Pere Palou

Commitment, Enjoyment and Motivation in Young Soccer Competitive Players

Building upon Decis and Ryan (1985) Self-determination theory as well as the sportive behavioral correlates of the model of Commitment (Scanlan et al., 1976), this study tries to establish the relationship between motivation and commitment in youth sport. For this purpose 454 young competitive soccer players answered the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) and the Sport Commitment Questionnaire (SCQ) during the regular season. The SMS measures the three dimensions of the Motivational continuum (the Amotivation, the Extrinsic Motivation and the Intrinsic Motivation). The SCQ measures the Sportive Commitment and its composing factors such as the Enjoyment, the Alternatives to the sport, and the Social Pressure. Our findings provided a clear pattern of the influence of motivation in sport enjoyment and commitment, outlining the positive contribution of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to enjoyment and commitment. Amotivation, contributes positively to alternatives to sport and negatively to enjoyment and commitment, It should be noted that extrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to enjoyment whereas intrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to commitment.

Effects of Postural Education on Daily Habits in Children

A group-randomized controlled trial was carried out to investigate the effects of a postural education program on daily life habits related to low back pain in children. The study sample included 137 children aged 10.7 years. 6 classes from 2 primary schools were randomly allocated into an experimental group (EG) (N=63) or a control group (CG) (N=74). The EG received a postural education program over 6 weeks consisting of 6 sessions, while the CG followed the usual school curriculum. A questionnaire was completed by the participants at pretest, post-test and 3 months after the intervention finished. The outcomes collected were: correct use of sofa, stooping correctly, take care to sit correctly at home/school and frequent posture change on chair at home/school. A sum score was computed from the 6 items. To examine the effect of the intervention, we used repeated measures analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA); with baseline, post-test and follow-up outcome values as dependent variables, study group as fixed factor, and sex and age as covariates. Single healthy items mostly improved after the intervention and remained improved after 3 month follow-up in EG, while no substantial changes were observed in the CG. Healthy habits score was significantly increased at post-test compared to baseline in the EG (P<0.001), and remained significantly increased after 3-months, compared to baseline (P<0.001). No significant changes were observed in the CG (P>0.6). The results suggest that children are able to learn healthy daily life habits which might contribute to future prevention of low back pain.

Increasing physical activity through mobile device interventions: A systematic review

Physical inactivity is a health problem that affects people worldwide and has been identified as the fourth largest risk factor for overall mortality (contributing to 6% of deaths globally). Many researchers have tried to increase physical activity levels through traditional methods without much success. Thus, many researchers are turning to mobile technology as an emerging method for changing health behaviours. This systematic review sought to summarise and update the existing scientific literature on increasing physical activity through mobile device interventions, taking into account the methodological quality of the studies. The articles were identified by searching the PubMed, SCOPUS and SPORTDiscus databases for studies published between January 2003 and December 2013. Studies investigating efforts to increase physical activity through mobile phone or even personal digital assistant interventions were included. The search results allowed the inclusion of 11 studies that gave rise to 12 publications. Six of the articles included in this review reported significant increases in physical activity levels. The number of studies using mobile devices for interventions has increased exponentially in the last few years, but future investigations with better methodological quality are needed to draw stronger conclusions regarding how to increase physical activity through mobile device interventions.

Acceptance of Gamesmanship and Cheating in Young Competitive Athletes in Relation to the Motivational Climate Generated by Parents and Coaches

The goal was to assess the relation between the acceptance of using gamesmanship and cheating in sports and the type of motivational climate created by coaches and parents. The sample consisted of 110 soccer, basketball, and handball players from the Balearic Islands competition (70 boys, 40 girls; M age = 14.7 yr., SD = 2.1, range 10–19). As for the motivational climate generated by coaches, task climate was negatively related to the acceptance of gamesmanship and cheating, but ego climate was related to higher acceptance. Motivational climate generated by parents was not related to acceptance of cheating or gamesmanship.

A Mediation Analysis on the Relationship of Physical Fitness Components, Obesity, and Academic Performance in Children

Objectives To examine the relationship between a battery of obesity indicators and physical fitness components with academic performance in children and to explore the combined and mediation role of the physical fitness components in the relationship between obesity and academic performance in children. Study design A cross‐sectional study including data from 250 Spanish schoolchildren (Balearic Islands) between 10 and 12 years of age (mean age, 10.98 ± 0.76 years) was conducted. Obesity measures (body mass index, body fat, waist circumference, hip circumference, and waist‐to‐height ratio), physical fitness components (cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular fitness, and speed‐agility), and academic performance (Spanish language, Catalan language, English language, natural sciences, social sciences, arts, physical education, religion, and grade point average [GPA]) were collected. Results All obesity measures were negatively related to at least 3 of the 10 academic indicators, including GPA (&bgr; range, −0.135 to −0.229; all P < .05). Cardiorespiratory fitness and speed‐agility were positively related to all academic indicators (&bgr; range, 0.182 to 0.350; all P < .046) and muscular fitness with 3 academic indicators (&bgr; range, 0.143 to 0.253; all P < .039). Children considered as fit had better academic performance than their unfit peers (score +0.75; P = .001). The association between body mass index and GPA was mediated by cardiorespiratory fitness and speed‐agility. Conclusions This investigation contributes to the current knowledge by adding evidence about the crucial role of physical fitness in terms of academic performance rather than obesity status, suggesting that physical fitness may ameliorate the negative influence of obesity on academic performance.