On the self-regulation of sport practice: Moving the narrative from theory and assessment toward practice.

This paper reviews theoretical developments specific to applied research around the "psychology of practice" in skill acquisition settings, which we argue is under-considered in applied sport psychology. Centered upon the Self-Regulation of Sport Practice Survey (SRSP), we explain how self-regulated learning conceptually underpins this survey and review recent data supporting its empirical validation for gauging athletes' psychological processes in relation to sport practice. This paper alternates between a review of applied research on self-regulated sport practice and new data analyses to: (a) show how scores on the SRSP combine to determine an expert practice advantage and (b) illustrate the large scope of self-organized or athlete-led time to which SRSP processes may apply. At this stage, the SRSP has been established as a reliable and valid tool in the empirical, theoretical domain. In order to move the narrative from theory and assessment toward applied practice, we present evidence to propose that it has relevance as a dialogue tool for fostering meaningful discussions between athletes and sport psychology consultants. We review initial case study insights on how the SRSP could be located in consultation in professional practice, propose initial considerations for its practical use and invite practitioners to examine its utility in applied settings.

Antisocial sport behaviors survey: instrument development and initial validation.

The development of a self-report instrument to measure antisocial sport behavior, labeled the Antisocial Sport Behavior Survey (ASBS), among large and diverse samples of athletes is reported. Grounded in the social cognitive theory of moral thought and action (Bandura, 1991) and interpersonal theory (Horowitz, 2004), this instrument was developed and tested in accordance with the traditions of construct validity and classical test theory (Gehlback & Brinkworth, 2011). In Phase 1, 272 college-aged competitive sport participants confirmed a theoretical structure of antisocial sport behavior including eight factors (hypercompetitive, intimidating, antagonistic, disrespectful, exploitable, overly accommodating, abetting, and melodramatic). Phase 2 reports on item development and the response structure of the instrument. In Phase 3, evidence of structural validity and external validity for the ASBS was established with 340 college-aged competitive sport participants. The ASBS presents as a promising new instrument to advance understanding of antisocial sport behavior acts committed by competitive athletes.

Endurance athletes' coping function use during competitive suffering episodes.

Endurance athletes who realise that they are falling short of important personal goals during competition are expected to experience competitive suffering. As a negative affective state with implications for performance and personal experiences, it is important to understand how endurance athletes cope with competitive suffering. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate differences in athletes' momentary coping function use over time during a competitive suffering episode. Twenty-six runners (mean age: 35.8 years) completed a 5-km running time trial that evoked an experience of competitive suffering using false failure-oriented feedback. Momentary assessments of goal attainment feelings and coping function use were completed immediately following the running time trial using video-mediated recall. Pooled time series analysis was used to predict coping function use across several points in time (i.e. earlier and later stages of a competitive suffering episode) and at different ratings of goal attainment feelings. Analyses revealed that negative feelings about goal attainment moderately predicted problem-focused coping use, and strongly predicted emotion-focused coping use. Although it was not predicted by goal attainment feelings, avoidance coping use was decreased over time throughout suffering episodes. Overall, this study supports propositions that the coping process is continually adapted to competitive demands and identifies the roles of distinct coping functions within the total coping effort.

Effects of a print-mediated intervention on physical activity during transition to the first year of university.

Transition to the first year of university is linked to steep declines in moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a targeted, theory-driven, print-based intervention on MVPA during transition to university. Volunteer participants from five Canadian universities (n=255) completed measures of MVPA at the start of their first semester at university and were randomly assigned to conditions receiving a first-year-student physical activity and action-planning brochure, Canada's Physical Activity Guide (CPAG), or a no-intervention control group. Six weeks later, a follow-up measure of MVPA was obtained as well as retrospective accounts of physical activity action-planning strategies and self-efficacy for scheduling physical activity. At the follow-up, students who received the targeted first-year student physical activity brochure reported significantly higher levels of MVPA compared to controls (p<.05) and a trend towards higher MVPA compared to the CPAG group (p=.06). However, there were no differences between groups on action planning or self-efficacy. A theory-driven and targeted print media intervention can offer low-cost and broad-reaching effects that may help students stay more active or curb declining levels of MVPA that occur during transition to university.