Attending and avoiding dental appointments: Do "bright" and "dark" motivational paths have a role?

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test a self-determination theory (SDT) process model of the "bright" and the "dark" motivational pathways through dental attendance or avoidance to oral health. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 322 students from all study disciplines at the University of Oslo. Participants responded to a survey with validated questionnaires. Structural equation modelling was used to test the SDT model, and a bootstrapping procedure was used to test the indirect links in the model. RESULTS: Along the "bright" path: Autonomy support at the dental clinic was positively associated with need satisfaction in treatment, which was positively associated with autonomous motivation for dental treatment and reappraisal of dental anxiety. Further, autonomous motivation was positively related to dental attendance, which in turn predicted oral health. Also, both autonomous motivation and reappraisal of anxiety were negatively related to avoiding dental appointments. Along the "dark" path: Conditional regard at the dental clinic positively predicted need frustration in treatment, which positively predicted dental anxiety. In turn, dental anxiety positively predicted avoiding appointments, along with the negative predictions by autonomy and anxiety reappraisal. Finally, oral health was negatively predicted by avoiding appointments. A bootstrapping procedure indicated that all indirect links in the model were supported. A SEM fit the data very well. CONCLUSIONS: Because of the high level of explained variances for dental attendance (42%) and avoiding dental appointments (52%), promoting autonomy support and avoiding conditional regard at the dental clinic may be important for patients' oral health.

Physical activity and motivational predictors of changes in health behavior and health among DM2 and CAD patients.

This study tested a physical activity intervention and the self-determination theory (SDT) process model of health-behavior change and health among 108 adult patients with both diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) and coronary artery disease (CAD). Patients were randomly assigned to an organized physical activity intervention group (led by instructors) or a non-physical activity control group. At baseline and after 12 months, we measured the following: needs satisfaction, autonomous and controlled motivation for physical activity, perceived competence for physical activity and blood sugar testing, physical activity and blood sugar testing, body weight, glucose control (HbA1c), and self-perceptions of general health and vitality. The intervention produced, as hypothesized, significant changes in all study variables in favor of the experimental group (Cohen's d effect sizes: 0.23-0.72), except the non-significant result for controlled motivation and body weight. The data supported the SDT process model, in which the effect of the intervention significantly predicted indirect changes in behavior and health through motivation variables. Considering the moderate to large effects on increases in motivation, behavior, and health, promoting organized physical activity programs that are perceived as need-supportive may have important health implications for patients with DM2 and CAD.

Organizational and media stress among professional football players: testing an achievement goal theory model.

The purpose of this study was to investigate media and coach-athlete stress experienced by professional football players and their relationship to motivational variables by testing an achievement goal theory (AGT) stress model. In order to do so, we developed scales specifically designed to assess media and coach-athlete stress. Eighty-two elite football players (M(age) =25.17 years, SD=5.19) completed a series of questionnaires. Correlations and bootstrapping were used as primary statistical analyses, supplemented by LISREL, to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that a mastery climate was directly and negatively associated with coach-athlete stress, while a performance climate was directly and positively associated with coach-athlete stress. In addition, an indirect positive path between the performance climate and media stress was revealed through ego orientation. These findings support some of the key postulates of AGT; a mastery climate reduces the perception of stress among athletes, and the converse is true for a performance climate. Coaches of elite footballers are advised to try to reduce the emphasis on performance criteria because of its stress-reducing effects.

A structural model of achievement motives, performance approach and avoidance goals, and performance among Norwegian olympic athletes.

A structural model of achievement motives, performance approach and avoidance goals, and performance was applied and tested among 136 Norwegian Olympic level athletes. Achievement motives, competitive behavior over time, performance approach goal-clarity, and performance-avoidance goals were assessed, and elite performance observed. Analysis indicated that the motive to achieve success is positively correlated with competitive behavior over time (a long-term goal), whereas the motive to avoid failure is positively associated with performance avoidance goals. Both long-term competitive behavior goals and performance approach goal-clarity were positively correlated with elite performance whereas the performance-avoidance goal was negatively correlated with performance. When the proximal influences of goals are controlled, the achievement motives are not significantly related to performance. In this structural model, motives and goals shared 32% of the variance with the performance measure, whereas a more complicated model including goals, sex, and a triple interaction of sex and motives shared 42% of the variance with the performance measure.

Effects of reading motivation on the belief in and consumption of newspapers among youth.

A motivational model of newspaper consumption was elaborated. In this model, reading motives are supposed to generate certain beliefs in newspapers. The belief in the satisfying properties of a newspaper is based on an evaluation of how well the attributes of a newspaper are expected to match the motives of individuals. Once a match between the motives and the belief is established, then motivation is triggered, and newspaper consumption should occur. We tested the model with the hypotheses that reading motives explain belief in newspapers to a greater extent than the consumption of them and that beliefs explain consumption to a greater extent than reading motives. Reading motives, beliefs and consumption of general broadsheet, business and tabloid newspapers were measured in 1343 young people between the ages of 15 and 25. The results supported the hypotheses. The results indicate that the profiling and development of the newspapers toward more loyal and new readers should be based on the readers' beliefs in newspapers and the motives explaining them.

Achievement motivation and involvement in sport competitions.

213 pupils (M = 17.2 yr.) were tested on the motive to achieve success, the motive to avoid failure, future time orientation, perceived instrumentality of cognitive and physical tasks at school, and the involvement in sport competitions. Analysis shows a significant positive correlation between the scores on motive to achieve success and the amounts of competitive involvement in sport. Conversely, the motive to avoid failure was negatively correlated with the involvement in sport. Further, a positive significant correlation for the involvement in sport competitions with perceived instrumentality of physical or sport tasks at school appeared. The relations were similar for both girls and boys. An hypothetical model based on hierarchical regression of the data showed that all independent variables affected involvement in sport competitions directly or indirectly.

Effects of mental practice on performance are moderated by cognitive anxiety as measured by the Sport Competition Anxiety Test.

45 subjects were assessed for cognitive anxiety on the Sport Competition Anxiety Test. Two months later they observed a person performing a new motor task which required high cognitive processing to be performed well. After this observation, 22 subjects were randomly assigned to a Mental Practice and 23 to a Control group. The former performed a cognitive rehearsal of the task, whereas the latter did not. None practiced the task physically before being tested. Analysis of variance showed that both errors and performance time interacted significantly with Mental Practice versus Control group scores and scores on the Sport Competition Anxiety Test. Among subjects who practiced mentally, those scoring low on cognitive anxiety performed significantly better than subjects who scored high. Further, the relationship between test scores of cognitive anxiety and performance for the total sample was analysed by different curvilinear regression models. The cubic model fitted the data better and accounted for a greater percent of variance on error performance explained by anxiety test scores (R = .39) than the linear correlation (r = .25). This cubic model formed a polynomial relationship between cognitive anxiety test scores and error in performance.

Personality and educational choice of general versus vocational studies among 16- to 19-year-olds.

Achievement motives, future time orientation, and perceived instrumentality of theoretical subjects were investigated in relation to educational choice of general versus vocational studies at secondary school. Among 257 students, multivariate regression of educational choice showed that the higher the scores on the motive to achieve success, the lower the scores on the motive to avoid failure, and the higher the scores on perceived instrumentality, the more likely a student will be to choose general, i.e., mainly theoretical studies at secondary school. No significant effect of future time orientation on educational choice occurred. The results are discussed in relation to achievement motivation theory, school attachment and achievement, and implications for reform of the school system.

Trait and state anxiety before and after competitive performance.

33 subjects were tested on competitive trait and state anxiety immediately before and after a competitive motor task of short duration (average performance time of 25 seconds). It required precise coordination of correct muscular activity, timing as well as speed, and physical strength that included explosive shifts in direction of movement. Two types of performance measures were employed, (a) number of errors during the performance and (b) the time it took to complete the motor task. Analysis showed a positive relation between trait anxiety and performance errors when a linear model was applied; however, when a curvilinear model was used, a strong significant U-relationship between errors and precompetition state anxiety emerged. Further, a strong positive linear relation between poststate anxiety and number of performance errors was observed. The results indicate that making errors in performance situations is a critical factor in producing postcompetition state anxiety.

[The need for professional work counseling among nursing staff]. / Työnohjauksen lähtötilanteen selvittäminen: hoitohenkilökunnan käsityksiä työnohjauksesta ja sen tarpeesta.

The aim of the research was to examine the need for professional work-counselling among nursing staff and the aims of the counselling to be provided. The material was collected by means of questionnaires sent to 171 members of the nursing staff at the Departments of Internal Medicine and Neurology at Oulu University Hospital. Professional work-counselling was defined as a problem solving and interactional process also involving mental health support, the services of an expert in nursing and a process of increasing the knowledge and skills required in one's profession. Approximately one third of the respondents regarded the organization of activities promoting personal development as the goal, while one quarter held administrative professional counselling to be important, especially the development of cooperation between the various professional groups. 72% of the respondents were interested in professional work-counselling, and in their opinion the need for counselling is determined by the degree of pressure in one's work, difficult relationships with patients and their relatives, relationships between staff members, the demanding nature of nursing and the needs arising from this. Ward sisters, assistant ward sisters and specialized nurses considered professional work-counselling more necessary than did ordinary nurses and nursing auxiliaries. The counsellor is expected to treat matters confidentially and to possess interactional skills as much as expertise in the field of health care.

Perception of goal proximity, latency and duration of action plans, and worry in relation to goal distance in time and personality characteristics.

128 male high school students were tested for achievement motives, future-time orientation and perceived intrinsic instrumentality, and answered several questions related to future goals or tests at different distances in time. Success-oriented individuals and individuals with high future-time orientation perceived the goals as closer, planned to initiate preparations for the goals earlier, and planned to devote more time in the preparation than failure-oriented individuals and those with low future-time orientation. Interactions of motives and future-time orientation on the perception of goal proximity and planned time of initiating goal preparations did also emerge. Motives and future-time orientation affected the dependent variables most when the goals were at some distance in time (i.e., 1 yr. and 3 mo.), and the effects were minimized for the goal relatively close in time (i.e., 1 wk.). Individuals with high instrumentality report that they would start preparations earlier, devote more time to all goal preparations, and perceive more worry for the goal closest in time than individuals with low instrumentality. In addition, interactions of motives and instrumentality and of future-time orientation and instrumentality are presented. The results are interpreted and discussed in relation to the dynamics of action theory of Atkinson and Birch and other theories of achievement motivation.

Effects of achievement motives on wrestling ability, oxygen uptake, speed of movement, muscular strength, and technical performance.

In this study was tested the prediction that approach-oriented wrestlers should perform better than indifferent- and avoidance-oriented ones. The 1970 Achievement Motives Scale of Gjesme and Nygård was administered to 47 boys, and subjects' scores were sampled for four different wrestling championships on international and national level. Measured were oxygen uptake, speed of movement, muscular strength, and serial performance of five wrestling holds. Approach-oriented wrestlers performed better than indifferent-oriented ones on 9 of 15 tasks. Only in international competitive situations did the approach-oriented wrestlers perform better than the avoidance-oriented ones. Results are interpreted in terms of hypotheses about achievement motivation, and pedagogical implications are discussed.