Darren C. Treasure

Physical activity and situational motivation in physical education: influence of the motivational climate and perceived ability.

Abstract The influence of perceptions of the motivational climate and perceived ability on situational motivation and the physical activity behavior of 213 male and 229 female adolescent physical education students (M age= 12.56 years; SD = 0.96) was examined over a 3-day period. A significant age by gender interaction emerged, with physical activity declining from the sixth to eighth grade. The decline was more pronounced among female than male students. Perceptions of a mastery climate were strongly related to more self-determined forms of situational motivation. In contrast, perceptions of a performance climate were strongly related to less self-determined forms of situational motivation. Results of a hierarchical regression analysis revealed gender, perceived ability, and perceptions of a mastery climate to explain a significant amount of variance in physical activity. These findings suggest that promoting a mastery oriented motivational climate in physical education will foster self-determined situational motivation and physical activity.

Perceived motivational climate in male youth soccer: relations to social–moral functioning, sportspersonship and team norm perceptions

Aim: To investigate the relationship between the perceived motivational climate, sportspersonship, social–moral functioning and team norms in a sample of young male Norwegian soccer players. Hypotheses: It was expected that a performance-oriented motivational climate would be associated with lower levels of social–moral functioning, sportspersonship and the perceptions of team norms that would approve of illegitimate behaviours in soccer. By contrast, a mastery-oriented climate was hypothesised to be beneficial with respect to social–moral functioning, sporstspersonship and morally constructive team norm perceptions. Method: A cross-sectional study of 279 male soccer players (aged 12–14 years) taking part in the international youth soccer tournament, The Norway Cup, was conducted in which players responded to a questionnaire measuring different dimensions of social–moral functioning, including moral judgements, priority for more mature social–moral motives or reasons faced with moral dilemmas, amoral and sportspersonship behaviours and team norm perceptions. Results: Canonical correlation analysis coupled with multivariate analysis of variance showed that players who perceived the motivational climate as predominantly mastery oriented reported more mature levels of social–moral reasoning and better sportspersonhip behaviours. These players were also less apt to report amoral behaviour and perceive team norms as strongly disapproving of pro-aggressiveness. In contrast, players perceiving the motivational climate as predominantly performance-oriented were more apt to report amoral behaviours in soccer and were less likely to express sportspersonship behaviour. Conclusions: The findings illustrate the importance of studying motivational conditions in order to provide an understanding of social–moral functioning, sportspersonship and social–moral team norms in youth soccer.

Revisiting the Measurement of Exercise-Induced Feeling States: The Physical Activity Affect Scale (PAAS)

Interest in acute exercise-induced feeling states has intensified in recent years, signaling the need for development of domain-specific measures of these constructs. In response to this call, 2 exercise-specific measures of feeling states have been introduced-namely, the Exercise-Induced Feeling Inventory (EFI; Gauvin & Rejeski, 1993) and the Subjective Exercise Experiences Scale (SEES; McAuley & Courneya, 1994). Although certain subscales of the 2 instruments are unique, a number of similar constructs exist both within and between instruments. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to (a) combine the EFI and SEES scales into a single, more encompassing instrument and (b) investigate potential factor redundancy within and between the 2 instruments. Initial correlational analyses indicated that the Positive Well-Being subscale of the SEES and the revitalization and Positive Engagement subscales of the EFI were highly correlated. Similar results were obtained for the Fatigue (SEES) and Physical Exhaustion (EFI) subscales. These findings provided the impetus for the construction of the Physical Activity Affect Scale (PAAS), an instrument consisting of the Psychological Distress subscale of the SEES and the subscales of the EFI. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated support for 4 components of exercise-induced affect that were subsequently labeled positive affect, negative affect, fatigue, and tranquility. The PAAS appears to be an improvement over the EFI and SEES in that it is a more encompassing measure of exercise-induced feeling states with less component redundancy than its predecessors.

Self-Handicapping in School Physical Education: The Influence of the Motivational Climate.

BACKGROUND Self-handicapping is an attribution-related process whereby individuals create performance impediments/excuses to protect self-worth in socially evaluative environments. Thus, the prevailing motivational climate would appear to be an important factor when attempting to understand the situational self-handicapping process within school physical education. AIMS Drawing from achievement goal theory, the study examined the effect of experimentally induced conditions (viz. task vs. ego) on situational self-handicapping. SAMPLE Seventy British secondary school students (36 females and 34 males; M age = 11.98; SD=0.31). METHOD Participants were randomly assigned to partake in a running endurance task in either an ego-involving (20 male students and 16 female students) or a task-involving (14 male students and 20 female students) condition. Prior to completing the experimental task, participants were given the opportunity to claim situational self-handicaps. Data for goal orientations, subjective climate perceptions, perceived ability and perceived task importance were also obtained. RESULTS After determining the effectiveness of the experimental manipulation, results revealed participants in the ego-involving condition to report significantly more situational self-handicapping claims. Further, and after controlling for individual difference variables, the results of moderated hierarchical regression analysis revealed subjective perceptions of an ego-involving climate to be the main positive predictor of situational self-handicapping. Although a weaker contributor to the percentage of variance explained, task orientation emerged as a negative predictor of situational self-handicapping. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that PE teachers would be prudent to minimize ego-involving situations should they wish to reduce situational self-handicapping.

Relationship between achievement goal orientations and the perceived purposes of playing rugby union for professional and amateur players

The recent professionalization of rugby union makes it an excellent achievement context in which to examine the relationship between achievement goal orientations and the perceived purposes of sport as a function of competitive standard. During the 1996–97 season, 73 professional and 106 amateur rugby players in England completed a series of questionnaires assessing their achievement goal orientations, beliefs about the purposes of rugby and demographic information. The results of a canonical correlation analysis revealed a conceptually coherent relationship between achievement goal orientations and purposes of rugby. Specifically, a high ego/ moderate task orientation was positively related to fitness, aggression and financial remuneration as significant purposes of rugby. Professional players scored higher on those purposes of rugby related to aggression, financial remuneration and fitness, but lower on sportspersonship than amateur players. Professional players also reported higher task and ego goal orientations than amateur players. The findings are discussed in terms of the differences in lifestyle and motivation of professional and amateur rugby union players.

Physical and psychological predictors of exercise dosage in healthy adults.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine the exercise dose-response issue in a sample of 121 regular exercisers categorized as relatively low, moderate, or high dosage physical activity participants. METHODS Male and female students, faculty, and staff of a midwestern university, currently engaging in various exercise modalities at least two times per week, were assessed on a variety of factors hypothesized to impact ones degree of exercise involvement. RESULTS ANOVA procedures indicated that low and high dosage groups differed significantly on the variables of age, exercise history, positive affect, and the locus of causality and stability attributional dimensions. Groups did not differ significantly in terms of body mass index, exercise efficacy, perceptions of either personal or external control over exercise behavior, or negative affective reactions to exercise behavior. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, the findings of this study suggest that individuals who exercise at varying doses of physical activity may be differentiated by certain demographic, behavioral, physiological, and psychological variables.