between sources of sport confidence (including achievement, self-regulation, and social climate) and athletes’ affect in competition. The sample consisted of 386 athletes, who completed the Sources of Sport Confidence Questionnaire, Trait Sport Confidence Inventory, and Dispositional Flow Scale-2. Canonical correlation analysis revealed a confidence-achievement dimension underlying flow. Bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals in AMOS 20.0 were used in examining mediation effects between source domains and dispositional flow. Results showed that sport confidence partially mediated the relationship between achievement and self-regulation domains and flow, whereas no significant mediation was found for social climate. On a subscale level, full mediation models emerged for achievement and flow dimensions of challenge–skills balance, clear goals, and concentration on the task at hand.

The present study explored self- and team-efficacy beliefs in rowers, examining the relations between efficacy beliefs, mindfulness, and flow. Fifty-eight rowers from nine teams completed sport-specific measures of self- and team-efficacy, along with questionnaires assessing mindfulness, flow, sport anxiety, and sport confidence. Self- and team-efficacy were significantly related to mindfulness, dispositional flow, and sport confidence. In addition, both self-efficacy and sport confidence mediated the association between both total mindfulness (and the describe dimension of mindfulness) and the challenge-skill balance dimension of flow. These results provide indirect support for a proposed model, which suggests that mindfulness may positively impact the integral challenge-skill balance aspect of flow in athletes through self-efficacy.

We examined the relationships among trait and state psychological variables and performance in male high school distance runners using the Sport Orientation Questionnaire (SOQ; Gill & Deeter, 1988), the Competitive Orientation Inventory (COI; Vealey, 1986), the Trait Sport-Confidence Inventory (TSCI; Vealey, 1986), the State Sport-Confidence Inventory (SSCI; Vealey, 1986), the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2; Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, & Smith, 1990), and separate self-efficacy scales for performance (time) and outcome (place). As hypothesized, trait sport-confidence predicted state sport-confidence and outcome self-efficacy. However, competitive orientation did not contribute to the prediction of state measures. State sport-confidence and self-efficacy predicted performance, as hypothesized. Surprisingly, outcome self-efficacy was a stronger predictor than performance self-efficacy, which did not contribute to the prediction of performance time or place. The runners' youth and lack of competitive track experience may have prevented them from forming accurate performance self-efficacy judgments. In contrast, the familiar and small competitive field may have allowed these athletes to form accurate outcome self-efficacy judgments.

An interactional, sport-specific model of self-confidence was developed in which sport-confidence was conceptualized into trait (SC-trait) and state (SC-state) components. A competitive orientation construct was also included in the model to account for individual differences in defining success in sport. In order to test the relationship represented in the conceptual model, an instrument to measure SC-trait (Trait Sport-Confidence Inventory or TSCI), an instrument to measure SC-state (State Sport-Confidence Inventory or SSCI), and an instrument to measure competitive orientation (Competitive Orientation Inventory or COI) were developed and validated. Validation procedures included five phases of data collection involving 666 high school, college, and adult athletes. All three instruments demonstrated adequate item discrimination, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, content validity, and concurrent validity. In the construct validation phase, the results supported several predictions based on the conceptual model.

A growing body of research has provided evidence for intolerance of uncertainty (IU)—a dispositional characteristic resulting from negative beliefs about uncertainty and its implications—as a possible transdiagnostic maintaining factor across a range of anxiety disorders. No studies have yet examined IU in performance anxiety in sport. The purpose of the present investigation, therefore, was to investigate the relationship between IU and performance anxiety in sport. Participants included 160 university athletes (51% female) who completed measures of IU, performance anxiety, and robustness of sport confidence. Regression analyses revealed that the inhibitory dimension of IU and robustness of sport confidence were significant predictors of performance anxiety. A simple mediation model was also tested and suggested indirect and direct effects of inhibitory IU on performance anxiety symptoms through robustness of sport confidence. Implications of these findings for researchers and practitioners and directions for future research are discussed.