The two roads of passionate goal pursuit: links with appraisal, coping, and academic achievement

Background and Objectives: In this research, we testing the role of cognitive appraisals in explaining why harmonious and obsessive passion dimensions are related to distinct forms of coping, and explored if performance was impacted by these appraisal and coping processes.Design: Undergraduate students (N = 489) participated in a longitudinal study and completed three surveys throughout the course of an academic year.Methods: Participants completed assessments of both passion dimensions (Time 1), reported how they were appraising and coping with the mid-year exam period (Time 2), and provided consent to obtain their final grade in Introductory Psychology (Time 3). The hypothesised model was tested using structural equation modeling.Results: Harmonious and obsessive passion dimensions were linked with approach and avoidant coping responses, respectively. Cognitive appraisals, particularly appraisals of challenge and uncontrollability, played an indirect role in these relationships. In addition, both appraisals and coping responses had an indirect effect in the relationship between passion dimensions and final grade. Conclusions: These results identify cognitive appraisal as a reason why passion dimensions are linked with distinct coping tendencies, and demonstrate the role appraisal and coping processes in the journey toward passionate goal attainment.

Passion in the pit: the effects of harmonious and obsessive passion on nurse burnout

PurposeAnecdotal and survey reports indicate that nurses are suffering increased stress and burnout due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Therefore, this study investigated two forms of passion, harmonious and obsessive passion, as resources that may indirectly predict two forms of burnout, disengagement and exhaustion, through the mediator of job stress.Design/methodology/approachThe authors tested their hypotheses in a mediation model using a sample of nurses surveyed at three timepoints during the COVID-19 pandemic.FindingsAs hypothesized, harmonious passion indirectly decreased disengagement and exhaustion by decreasing job stress. Contrary to authors’ hypotheses, obsessive passion also indirectly decreased (rather than increased, as hypothesized) both disengagement and exhaustion by decreasing job stress. Harmonious, but not obsessive, passion, was significantly negatively directly related to disengagement and exhaustion.Research limitations/implicationsData were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have impacted nurses’ work environments and their willingness to respond.Originality/valueThis study extends conservation of resources theory to conceptualize harmonious and obsessive passion as resources with differing outcomes based on their contrasting identity internalization, per the Dualistic Model of Passion. This study also operationalizes burnout more comprehensively by including cognitive and physical exhaustion along with emotional exhaustion, as well as disengagement. By collecting responses at three timepoints, this study provides a more robust test of causality than previous work examining passion and burnout.

The Two Dimensions of Passion for Sport: A New Look Using a Quadripartite Approach

Research relying on the dualistic model of passion has consistently found that harmonious passion for sport is positively associated with adaptive outcomes and that obsessive passion for sport is positively associated with maladaptive outcomes (e.g., Vallerand & Verner-Filion, 2020). In this research, we tested if various sport outcomes were related to within-person combinations of both harmonious and obsessive passion. Three samples of athletes (total N = 1,290) completed online surveys that assessed various sport outcomes (e.g., sport enjoyment, goal attainment), along with harmonious and obsessive passion for their sport. We found that athletes were best served by having either high harmonious passion or low obsessive passion or, in many cases, high harmonious passion that was combined with low obsessive passion. These results add to our understanding of passion by showing that combinations of harmonious and obsessive passion for sport are differentially associated with indicators of a positive sport experience.

A Novel Approach to Looking at the Role of Autonomy Support in the Development of Passion in Education

The current research demonstrates a novel approach to investigating the role ofperceived teacher and parental autonomy support in college students’ ( N = 970 with376 males, 594 females) passion for science. Based on the Dualistic Model of Passionwhich posits the existence of a harmonious (HP) and obsessive (OP) passion, weadopted a 2 x 2 model (Gaudreau & Thompson, 2010) to test if low and high levels ofperceived parental and teacher autonomy support were differentially associated withstudents’ harmonious and obsessive passion. First, students' perceptions of high levels of both teacher and parental autonomy support rendered the highest means in HP and OP. Second, students who demonstrated high levels of only teacher autonomy support also displayed high levels of HP and OP. Third, OP levels were lowest when teacher autonomy support was low, while those from parents were high. Finally, perceived low support from both parents and teachers was not as ideal as having only support from parents to keep OP at the lowest levels. In sum, the results demonstrate the benefits of having both forms of autonomy support and highlight the outcomes associated with single-sided or low support. Practical implications highlight the importance of considering sources outside of students’ immediate learning environment when designing interventions based on autonomy support.

Fuelled by passion: Obsessive passion amplifies positive and negative feelings throughout a hockey playoff series

Previous research has shown that the highs and lows of sports fandom are more extreme for fans with strong levels of obsessive passion (Lafrenière et al., 2012). We tested if this amplification effect applied to how hockey fans felt throughout a National Hockey League (NHL) playoff series. Fans of the Winnipeg Jets (N = 57) reported levels of harmonious and obsessive passion prior to the start of the 2019 NHL playoffs, and then reported their feelings the day after each game of the first playoff round. The results supported the amplification hypothesis by showing that the impact of game result on both positive and negative feelings the day after a game was more extreme for fans with high OP. This moderating effect, however, appeared to be driven primarily by responses to losses.

Sport-to-School Spillover Effects of Passion for Sport: The Role of Identity in Academic Performance

There is a theoretical and empirical basis that suggests that passion and identity are interrelated and that they can cross the achievement domain in influencing outcomes. Using a sample of student-athletes ( N = 187), the first purpose of this study was to examine whether academic identity and athletic variables (athletic identity, harmonious and obsessive passion for sport) can predict academic performance and persistence. The second purpose was to determine whether these relationships are invariant across sex and first-generation status. Academic outcomes were positively predicted by academic identity and negatively predicted by athletic identity. Harmonious and obsessive passion for sport were both negatively related to academic performance indirectly through athletic identity. Harmonious passion also was a weak positive predictor of academic persistence. The identified relationships were largely invariant across sex and first-generation status. Findings suggest that both academic and athletic variables can predict academic outcomes.

The Two Dimensions of Passion for Sport: A New Look Using a Quadripartite Approach

Research relying on the dualistic model of passion has consistently found that harmonious passion for sport is positively associated with adaptive outcomes and that obsessive passion for sport is positively associated with maladaptive outcomes. In this research, we tested if various sport outcomes were related to within-person combinations of both harmonious and obsessive passion. Three samples of athletes (total N = 1,290) completed online surveys that assessed various sport outcomes (e.g., sport enjoyment, goal attainment), along with harmonious and obsessive passion for their sport. We found that athletes were best served by having either high harmonious passion or low obsessive passion or, in many cases, high harmonious passion that was combined with low obsessive passion. These results add to our understanding of passion by showing that combinations of harmonious and obsessive passion for sport are differentially associated with indicators of a positive sport experience.

“Fuelled by Passion”: Obsessive Passion Amplifies Positive and Negative Feelings Throughout a Hockey Playoff Series

Previous research has shown that the highs and lows of sport fandom are more extreme for fans with strong levels of obsessive passion. The authors tested if this amplification effect applied to how hockey fans felt throughout a National Hockey League (NHL) playoff series. Fans of the Winnipeg Jets (N = 57) reported levels of harmonious and obsessive passion prior to the start of the 2019 NHL playoffs and then reported their feelings the day after each game of the first playoff round. The results supported the amplification hypothesis by showing that the impact of game result on both positive and negative feelings the day after a game was more extreme for fans with high obsessive passion. This moderating effect, however, appeared to be driven primarily by responses to losses.

Basketball jones: Fan passion, motives, and reactions to the suspension of the National Basketball Association season due to COVID-19

The suspension of the 2019-2020 National Basketball Association (NBA) season due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that NBA fans were unable to engage in an activity that they loved in the midst of a global health crisis. In this research, we assessed if fan responses to the suspension were associated with different types of fan passion and motives. Shortly after the NBA season suspension, NBA fans (N = 395) completed online surveys assessing harmonious and obsessive passion for being an NBA fan, motives for watching games, and various attitudes and responses to the suspension. We found that both fan passion and motives predicted responses to the suspension, particularly obsessive passion which predicted greater levels of distress, coping responses, and negative attitudes toward the suspension. These findings have implications for both the passion and fan motives literatures.