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Objectives Although coaches recognize their role in preventing doping, research has shown that they lack self-confidence in how to deal with athletes whom they suspect of doping. Considering the importance of this efficacy, the current study was designed to develop and validate a measure of coaches' efficacy to confront doping athletes. Coaches' perception of motivational climate (i.e., ego- or task-oriented) was used to provide evidence for the predictive validity of coaches' doping confrontation efficacy. Design A survey-based study was conducted to develop a theoretically-based, psychometrically-sound scale. The scale was designed according to Bandura's (1997) guidelines for efficacy measures, and based in the conceptual framework of Newell and Stutman's (1991) Social Confrontation Model. A sample of 560 coaches of high school athletes completed the Doping Confrontation Efficacy Scale (DCES) and a modified version of the Perceived Motivation Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2 (Newton, Duda & Yin, 2000). Results A 21-item version of the DCES showed acceptable psychometric properties, including a good fit of the data to the proposed five-factor model of the construct (CFI = .967, TLI = .962, RMSEA = .040, SRMR = .037). Structural equation modeling revealed that coaches' confrontational efficacy is significantly predicted by coaches' perceptions of motivational climate, specifically, that it is positively related to task-involving climate and negatively related to ego-involving climate.. Conclusion The DCES is a valid and reliable measure of a very specific domain of coaching efficacy. This measurement can be useful in helping address significant gaps in both basic and applied research in the field.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite having been studied from a variety of different perspectives (e.g., psychological, sociological, anthropological), many researchers have concluded that a valid, holistic and reliable understanding of aggression in sport has yet to be proposed (Gee 2011; Gee 2010; Gee & Sullivan, 2006; Gee & Leith, 2007; Kirker, Tennenbaum & Mattson, 2000; Stephens, 1998). The criticisms pertaining to the sport aggression literature focus primarily on three factors: (1) its descriptive nature, (2) its microanalytical nature (i.e., the examination of a single independent variable), and (3) the omission of a valid behavioral criterion. The purpose of the current investigation was to address these limitations directly by testing the predictive capacity of multiple psychosocial constructs on within-competition aggressive behavior over a competitive season. Participants were 295 youth hockey players and their parents. These athletes competed across multiple competitive levels (AAA, AA, A, AE, and local league) within their respective age brackets. Results indicate that trait aggressiveness was the single strongest predictor of aggressive behavior over a competitive season. However, this relationship was moderated significantly by the level at which the athlete competed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synchronization of behavior between individuals has been found to result in a variety of prosocial outcomes. The role of endorphins in vigorous synchronous activities (Cohen, Ejsmond-Frey, Knight, & Dunbar, 2010) may underlie these effects as endorphins have been implicated in social bonding (Dunbar & Shultz, 2010). Although research on synchronous behavior has noted that there are 2 dominant phases of synchrony-in-phase and antiphase synchrony (Marsh, Richardson, Baron, & Schmidt, 2006), research on the effect of synchrony on endorphins has only incorporated in-phase synchrony. The current study examined whether both phases of synchrony would generate the synchrony effect. Twenty-two participants rowed under 3 counter-balanced conditions-alone, in-phase synchrony and antiphase synchrony. Endorphin release, as measured by pain threshold, was assessed before and after each session. Change in pain threshold during the in-phase synchrony session was significantly higher than either of the other 2 conditions. These results suggest that the synchrony effect may be specific to just in-phase synchrony, and that social presence is not a viable explanation for the effect of synchrony on pain threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coaching Behavior Scale for Sport (CBS-S) is an athlete-centered measure of coaching behavior designed specifically for youth sport. Research has supported the psychometric properties and construct validity of the scale, however there has not been a published confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the CBS-S. The current study was designed to confirm the factor structure of the CBS-S, as well as to examine any potential invariance of this factor structure by gender. A sample of 346 youth sport athletes were administered the scale. The sample comprised relatively equal numbers of males (n = 193 male) and females (n = 152) who ranged in age from 13-18 years (M = 15.17, SD = 1.28), and represented the sports of basketball (n = 124), ice hockey (n = 114), and soccer (n = 99). A CFA (heterogeneous kurtosis method) revealed that the model showed an excellent fit to the data (CFI = .985, RMSEA = .044). An analysis of invariance by gender showed that the measurement model did not vary between male and female youth sport participants. These results offer strong support to the factor structure of the measurement model of the CBS-S, and, in context with the previous research, suggest that the scale is a valid and reliable measure for coaching effectiveness in youth sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]