Paul A. Davis

Emotions and Emotion Regulation Among Novice Military Parachutists

Soldiers (N = 95) reported emotions and emotion regulation strategies experienced in their first parachute jump and other challenging situations. Results indicated an emotional profile characterized by feeling anxious, energetic, and happy before parachuting and playing sport. However, this pattern was not similar to the emotional responses experienced at work or in life in general. Participants reported greater use of strategies to increase unpleasant emotions an hour before parachuting than in other situations. Findings suggest that developing training protocols to increase the flexibility and versatility of emotion regulation skills might enhance the preparation of novice soldiers for military duties.

The temporal relations across burnout dimensions in athletes

Burnout is a construct that has garnered considerable attention in sport psychology within recent years. Several hypothesized models regarding how the three dimensions (exhaustion, devaluation, and reduced sense of accomplishment) temporally relate to each other have been advanced. One proposal outlined by Maslach and Leiter suggests that exhaustion predicts devaluation which predicts reduced sense of accomplishment. However, there is no consensus among researchers as it has been argued that exhaustion predicts devaluation and reduced accomplishment separately. The aim of this study was to test multiple alternative hypotheses regarding the relationships of the burnout dimensions in athletes. Two samples of Swedish youth elite athletes with differing time spans between measurements were used. Specifically, one sample involved time‐intensive measures collected every week over an eight‐week period, and the other sample included four measurement points across an 18‐month period. Results showed that none of the previously proposed models outlining the temporal relations of burnout dimensions were supported. Statistical analysis of the models including the cross‐lagged predictions of dimensions did not have any statistically significant impact except when exhaustion negatively predicted devaluation between time 1 (month 0) and time 2 (month 6) in the 18‐month sample; this relation faded in the following time points. Further, issues regarding the stability of devaluation and reduced sense of accomplishment emerged as their autocorrelation were very weak in the time‐intensive sample. These findings raise a number of points for further theoretical and practical discussions about the athlete burnout construct.

Track and field athletes' experiences and perceived effects of flotation-REST. An interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Research has highlighted flotation-REST as a promising method for relaxation and performance enhancement in sport; however, to further evaluate the use of flotation-REST in an athletic environment, ...

Development of the Assessment of Coach Emotions systematic observation instrument: A tool to evaluate coaches’ emotions in the youth sport context:

Current research on emotions in sport focuses heavily on athletes’ intrapersonal emotion regulation; however, interpersonal consequences of emotion regulation are garnering recent attention. As leaders in sport, coaches have the opportunity to regulate not only their own emotions, but also those of athletes, officials, and spectators. As such, the present study set out to develop an observational tool, demonstrating evidence of validity and reliability, for measuring coaches’ overt emotions in the youth sport context. Categories were derived and refined through extensive literature and video review, resulting in 12 categories of behavioural content and eight emotion modifiers (Neutral, Happy, Affectionate, Alert, Tense, Anxious, Angry and Disappointed). The final coding system is presented herein, complete with supporting evidence for validity and reliability. As a tool for both researchers and practitioners in sport, the Assessment of Coach Emotions (ACE) offers enhanced insight into the contextual qualities underlying coaches’ interactive behaviours.

The role of coach-athlete relationship quality in team sport athletes’ psychophysiological exhaustion: implications for physical and cognitive performance

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to examine associations between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and athlete exhaustion by assessing physiological and cognitive consequences. Male and female athletes (N = 82) representing seven teams across four different sports, participated in a quasi-experimental study measuring physical performance on a 5-meter multiple shuttle test, followed by a Stroop test to assess cognitive performance. Participants provided saliva samples measuring cortisol as a biomarker of acute stress response and completed questionnaires measuring exhaustion, and coach-athlete relationship quality. Structural equation modelling revealed a positive relationship between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and Stroop performance, and negative relationships between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and cortisol responses to high-intensity exercise, cognitive testing, and exhaustion. The study supports previous research on socio-cognitive correlates of athlete exhaustion by highlighting associations with the quality of the coach-athlete relationship.