scholarly journals Predicting Race Performance in Triathlon: The Role of Perfectionism, Achievement Goals, and Personal Goal Setting

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Stoeber ◽  
Mark A. Uphill ◽  
Sarah Hotham

The question of how perfectionism affects performance is highly debated. Because empirical studies examining perfectionism and competitive sport performance are missing, the present research investigated how perfectionism affected race performance and what role athletes’ goals played in this relationship in two prospective studies with competitive triathletes (Study 1: N = 112; Study 2: N = 321). Regression analyses showed that perfectionistic personal standards, high performance-approach goals, low performance-avoidance goals, and high personal goals predicted race performance beyond athletes’ performance level. Moreover, the contrast between performance-avoidance and performance-approach goals mediated the relationship between perfectionistic personal standards and performance, whereas personal goal setting mediated the relationship between performance-approach goals and performance. The findings indicate that perfectionistic personal standards do not undermine competitive performance, but are associated with goals that help athletes achieve their best possible performance.

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 364-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radamés M.V. Medeiros ◽  
Eduardo S. Alves ◽  
Valdir A. Lemos ◽  
Paulo A. Schwingel ◽  
Andressa da Silva ◽  
...  

Context:Body-composition assessments of high-performance athletes are very important for identifying physical performance potential. Although the relationship between the kinanthropometric characteristics and performance abilities of Olympic swimmers is extremely important, this subject is not completely understood for Paralympic swimmers.Objective:To investigate the relationship between body composition and sport performance in Brazilian Paralympic swimmers 6 mo after training.Design:Experimental pre/posttest design.Setting:Research laboratory and field evaluations of swimming were conducted to verify the 50-m freestyle time of each athlete.Participants:17 Brazilian Paralympic swim team athletes (12 men, 5 women).Main Outcome Measures:Body-composition assessments were performed using a BOD POD, and swimming performance was assessed using the 50-m freestyle, which was performed twice: before and after 6 mo of training.Results:Increased lean mass and significantly reduced relative fat mass and swimming time (P < .05) were observed 6 mo after training. Furthermore, a positive correlation between body-fat percentage and performance (r = .66, P < .05) was observed, but there was no significant correlation between body density and performance (r = –.14, P > .05).Conclusions:After a 6-mo training period, Paralympic swimmers presented reduced fat mass and increased lean body mass associated with performance, as measured by 50-m freestyle time. These data suggest that reduced fat-mass percentage was significantly correlated with improved swimming performance in Paralympic athletes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Estevan ◽  
Octavio Álvarez ◽  
Coral Falcó ◽  
Isabel Castillo

Development of self-efficacy scales allows the analysis of athletes’ perceptions and examination of the relationship between perception and performance. The aim of this paper was to: (1) develop a specific self-efficacy scale in a taekwondo task, the roundhouse kick, and (2) analyse the sport performance and its relationship with two self-efficacy scales (specific and general) outcomes according to the athletes’ gender.<strong> </strong>Forty-three taekwondo athletes (33 male and 10 female) participated in this study. The Physical (PSE) and Specific (RKSES) self-efficacy scales were administered. Performance data (impact force and total response time) were acquired by athletes kicking twice to an instrumented target. Results showed that the specific self-efficacy scale has high reliability and is able to predict sport performance in males and females. Males had higher self-efficacy scores and also higher performance results than females. Females’ taekwondo psychological training should be focus on improving their self-efficacy perception in order to increase their performance in the roundhouse kick. This specific self-efficacy scale for the taekwondo roundhouse kick offers empirical information to coaches, sport psychologists and researchers that allow them to predict athletes’ sport performance in the roundhouse kick.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugénia Pedro ◽  
João Leitão ◽  
Helena Alves

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the predominant classification of intellectual capital (IC), in terms of components, using the literature of reference on the relationship between IC and performance and considering multi-dimensional analysis axes (MAAs): organisational, regional and national. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review (SLR) is presented focussing on empirical studies on IC published in the period 1960-2016. A protocol for action is defined and a research question is raised, gathering data from the databases of: Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. A social network analysis is also provided to determine the type of networks embracing groups, IC individual components and performance type. Findings Of the 777 papers included in the SLR, 189 deal with the relationship between IC and performance. The paper highlights the greater development of empirical studies starting from 2004; the organisational MAA is the most studied. The most frequently used groups of components in studies dealing with IC’s influence on performance corresponds to a triad of human capital; structural (organisational or process) capital; and relational (social or customer) capital, which determine positively the performance of organisations/regions/countries, but their influence is not linear and depends on various factors associated with the context and surrounding environment. Practical implications This study has wide-ranging implications for politicians/governments, managers and academics, providing empirical evidence about the relationships between the components of IC and performance, by MAAs, and a global vision and better understanding of how those IC components have developed and how they are related to performance. Originality/value Due to the high number of references covering a wide range of disciplines and the various dimensions (e.g. organisational, regional and national) that form IC, it becomes fundamental to carry out an SRL and systematise its MAAs to deepen knowledge about what has been discovered/developed in this domain, in terms of empirical studies, in order to situate the topic in a wider theoretical-practical context. The paper is exceptionally wide-ranging, covering the period 1960-2016. It is one of the first clarifying studies on systemisation of the literature on IC, by MAA, and an in-depth study of IC’s impact on the performance of organisations/regions and countries which may serve as a guideline for future studies using the taxonomy proposed.


1993 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane M. Berry ◽  
Robin L. West

This article is an integrative review of empirical studies of cognitive self-efficacy from childhood through old age. Issues of definition and measurement are addressed and the relation of self-efficacy to personal mastery is evaluated. Research on academic achievement in children and adolescents, complex decision-making in young adults, and memory and intellectual functioning in older adults supports a variety of theoretically driven hypotheses regarding the sources and effects of self-efficacy. Percepts of self-efficacy are based on a variety of sources of information, including personal mastery and perceived control beliefs. Self-efficacy has predictable effects on a variety of task engagement variables (e.g. persistence, effort, goal setting, strategy usage, chioce) that mediate the relationship between self-efficacy and performance. Generalisations regarding the applicability of self-efficacy to understanding cognitive development across the life span are discussed in terms of age-relevant domains and it is argued that a life span treatment of self-efficacy development is particularly compelling because both life span theory and self-efficacy theory emphasise domain specificity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 08042
Author(s):  
Natalya Ulyanova ◽  
Oksana Chernykh

The empirical study of the involvement of personal volition in the athletic success of young athletes aged 9 to 18 yearsis presented. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between individual characteristics of volitional processes and the grade of sport performance, determined by the sports qualifications of the respondents.The specifics and requirements ofdifferent kinds of sport have been considered. At the sample of young athletes from 9 to 18 years old (N = 145, M = 13,2 years) for some sports (athletics, rock climbing, football)significant regression models were built. Particular characteristics of volitional processes or their combination were discovered as predictors, and the athlete’s performance was a dependent variable. For other sports disciplines (boxing, rowing, swimming, rhythmic gymnastics), such models could not be identified. Moreover, we established that emotional self-control and determination have a joint effect on the grade of sport performance of athletes who was younger than 13, while for athletesfrom 14 to 18 years oldcommon predictors of performance from among volitional qualities was not found.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco António Arraya ◽  
René Pellissier ◽  
Isabel Preto

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to research factors like task-orientation and collectivism and to examine the relationship between them and goal-setting as research construct. This research investigates the phenomena of team goal-setting in a selected sports organisation. Therefore 49 players from three Portuguese elite male handball team were selected for the study. Design/methodology/approach – Three well-known questionnaires were employed to determine the relationships between the above factors in a case setting. Task- and ego-orientation in Sport Questionnaire, the Jackson Psychological Collectivism Measure and the Goal-setting in Sport Questionnaire. Findings – The results reveal that the team and players are task-oriented, collectivist and possessing professional and personal goal habits. The correlations between questionnaire outcomes indicate that, when the team wants to set goals, it should consider the players’ orientation and the team’s collectivism. Thus team goal-setting is more than only goal-setting, because of the need for task-orientation and collectivism. Research limitations/implications – The research was conducted using three teams in a specific sports and thus cannot be generalised to the general sports environment. Yet, certainly the strength of the findings indicate that the results and conclusions may be used in a wider sports or business setting. Practical implications – This research paper should provide managers and coaches with insight into the complexity of team goal-setting. It also should provide insight into the chosen process related to human resources. Originality/value – The paper adds and demonstrates to the literature on team goal-setting the importance of task-orientation and collectivism as goal-setting mediators.


1991 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randy O. Frost ◽  
Katherine J. Henderson

This exploratory study examined the relationship of perfectionism (from a recently devised multidimensional measure) with female athletes' reactions to athletic competition and coaches' ratings of reactions to mistakes during competition. Athletes who rated high in Concern Over Mistakes (one dimension of perfectionism) reported more anxiety and less self-confidence in sports, displayed a general failure orientation toward sports, reacted negatively to mistakes (by their report and by coaches' ratings), and reported more negative thinking in the 24 hours prior to competition. A second dimension of perfectionism, High Personal Standards, was associated with a success orientation toward sports and more dreams of perfection prior to competition. The possible influence of perfectionism on motivation and performance in sports is discussed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianmin Guan ◽  
Ping Xiang ◽  
Ron McBride ◽  
April Bruene

This study examined the relationship between achievement goals and social goals and explored how students’ achievement goals and social goals might affect their reported persistence and effort expended toward physical education in high school settings. Participants were 544 students from two high schools in the southwest U.S. Multiple regression analysis revealed that social responsibility goals represented the greatest contributor to students’ expenditure of persistence and effort toward physical education. This was followed by mastery-approach goals, mastery-avoidance goals, and performance-approach goals. In addition, girls reported significantly higher values on both social-relationship goals and responsibility goals than did boys. Findings revealed that students had multiple goals for wanting to succeed in physical education; using both achievement goals and social goals when studying student motivation and achievement in high school physical education settings is recommend.


1998 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 1035-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannis Theodorakis ◽  
Kostas Laparidis ◽  
Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou ◽  
Marios Goudas

A laboratory experiment was conducted ( N = 40 subjects) to examine whether goal setting would be associated with reduced heart rate on an endurance task. Participants performed an endurance task on an ergometer bicycle. One week later when participants performed the task again half of them set a specific personal goal for an increase in performance. Analysis indicated that subjects who set a goal showed significant improvement in comparison with the control group. Moreover, subjects in the goal group had a significantly lower mean heart rate during the test and had a higher mean heart rate at the end of the test than on the first trial. Results are discussed in terms of combining cognitive and physiological explanations for the beneficial effects of goal setting on performance.


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