Search

Presents a study which evaluated the association between feedback from the coach, ability of athletes, and the perception of competence and satisfaction of female adolescent athletes. Details on the competence motivation theory; What influences motivation and self-perception; Method used for the study; Results of the study.

Objectives: To investigate the effects of exercise advertising on self-efficacy and decisional balance for changing exercise behavior. Methods: One hundred Seventy-four university students (females = 108; males = 66) watched a video that contained health, appearance, or control advertising and completed stage of change, exercise self-efficacy, and decisional balance questionnaires. Results: There was a significant condition by gender interaction indicating that men in the appearance condition had lower self-efficacy than did females. Health promotion advertising did not have any effect. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that the message in appearance-based advertising that men should be muscular may be detrimental. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which used intermediate tennis players to examine trainability of anticipation. Examination of whether on-court tennis serve returns could be improved by video presentations; Information on the training phase; Details on the participants in the study; Method used to conduct study; Results of the study.

The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of a mental training program on state anxiety, respiration rate and performance of novice scuba divers. Forty-four participants enrolled in novice open water diving courses served as participants. An intervention group (n = 15), in addition to scuba training, received an audiotaped mental training program designed to reduce anxiety and improve diving performance. A placebo-control group (n = 15) followed the same procedures except that their audiotape contained general information about scuba diving. A control group (n = 14) received only scuba training. The intervention group reported lower pre-dive scores for cognitive anxiety, higher pre-dive scores for self-confidence, performed better on bail-out and mask removal tasks, and showed lower respiration rate than either control group. Respiration rate and somatic anxiety scores significantly predicted bail-out performance. Respiration rate also predicted mask removal performance. These results suggest that novice divers may benefit from mental training as part of their pre-dive instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]