Validation of the athletic mental energy scale for Chinese school-age adolescents.

Mental energy is an important factor in many domains, including athletic performance. The athletic mental energy scale (AMES) is one of the established tools available to measure athletes' perceived mental energy state. To date, there is no validated questionnaire to assess athletic mental energy for Chinese adolescents. Therefore, purpose of this study was to validate a Chinese version of AMES (C-AMES) among the Chinese adolescents in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China. We sampled 729 adolescents aged 14 to 18 in five middle schools in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, China to complete the revised C-AMES. Data were analyzed for factor structure validity by performing CFA. The results showed that the fit index was acceptable (RMSEA = 0.050, CFI = 0.962, TLI = 0.951), and a six-factor model containing 18 C-AMES items had good measurement properties for athletic mental energy. We suggest future study may use C-AMES to examine the relationship between athletes' mental energy and athletic performance and sporting behavior.

Influence of mental energy on volleyball competition performance: a field test.

Athletic mental energy is a newly emerging research topic in sport science. However, whether it can predict objective performance in competition remains unexplored. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the predictability of mental energy on volleyball competition performance. We recruited 81 male volleyball players (Mage = 21.11 years ± SD = 1.81) who participated in the last 16 remaining teams in a college volleyball tournament. We assessed participants' mental energy the night before the competition and collected their competition performance over the next 3 days. We used six indices of the Volleyball Information System (VIS) developed by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) to examine its associations with mental energy. All six factors of mental energy -motivation, tirelessness, calm, vigor, confidence, and concentration correlated with volleyball competition performance. Further, a hierarchical regression found mental energy predicted volleyball receivers' performance (R2 = .23). The findings advance our knowledge of mental energy and objective performance in competition. We suggest that future studies may examine the effects of mental energy on different sports with different performance indices.

Pre-competition mental energy and performance relationships among physically disabled table tennis players.

Energy is essential to human daily functioning and performance. However, the association of mental energy with athletes' performance has rarely been examined. We attempted to examine the pre-competition mental energy-performance relationships by two studies. Study 1 administered Athletic Mental Energy Scale (AMES, Lu et al., 2018) to nine elite physically-disabled table tennis players one day before competition in 5 international tournaments. Then, we collected their subjective performance after each competition. In Study 2, we sampled 77 National-level physically-disabled table tennis players and examined the pre-competition mental energy-performance relationship as the procedure in Study 1. Results from Study 1 provided initial findings of how pre-competition mental energy is associated with performance and portrayed in elite physically-disabled table tennis players. Results from Study 2 further confirmed the pre-competition mental energy- performance relationships. We suggested future studies to examine the mental energy-performance relationships in physically-disabled and abled athletes and different sports.

Seeking Positive Strengths in Buffering Athletes' Life Stress-Burnout Relationship: The Moderating Roles of Athletic Mental Energy.

In search of positive strengths that bolster athletes' reaction to stress, the purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effects of athletic mental energy on the athletes' life stress-burnout relationship. This study recruited two samples (Study 1 = 230; Study 2 = 159) and administered the College Student-Athlete's Life Stress Scale (CSALSS; Lu et al., 2012), Athletic Mental Energy Scale (AMES; Lu et al., 2018), and Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ; Raedeke and Smith, 2001). Two separate hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that the emotional and cognitive components of athletic mental energy moderated the athletes' life stress-burnout relationship across the two studies. Results provided the initial evidence that athletic mental energy can be positive strengths in buffering the stress-burnout relationship. Theoretical implications, limitations, practical applications, and future research directions are discussed.

Measuring Athletic Mental Energy (AME): Instrument Development and Validation.

Although considerable research indicates that mental energy is an important factor in many domains, including athletic performance (Cook and Davis, 2006), athletic mental energy (AME) has never been conceptualized and measured. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conceptualize and develop a reliable and valid instrument to assess AME. In Study 1, a focus group interview established the initial framework of AME. Study 2 used a survey to collect athletes' experiences of AME and develop a scale draft titled "Athletic Mental Energy Scale (AMES)." In Study 3, we examined the psychometric properties and the underlying structure of AMES via item analysis, internal consistency, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). In Study 4, we used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine AMES's factorial validity; and examined concurrent and discriminant validity by examining correlations with athletes' life stress, positive state of mind, and burnout. In study 5, we examined the measurement invariance of the 6-factor, 18-item AMES with Taiwanese and Malaysian samples. Study 6 examined the predictive validity by comparing AMES scores of successful and unsuccessful martial artists. Across these phases, results showed a 6-factor, 18-item AMES had adequate content validity, factorial structure, nomological validity, discriminant validity, predictive validity, measurement invariance, and reliability. We suggest future studies may use AMES to examine its relationships with athletes' cognition, affect, and performance. The application of AMES in sport psychology was also discussed.