scholarly journals Dimensions of Goals and Beliefs among Adolescent Athletes with Physical Disabilities

1993 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally A. White ◽  
Joan L. Duda

This study examined the existence and nature of dispositional goal orientations and perceived reasons for sport success among adolescent disabled athletes. Also, the interdependence between personal goals and views about the determinants of sport achievement was determined. Fifty-nine athletes with physical disabilities completed the 13-item Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire specific to wheelchair basketball and a 21-item questionnaire concerning beliefs about the causes of sport success. Factor analyses revealed two distinct goal-belief dimensions. The first dimension indicated that task orientation was associated with the views that practice, exerted effort, and external factors lead to success. The second dimension suggested that ego orientation was coupled with the beliefs that ability, chance, taking an illegal advantage, or all three result in accomplishment in sport. The present findings are contrasted with previous classroom research and studies of able-bodied sport participants, and their implications for the understanding of motivation are provided.

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 334-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan L. Duda ◽  
Sally A. White

The purposes of this study were to determine the relationship between goal orientations and beliefs about the causes of success among elite athletes and to examine the psychometric characteristics of the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ) in high-level competitive sport. Male and female intercollegiate skiers (N=143) completed the TEOSQ specific to skiing and a questionnaire assessing their perceptions of the determinants of success in skiing. Factor analysis of the TEOSQ revealed two independent subscales that demonstrated acceptable internal consistency. Task orientation was positively linked with the beliefs that skiing success is a result of hard work, superior ability, and selecting activities that one can perform successfully, and ego orientation to the beliefs that taking an illegal advantage, possessing high ability, selecting tasks that one can accomplish, and external variables are reasons for skiing success. Factor analysis of the two goal orientation and four belief scale scores revealed two divergent goal/belief dimensions in competitive skiing.


1996 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally A. White ◽  
Scott R. Zellner

Goal perspective theory assumes that personal goals serve as organizing principles, influencing the meaning of activities and how individuals respond to achievement experiences (Nicholls, 1989). This study examined the link between an individual’s personal goals, wider views about how sport operates, and trait anxiety level prior to or during competition. This investigation also determined the relation of gender and sport group to goal orientations, beliefs about the causes of success in sport, and multidimensional trait anxiety among sport participants. The sample consisted of 251 male and female high school, intercollegiate, and college-age recreational sport participants who completed the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992), the 21-item Beliefs About the Causes of Sport Success Questionnaire (BACSSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992), and the 21-item Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS; Smith, Smoll, & Schultz, 1990). Canonical correlation analysis revealed that sport participants higher in ego orientation than task orientation were more likely to experience concentration disruption prior to or during performance and believed that taking an illegal advantage, such as blood doping, would lead to success in sport. In general, women were more task oriented than men, and reported worrying and being somatically anxious prior to or during competition. Overall, high school athletes were more ego oriented than intercollegiate athletes. College-age recreational males were more apt than intercollegiate males and high school females to equate effort as the way to success in sport. Further, high school male athletes were more apt than intercollegiate males and all the female athletic groups to believe using an illegal advantage, such as performance-enhancing drugs, would lead to success in sport.


1999 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
John G.H. Dunn ◽  
Janice Causgrove Dunn

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between goal orientations, perceptions of athletic aggression, and sportspersonship among elite male youth ice hockey players (M age = 13.08 years). Athletes (N = 171) completed questionnaires to assess their goal orientations, attitudes toward directing aggressive behaviors during competition, and non-aggression-related sportspersonship. In accordance with Vallerand, Deshaies, Cuerrier, Brière, and Pelletier (1996), sportspersonship was conceptualized as a five-dimensional construct. Multiple regression analyses revealed that high ego-oriented athletes were more inclined to approve of aggressive behaviors than those with low ego orientation. Players with higher levels of task orientation (rather than low task orientation) had higher sportspersonship levels on three dimensions. An analysis of goal orientation patterns revealed that regardless of ego orientation, low (compared to high) task orientation was more motivationally detrimental to several sportspersonship dimensions. The practical implications of these results are discussed in the context of Nicholls’s (1989) achievement goal theory.


2007 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiung-Huang Li ◽  
Likang Chi

This study explored the main and interactive effects of goal orientations and perceived competence on intensity and direction of the symptoms of precompetitive cognitive and somatic anxiety. 109 handball players from 16 high school teams ( M = 16.2 yr., SD = 1.5) participated. All were asked to complete the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire, Perceived Competence Questionnaire, and a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2. Using separated multiple hierarchical regression analyses, direction of the symptoms of precompetitive somatic anxiety was predicted by perceived competence and interaction of ego orientation x perceived competence. Perceived competence and the interaction of ego orientation x task orientation x perceived competence were significant predictors of direction of the symptoms of precompetitive cognitive anxiety. The results suggest that perceptions of competence and task orientation moderate the relationship between ego orientation and direction of the symptoms of precompetitive anxiety.


2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 501-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Kavussanu ◽  
Nikos Ntoumanis

This study examined whether participation in contact sports influences moral functioning within the sport context, and whether these effects are mediated by ego orientation; the role of task orientation on moral functioning was also examined. Participants (N = 221) were college athletes participating in basketball, soccer, field hockey, and rugby. They completed questionnaires assessing sport participation, goal orientations, moral functioning, and social desirability. Structural equation modeling analysis indicated that participation in contact sports positively predicted ego orientation, which in turn predicted low levels of moral functioning. The direct effects of sport participation on moral functioning became nonsignificant in the presence of ego orientation, indicating that the latter construct mediates the relationship between the first two variables. Task orientation corresponded to high levels of moral functioning. These findings help us further understand the processes operating in contact sports and are discussed in terms of their implications for eliminating unsportspersonlike conduct from the sport context.


2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Sage ◽  
Maria Kavussanu

The purpose of this study was to examine task-, ego-, and social-goal orientations as predictors of prosocial and antisocial behavior in youth soccer. Participants were 365 male (n = 227) and female (n = 138) youth soccer players Mage = 13.4 years, SD = 1.8), who completed questionnaires measuring task and ego orientation; the goals of social affiliation, social recognition and social status; prosocial and antisocial behavior; and demographics. Regression analyses revealed that prosocial behavior was predicted positively by task orientation and social affiliation and negatively by social status. In contrast, antisocial behavior was predicted positively by ego orientation and social status and negatively by task orientation. Findings for task and ego orientation are consistent with previous work. Social-goal orientations explained further variance in prosocial and antisocial behavior, and their inclusion in future moral research is encouraged.


Author(s):  
Natalia Martínez-González ◽  
Francisco L. Atienza ◽  
Joan L. Duda ◽  
Isabel Balaguer

Findings in different contexts suggest that task orientation and ego orientation are related to adaptive and maladaptive motivational patterns, respectively. In sport, these personal dispositions could influence other important variables such as the goals that athletes pursue (and why they pursue them) during the season and their well- and ill-being. The main purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between athletes’ dispositional goal orientations, their goal motives, and their reported well-being (subjective vitality) and ill-being (physical and emotional exhaustion). The study involved 414 Spanish university athletes (206 female and 208 male) with an age range of 17 to 33 years (M = 20.61; SD = 2.58) that completed a package of questionnaires at the beginning of the season. Results of path analysis revealed that athletes’ task orientation was negatively associated to physical and emotional exhaustion indirectly through autonomous and controlled goal motives. In contrast, ego orientation was positively related to physical and emotional exhaustion via its link to controlled goal motives. Athletes’ task orientation directly and positively predicted subjective vitality, even though goal motives were not significant mediators. These findings support previous evidence about the protective role of athletes’ task orientation, in contrast to ego orientation, confirming its positive relationship with well-being and its negative one with ill-being. Additionally, it extends the knowledge regarding interdependencies between goal orientations and goal motives and how both contribute to athletes’ optimal or compromised functioning.


Retos ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 184-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Zamarripa ◽  
Manuel Francisco De la Cruz Ortega ◽  
Octavio Álvarez ◽  
Isabel Castillo

Dentro del contexto deportivo, las personas pueden presentar dos tipos de creencias implícitas sobre la habilidad deportiva, creencias incremental y de entidad, las cuales tienen un papel importante en la conformación de las orientaciones de meta cuando practican deporte. Hasta la fecha no se conocen estudios con población mexicana que hayan examinado la relación entre las creencias implícitas y las orientaciones de meta. El objetivo del presente estudio consistió en examinar las creencias implícitas sobre la habilidad y las orientaciones de meta en una muestra de jugadoras de sóftbol de máximo nivel competitivo de México. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 71 jugadoras de sóftbol (Medad = 22.05 años; DT = 6.27; rango = 13-41) pertenecientes a las selecciones de seis estados de la República Mexicana. Los resultados revelaron buena consistencia interna de los instrumentos. Las jugadoras presentaron una alta creencia incremental y una alta orientación a la tarea. La creencia incremental correlacionó positivamente con la orientación a la tarea, y ésta a su vez con la creencia estable pero de manera negativa. Por su parte, la creencia de entidad correlacionó positivamente con la orientación al ego. La creencia incremental de habilidad percibida predijo la orientación a la tarea y la creencia de entidad predijo la orientación al ego. Se deben desarrollar creencias de que la habilidad se puede mejorar a través del esfuerzo dado las consecuencias positivas que tiene en el fomento de una percepción de competencia orientada a la tarea y ésta a su vez sobre las experiencias deportivas.Abstract. In sport contexts, people can display two different types of implicit beliefs about athletic skills: incremental beliefs and entity beliefs, both playing an important role in setting a particular goal orientation while practicing any sport. There are no studies that examine the relationship between implicit beliefs and goal orientations in Mexican populations so far. The aim of this study was to analyze implicit beliefs about athletic skills and goal orientations in a sample of Mexican high performance softball players. The sample was composed by 71 softball players (Mage = 22.05 years; SD = 6.27; range = 13-41) from selection teams of six states of the Mexican Republic. Preliminary analyses demonstrated good internal consistency of the instruments applied. Players showed high incremental beliefs as well as high task orientation. These variables were also found to be positively correlated. In addition, task orientation was negatively associated with stable beliefs. On the other hand, entity beliefs were positively related to ego orientation. Incremental beliefs predicted task orientation, whereas entity beliefs predicted ego orientation. As our results suggest, we need to foster the belief that skills can be improved through sacrifice, as it would prompt the perception of task-oriented competence, thus having a positive impact on sports experiences.


2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Kavussanu ◽  
Glyn C. Roberts

This study examined the role of achievement goals on indices of moral functioning (i.e., moral judgment, intention and behavior), unsportsmanlike attitudes, and judgments about the legitimacy of intentionally injurious acts in college basketball players. Male (n = 56) and female (n = 143) athletes completed questionnaires assessing the aforementioned variables. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant differences according to gender on the variables of interest. Specifically, male athletes reported higher ego orientation, lower task orientation, lower levels of moral functioning, and greater approval of unsportsmanlike behaviors, and they were more likely than females to judge injurious acts as legitimate. For the female sample, canonical correlation analysis indicated the presence of a significant but weak relationship between goal orientations and the set of moral variables. Higher ego orientation was related to lower levels of the judgment and intention indices of moral functioning and greater acceptance of intentionally injurious acts. Although this relationship was significant, the strength of the association between the two sets of variables accounted for only 9% of the variance in the set of moral variables.


1993 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc R. Lochbaum ◽  
Glyn C. Roberts

Nicholas (1984a, 1984b, 1989) conceptual framework was used to study the relationship between two implicit goal orientations (task and ego) and achievement behaviors. This study examined the relationship between the goal orientations and (a) beliefs concerning determinants of success, (b) competition and practice strategies, (c) practice benefits, and (d) enjoyment. Subjects were 182 male and 114 female high school athletes who competed in at least one sport during the 1989–1990 school year. Factor analyses were conducted to determine the composition of the relevant factors. Ten factors emerged. Canonical analysis was employed to determine the relationship between goal orientations and the 10 subscales. The results, consistent with the hypotheses, showed that athletes with a task orientation focused on adaptive achievement strategies whereas athletes with an ego orientation focused on potentially maladaptive achievement strategies. The implications of the results to sport participation are discussed.


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