A Model of Perfectionism, Moral Disengagement, Altruism, and Antisocial and Prosocial Behaviors in Wheelchair Athletes.

Two forms of perfectionism were examined in the present study to see whether they predicted prosocial and antisocial behaviors in sport through moral disengagement and altruism in a sample of 327 wheelchair basketball and rugby athletes (M = 33.57 years, SD = 10.51; 83% male). Using structural equation modeling, the following significant direct and indirect effects were found. First, perfectionistic strivings positively predicted perceived prosocial behaviors and altruism. Second, perfectionistic concerns negatively predicted altruism and prosocial behaviors and positively predicted moral disengagement. Third, antisocial behaviors were positively predicted by moral disengagement and altruism. Furthermore, perfectionistic concerns indirectly predicted antisocial behaviors positively through moral disengagement and negatively through altruism. Finally, perfectionistic strivings positively predicted antisocial behaviors through altruism. Results provided partial support for the role of perfectionism in predicting prosocial and antisocial behaviors through moral disengagement among athletes with a disability.

Gritty, hardy, resilient, and socially supported: A replication study.

BACKGROUND: The present study adds to the knowledge base in positive psychology and disability sport psychology by replicating and extending the research of Martin, Byrd, Watts, and Dent (2015). OBJECTIVES: In the current study we replicated previous findings by predicting life quality and sport engagement using measures of grit, hardiness, and resilience. We also extended the work of Martin et al. (2015) by examining athlete social support. METHODS: Eighty-seven adult (80 men, 7 women) wheelchair rugby athletes with various disabilities (e.g., amputee) participated in the current study. They completed questionnaires at rugby tournaments or on-line assessing grit, hardiness, resilience, social support and life satisfaction and sport engagement. RESULTS: Overall, the regression equation predicting life satisfaction was significant, F (4, 81) = 9.67, p < .00, accounting for thirty-two percent of the variance. One variable, resilience, contributed unique meaningful variance as indicated by its significant beta weight (ß = 0.46, p < .001). The regression analyses predicting sport engagement was also significant, F (4, 81) = 12.08, p < .001, and predicted 37% of the variance. Grit (ß = 0.21, p < .05), social support (ß = 0.25, p < .01), resilience (ß = 0.23, p < .05), and hardiness (ß = 0.27, p < .05) were all significant predictors. CONCLUSION: Athletes reporting high levels of resilience reported the highest quality of life. Athletes reporting high levels of grit, resilience, hardiness, and social support were the most engaged in their sport. We also partially replicated the work of Martin et al. (2015).

European normative values for physical fitness in children and adolescents aged 9-17 years: results from 2 779 165 Eurofit performances representing 30 countries.

OBJECTIVE: To develop sex-specific and age-specific normative values for the nine Eurofit tests in European children and adolescents aged 9-17 years. METHODS: A systematic review was undertaken to identify papers that explicitly reported descriptive results for at least one of nine Eurofit tests (measuring balance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, muscular power, flexibility, speed, speed-agility and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF)) on children and adolescents. Data were included on apparently healthy (free from known disease/injury) children and adolescents aged 9-17 years. Following harmonisation for methodological variation where appropriate, pseudodata were generated using Monte Carlo simulation, with population-weighted sex-specific and age-specific normative centiles generated using the Lambda Mu Sigma (LMS) method. Sex-specific and age-specific differences were expressed as standardised differences in means, with the percentage of children and adolescents with healthy CRF estimated at the sex-age level. RESULTS: Norms were displayed as tabulated centiles and as smoothed centile curves for the nine Eurofit tests. The final dataset included 2 779 165 results on children and adolescents from 30 European countries, extracted from 98 studies. On average, 78% of boys (95% CI 72% to 85%) and 83% of girls (95% CI 71% to 96%) met the standards for healthy CRF, with the percentage meeting the standards decreasing with age. Boys performed substantially (standardised differences >0.2) better than girls on muscular strength, muscular power, muscular endurance, speed-agility and CRF tests, but worse on the flexibility test. Physical fitness generally improved at a faster rate in boys than in girls, especially during the teenage years. CONCLUSION: This study provides the largest and most geographically representative sex-specific and age-specific European normative values for children and adolescents, which have utility for health and fitness screening, profiling, monitoring and surveillance.