The Influences of Sports Psychological Capital to University Baseball Athletes' Life Stress and Athlete Burnout.

Previous studies suggested that athletes' psychological capital level is related to life stress and burnout. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the influences of university baseball athletes' psychological capital on their life stress and burnout and provide practical suggestions for athletes and coaches to reduce their life stress and burnout. In this study, we used athletes' control variables (grade, year of training experience, and training days per week) and psychological capital (self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience) to predict their life stress and burnout. A total of 428 division I baseball athletes from 16 teams of the national college baseball sports league in Taiwan participated in this survey, with a return rate of 89.2%. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships among the above-mentioned variables. The results showed that the athletes demographics such as grade (ß = 0.03, p > 0.05) and years of baseball training experience (ß = 0.00, p > 0.05) had no significant influences on athlete burnout, while the days of baseball training per week (ß = 0.32, p < 0.05) had a positive influence on athlete burnout. As for psychological capital, self-efficacy (ß = -0.09, p < 0.05), hope (ß = -0.27, p < 0.05), and optimism (ß = -0.20, p < 0.05) had negative influences on life stress, while resilience (ß = -0.07, p > 0.05) had no significant influences on life stress. Hope (ß = -0.20, p < 0.05) had negative influences on athlete burnout, while self-efficacy (ß = -0.00, p > 0.05), optimism (ß = -0.06, p > 0.05), and resilience (ß = -0.01, p > 0.05) had no significant influences on athlete burnout. Life stress (ß = 0.52, p < 0.05) had significant influences on the burnout. Based on our research findings, suggestions were made to reduce the athletes' life stress and athlete burnout.

An Exploration of Dance Learning Stress Sources of Elementary School Dance Class Students with Artistic Abilities: The Influences of Psychological Capital and Self-Concept.

The purpose of this study is to explore the factors which may cause the increase of students' stress in dance class in elementary school. In this study, students' demographic variables, psychological capital (which includes four sub-constructs), and self-concept (which includes five sub-constructs) were used as predicting variables to estimate their influences on dance class students' stress level. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 450 elementary art talent class students with 412 valid responses. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships proposed by the study. As for demographic variables, the results show that the grade, gender, and the dance class hours per week had no significant influences on stress, while the seniority level had a negative influence, which indicated that junior dance students had more stress than senior students. As for psychological capital, self-efficacy and optimism had negative influences on stress, while the other two sub-constructs, hope and resilience, did not have a significant influence on stress. As for physical self-concept, the worry of overweight had positive influences on their stress, while appearance, physical ability performance, health status, and satisfaction of body parts had no significant influence on stress. Based on the research findings, suggestions were made to reduce students' pressure in learning dance.

The Effect of Positive Emotion and Interpersonal Relationships to Adaptation of School Life on High School Athletic Class Students.

BACKGROUND: Adaption for school life is important for all students. As for athletic students, since they need to cope with schoolwork and extensive training, adaption for school life could be very challenging. Taking this into consideration, the purpose of this study was to explore the factors which may help high school athletic students' adaption of school life. Owing to this, the study explored previous researches and proposed four hypotheses: the first two hypotheses proposed that athletes' positive emotion will have positive impacts on both their interpersonal relationships and adaption of school life; the third hypothesis suggests that athletes' interpersonal relationships will have positive impacts on their adaption of school life and the fourth hypothesis suggested that interpersonal relationships play a mediating role among the positive emotion's effect on adaption of school life. METHODS: A total of 800 structured questionnaires were distributed to eleven high schools with athletic class students for data collection with a valid return rate of 90.6%. Structural equation modelling was used to test the relationship among them. RESULTS: The result showed that positive emotion (ß = 0.72, p < 0.05) and interpersonal relationships (ß = 0.34, p < 0.05) had positive impacts on students' adaption of school life with a predictive power of 68%. In addition, positive emotion also affected students' school life adaption through interpersonal relationships. CONCLUSION: The study confirmed the positive emotion can have significant influences on student athletes' interpersonal relationships and school life adaption. IMPLICATIONS: According to our findings, we suggest to encourage and promote athletes' positive emotions so to help them have better interpersonal relationships and school life adaption.

The Effect of Participation Motivations on Interpersonal Relationships and Learning Achievement of Female College Students in Sports Club: Moderating Role of Club Involvement.

The aim of this study is to explore the moderating effect of club involvement on the relationships of female college students' sport club participation motivations for interpersonal relationships and learning achievement. Using cluster sampling, a structured questionnaire was distributed to 450 female college students located in northern, central, and southern Taiwan with a valid return rate of 96.2%. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis, the study found that the female college students' participation motivations both affected interpersonal relationships and learning achievement positively. In addition, the moderating effects of club involvement on interpersonal relationships and learning achievement were both significant. Club involvement enhanced the effects of the female college students' sport club participation motivations for interpersonal relationships and learning achievement. According to the results and discussion, practical application and future research suggestions were provided.

A Multilevel Analysis of Organizational Support on the Relationship between Person-Environment Fit and Performance of University Physical Education Teachers.

Limited research has evaluated the performance of physical education (PE) teachers. This study aimed to use person-environment fit and organizational support to evaluate PE teachers' work performance using multilevel analysis. The relationship between person-environment fit and performance of university physical education teachers (at the person-level) and a cross-level effect on performance of university physical education teachers of perceived organizational support (at the school-level) and a moderator effect of organizational support were examined. A total of 447 PE teachers recruited from 55 universities in Taiwan were invited to participate in this survey, with a return rate of 65.74%. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the study found that person-job fit, person-organization fit, and person-supervisor fit at individual level have positive impacts on the performance of university PE teachers. As for cross-level effect, organizational support has positive impacts on the performance of university physical education teachers. However, organizational support at school level had no significant moderating effects on the relationship between person-environment fit and the performance of university physical education teachers. The implications of the findings for both university PE teachers and administrators and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The Influence of Workplace Incivility on Employees' Emotional Exhaustion in Recreational Sport/Fitness Clubs: A Cross-Level Analysis of the Links between Psychological Capital and Perceived Service Climate.

The aim of this study was to explore the influence of workplace incivility on the emotional exhaustion of recreational sport/fitness club providers through a cross-level analysis. A total of 200 recreational sport/fitness club providers from Taiwan were selected for the repeated collection of measures and a 10-day diary method was used. The effect of workplace incivility on recreational sport/fitness club employees' emotional exhaustion on a daily basis was analyzed at the intra-personal level, and the relationship between psychological capital and perceived service climate was studied at the inter-personal level. Five hypotheses were developed and tested using hierarchical linear modeling. The results found that employees' emotional exhaustion and burnout highly correlated with workplace incivility and service climate. Based on the results, recommendations for employees and sport/fitness centers are proposed. Furthermore, research limitations and future directions are discussed.

The Effects of Locus of Control, Agents of Socialization and Sport Socialization Situations on the Sports Participation of Women in Taiwan.

Compared to men, the sports participation of women is lower, especially in the East. Not many studies have compared the impacts of locus of control, agents of socialization, and sport socialization situations on the sports participation of women. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore the contributing factors which may promote the sports participation of women in Taiwan. To do this, 450 structured questionnaires were distributed to women in Chiayi, Taiwan, with an 89.3% return rate. The study found that internal locus of control, agents of socialization, and sport socialization situation had positive impacts on the sports participation of women. In line with these results, the study suggests the strengthening of the internal locus of control of women, making the best use of socialization agents, and improvement of sport socialization situations, in order to promote sports participation in women.

A Multilevel Analysis of Coaches' Paternalistic Leadership on Burnout in Taiwanese Athletes.

Using multilevel analysis, this study examined a cross-level effect of paternalistic leadership and team cohesion on athletes' burnout. We called 900 athletes from 28 colleges to participate in this survey, with a return rate of 85.2% and found that paternalistic leadership of coaches had a cross level effect across schools on athletes' burnout. Based on these findings, we propose recommendations for coaches and school administrators.

The Relative Contribution of Dietary Habits, Leisure-Time Exercise, Exercise Attitude, and Body Mass Index to Self-Rated Health among College Students in Taiwan.

Background: Self-rated health (SRH) is consistent with objective health status and can serve as a global measure of health status in the general population. The purpose of this study is to find the connections of dietary habits, leisure-time exercise, exercise attitude, and body mass index (BMI) to SRH among college students. Methods: The "dietary⁻exercise attitude and SRH" questionnaire was developed to investigate college students in Taiwan through the Internet. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the relationship among them. Results: The reliability and validity were confirmed using PLS-SEM. The results found exercise habits, dietary habits, and BMI explained 26.5% of SRH. Poor dietary habits and being overweight led to bad health status (negative path coefficients to SRH). Additionally, the study found that positive exercise attitude had a positive relationship with exercise habits. Conclusions: Based on the results, college students should be well-informed of the potential threat of poor dietary habits and being overweight to health and should improve their attitude with respect to exercise so as to prevent overweight-related diseases.