Mark A. Uphill

The BASES Expert Statement on emotion regulation in sport

Abstract Emotions experienced before and during sports competition have been found to influence sports performance. Emotion regulation is defined as the automatic or deliberate use of strategies to initiate, maintain, modify or display emotions (Gross & Thompson, 2007) and is proposed to occur when a discrepancy exists between current and desired emotions. Two distinct motivations to regulate emotion – hedonic and instrumental (in short, for pleasure or for purpose) – have been proposed (Tamir, 2009). The instrumental approach might provide a more fruitful area of investigation for sports researchers as some athletes hold beliefs that supposedly pleasant emotions such as happiness and calmness associate with poor performance and supposedly unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and anger associate with good performance (Hanin, 2010). Athletes are more likely to try to regulate an emotion if they believe that doing so will facilitate performance. Strategies that encourage re-appraisal of factors that trigger emotions are proposed to be preferable. In this British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) expert statement, a summary of the key theoretical issues are offered leading to evidence-based recommendations for practitioners and researchers.

From Mental Health to Mental Wealth in Athletes: Looking Back and Moving Forward

Considerations of athletes’ mental health are typically framed in the language of mental illness (Hughes and Leavey, 2012), a situation that contributes to stigmatization, denial, and the prevention of effective care. In this article, we provide a critical, narrative review of the extant literature on athlete mental health. Specifically, we begin by providing a brief synopsis of the extant literature on athletes’ mental health, illustrating both what we know about (i) the prevalence of mental health issues in sport and (ii) variables contributing to help-seeking behaviors in athletes. Against, this backdrop, we outline Keyes’ (2002) two-continuum model of mental health as a theoretical framework that has considerable promise in understanding, talking-about, and intervening to enhance, athletes’ mental health. This model posits two related, but distinct dimensions: one continuum indicates the presence or absence of mental health, the other the presence or absence of mental illness. From this perspective, a number of possibilities emerge. For instance, athletes could simultaneously have both positive mental health and experience of mental illness. Alternatively, athletes could be free from mental illness, but in Keyes’ terms be “languishing” (i.e., experiencing low levels of mental health). Implications for interventions based on the two-continuum model are discussed, particularly drawing on assets-based approaches to enhance flourishing (Theokas et al., 2005). We conclude the review by considering limitations in our understanding of how to promote flourishing and suggest avenues for further research.

The influence of in-game emotions on basketball performance

Abstract This study examined the influence of emotions on performance in basketball. Six female basketball players were videotaped in six games. Frequency of performance behaviours was recorded minute-by-minute and indices of successful (SGI) and unsuccessful (UGI) game involvement derived for each player. Post-game, players reported the intensity of experienced emotions (anger, anxiety, embarrassment, excitement and happiness), and the time of the eliciting incident. The only emotion revealed as a significant predictor of SGI was happiness; both anger and embarrassment were significant predictors of increased UGI. Consideration of individual player analyses suggests that there is variation in the magnitude of the influence of emotions on performance and the extent to which this influence was helpful or harmful to performance. The study provides evidence that emotions are associated with changes in game behaviours in competition. Implications for further research examining the emotion–performance relationship are discussed.

The thrill of defeat and the agony of victory: towards an understanding and transformation of athletes’ emotional experience

Drawing upon the notion of “reflection for action”, we use the London 2012 Olympics as a mirror through which we may re-configure the image that scientists and practitioners have about athletes’ emotions. Media reports of the “Olympic Blues” among athletes have been considerable, yet our scientific understanding of athletes’ post-competitive emotional reactions has been largely neglected. Based on a stance that embeds athletes’ emotions in an altogether more interpersonal and social milieu, we present an integrative framework that bridges several disparate and hitherto largely unconnected bodies of literature. This framework (a) draws upon literature in relation to athletic identity and transition, (b) positions the “athlete” as part an interpersonal network that shapes the meaning and construction of events and (c) draws upon notions of mental time travel to place the athlete in a storied narrative that reflects both actual remembered and counterfactual pasts together with multiple hypothetical future trajectories. We illuminate this framework with quotes and experiences reported by Olympians, prior to, during, and/or after the London 2012 Olympics. By doing so, we hope to move not only toward a fuller appreciation of athletes’ emotional experience per se, but to consider the implications for enhanced athlete support for Rio 2016.

The development and preliminary validation of the Challenge and Threat in Sport (CAT-Sport) Scale

This paper outlines the development and preliminary validation of a sport-specific measure of athletes’ experience of challenge and threat. Three independent studies assess the content validity, factor structure, criterion validity and internal consistency of the Challenge and Threat in Sport (CAT-Sport) Scale. In study 1, a group of 25 athletes and 2 experts assessed the content validity of items derived from existing measures of challenge and threat. Participants examined a pool of 25 items, and were asked to rate the items’ applicability to their experiences of challenge and threat in sport. Items failing to reach applicability of 50% were excluded from further analysis. In study 2, 197 runners completed the 21 items retained from study 1 before competition. A principal components analysis with an oblique, direct oblimin rotation yielded a 12-item, two-component solution with items indicative of athletes’ experiences of challenge and threat. In study 3, 201 shooters completed the 12-item CAT-Sport before competition. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a 12-item 2-factor correlated model provided acceptable model fit with good internal consistency and criterion validity. Collectively these studies provide support for the CAT-Sport as a measure of athletes’ experience of challenge and threat in anticipation of sport competition.