Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-83).

Treatise (Ed. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

M.Phil. (Sport Management) / This study is strengthened by several studies that have indicated that the dualist nature of student-athletes is problematic, as well as the management thereof. The study aimed to identify the sociological implications of the main aspects affecting the optimal sporting career development in athletics (throwers) at University of Johannesburg Sport, and offers recommendations for managing student-athletes. The methods utilized for this study included: i) self-designed questionnaires which incorporated information such as biographical data, performance level, satisfaction levels of support services and, ii) a qualitative case-study on the University of Johannesburg athletics club, where interviews were held with representatives selected as part of a purposive sample. Data was collected over a period of one year, with 15 current athletes, 5 retired athletes, and service providers within the University of Johannesburg. The research design allowed for input, throughput and output analyses. To determine the rationale of the input and throughput phases, qualitative and quantitative data were integrated for the identification of trends and major themes. Twelve of the 20 student-athletes participated internationally during their tertiary student-athlete years, whereas 14 out of the 20 student-athletes participated at regional level during their in primary school years, demonstrating a relatively lengthy and intense socialisation process. The qualitative research revealed that the main social agents during the primary and secondary school years are the parents, teacher-coach and peers, where the attention swifts to professional agents (including the coach) and fellow athletes during the tertiary phase. There is an increasing need for scientific and academic support at tertiary level with major issues around time, career and life style management. During the (often) final socialisation or specialization phase, most student-athletes face multiple career challenges without receiving adequate guidance or scientific support towards desocialisation.

This qualitative study aims to explore attitude formation within a small sample of Tertiary level student-athletes in relation to their antecedent experiences, individual knowledge about psychology and the social factors impacting on their attitude formation. The study is intended to allow for the development of themes related to the participants’ personal responses to the questions posed to them. The participants’ answers from the interviews will allow for an in-depth analysis and interpretation of the constituents influencing attitude formation towards sport psychology consultation. Primarily, the study aims to explore how attitudes towards clinical and sport psychology practitioners are constructed in this sample. Clinical psychology is used as a contrasting reference point to explore attitude formation in sport psychology. The participants’ beliefs, knowledge sources and attitude toward clinical psychology are examined to understand the fundamental constituents of their attitudes and to understand how this might be related to attitude formation towards sport psychology. It is intended that exploration of the participants’ knowledge sources (e.g. parents, peers, media and coaches) and additional influences on attitudes towards clinical psychology are used to provide insight into how they might shape attitude formation toward sport psychology. This is viewed as particularly important as sport psychology is an increasingly important tool in assisting the enhancement of sporting performance output. This qualitative study uses four elite student-athletes from the same sporting discipline and contextual background to allow for close linkages between the participants’ responses about attitude formation to be made. The study further aims to explore and understand how similarities and differences occur between the participants’ responses which will be completed through analysing and drawing parallels within themes relating to the literature or emerging separately. The Literature Review is intended to help guide the research through providing a reference source for contextualizing individual, public and socially generated beliefs and knowledge (literacy) about mental health / psychology, the constituents of attitude formation and the student-athlete’s context. These factors were identified in the literature as crucial components in attitude formation and also assisted in the development of initial themes, thus guiding the research. Unfortunately, there was limited literature pertaining to attitude formation in relation to sport psychology services and thus provide justification for using clinical psychology to explore attitude formation in sport psychology. This initial exploration of attitude formation in clinical psychology was used as a ‘template’ for contrasting attitude formation in the sample student-athletes as an indication of attitude formation in sport psychology. The Literature Review is viewed as an integral and active component of the study that is used as a body of reference guiding the exploration and interpretation of the emergent themes. This is done through the iterative reference to past research relating to attitude formation, health beliefs, and the numerous sources of information influencing attitude formation within clinical psychology and the student-athlete context. Most importantly, the Literature Review provides a significant base of information that guides the Research Question and the particular factors that have been noted as the most significant to the research. The Literature Review is intended to guide the Research Question and highlight the significant components that need to be taken into consideration in exploring attitude formation. This study, having taken the numerous individual, social, contextual and other factors into consideration, seeks to understand how such factors combine to shape attitudes and influence attitude formation. The collection of literature on social, knowledge and antecedent factors are significant in their role of shaping attitude formation and thus have been included within the Research Question. Furthermore, the Research Question and Literature Review had an impact on the Methodology and why Thematic Analysis was selected. Given the similarities in the participants’ sporting and contextual backgrounds (e.g., being in the same crew, university and social context), it was felt that the primary determinants of attitude formation, within antecedent experiences, knowledge and social influences, would emerge in related themes and thus provide greater insight into attitude formation within the student-athlete context. A limiting factor however, does lie in the small number of participants from a limited diversity of backgrounds, experiences or factors that could assist in allowing broader generalisations of the findings. However, this study aims to understand how the particular factors influence or shape attitudes towards sport and other psychology services and aims to understand the more specific or ‘fundamental’ components of attitude formation that are experienced within the student-athlete’s context and environment.

This thesis attempts to analyse the representation of professional female sport persons in selected South African media. The field of study is located within the ambit of gender and media studies with specific attention to the power of the latter to not only reflect, but actually shape realities and attitudes. Carolyn Byerly and Karen Ross (2004) comment that “the media have the potential not only to reinforce the status quo in power arrangements in society, but also to contribute to new, more egalitarian ones” (2004:24). The core question, then, is to determine whether traditional gender roles are confirmed, or positively shaped, by the way in which the selected media reported on professional women athletes in various sporting codes. As this is a neglected topic in South Africa, the study relied heavily on the research done by various American and European academics. Academics such as Pamela Creedon (1994) and Susan Birrell and Cheryl Cole (1994), found that female athletes are marginalised and stereotyped by the media. Their research also denotes that female athletes are objectified and judged on their looks and dress code instead of their sporting abilities. Female athletes are continuously stereotyped according to societal induced feminine traits. These representations alienate women who do not possess feminine qualities as “the other”, namely falling outside the desirability as determined by sponsorship and an assumed male viewing / reading public. The media further focus more on beautiful, glamorous athletes than female athletes that are less feminine, but with no less achievement and ability. Extensive examples are provided in the treatise of how the selected South African print media misrepresented women in the six month period that was studied. The conclusion is unambiguous: The South African media unfortunately follow the international trend of objectifying women according to male stereotypes. The media that were studied therefore missed an opportunity to shape gender attitudes as they collude with the powerful forces of sponsorship and viewer-ship to reinforce the status quo.

It is understood that in order for athletes to perform to their potential consistently they must learn to optimally self-regulate their psychological and physiological states. Yet, the process by which this is accomplished is not well understood. The purpose of this doctoral dissertation was to explore the concept of self-regulation in the Olympic athlete population through the use of biofeedback and neurofeedback. To address this purpose, two studies were conducted. Study One (Article 1) used a quantitative methodology to explore the relationship between Olympic athletes’ overall self-regulation ability and world ranking. Fifteen Olympic level athletes underwent a 9-stage psychophysiological stress assessment to determine each athlete’s ability to return to baseline after a stress load was applied. Findings revealed that there was a significant correlation between the athletes’ overall self-regulation ability and their ranking at the world level, meaning the better the overall self-regulation ability of the athlete the better the world ranking. Study Two (Articles 2 and 3) employed a qualitative methodology and explored what and how five Olympic level athletes learned from participating in a 20 session biofeedback and neurofeedback training intervention. Data was collected from post-intervention interviews with the athletes. In Study Two, Olympic athletes perceived that the biofeedback and neurofeedback training intervention assisted them in learning to improve self-awareness and self-regulation of their physical and mental states enabling them to feel more in control during sport performances. Engaging in active learning exercises, receiving real-time formative feedback, and utilization of the intervention exercises in training and competition environments were how athletes perceived they learned to self-regulate. Together, the findings from the two studies highlight the relevance and intricacies of self-regulation in high performance sport. Overall, the present dissertation makes a contribution to the sport psychology literature particularly with regard to our understanding of the use of biofeedback and neurofeedback for enhancing self-regulation with Olympic athletes. Thus, learning to improve self-regulation skills using biofeedback and neurofeedback training should be an integral part of a comprehensive and holistic approach used by sport psychology practitioners in assisting athletes to perform to their potential.

Abstract available in the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise

No description available.

Både ospecifik akut- och kronisk ländryggssmärta (LBP) är stora problem världen över, både för den generella populationen och elitidrottare. Elitidrottare ställs för höga fysiska påfrestningar som kan påverka LBP. I studien undersöks prevalens av LBP hos elithandbollsspelare samt eventuella samband mellan enskilda variabler såsom exempelvis träningsmängd och spelpositioner och LBP hos elithandbollsspelare. Utöver detta undersöks även spelarnas bedömning av huruvida LBP påverkar deltagandet i idrotten. En webbaserad enkät skickades ut till elitklubbar i Handbollsligan, SHE och Allsvenskan. I studien deltog 91 individer, 46 män och 45 kvinnor. Frågorna i enkäten behandlade prevalens av LBP samt variabler som kan ha ett samband med LBP. Totalt hade 77% besvärats av LBP och 40% av dessa lider av kronisk LBP. En högre medianålder var signifikant associerat med LBP (p=0,044). Inga signifikanta skillnader syntes i fördelningstester mellan prevalent LBP och spelstil (kvinnor p=0,6 män p=0,4 totalt p=0,8), LBP och anfallsposition (kvinnor p=0,8 män p=0,3 totalt p=0,5), LBP och försvarsposition (kvinnor p=0,2 män p=0,8 totalt p=0,7). Logistisk regression påvisade inget signifikant samband mellan träningsmängd och LBP (p=0,1, odds-ratio 0,574, CI 0,296 – 1,11). Justering för ålder påverkade inte oddsen för LBP nämnvärt (p=0,1, odds-ratio 0,581, CI 0,294 – 1,14). Det syntes en stor diskrepans i huruvida spelarna missade träning och matcher jämfört med hur LBP påverkade deltagandet överlag. Inga signifikanta samband mellan spelstil, spelposition eller träningsmängd och LBP påvisades i studien. Det visas dock att LBP är vanligt förekommande inom svensk elithandboll men att deltagarantalet var för litet för att dra säkra slutsatser kring detta. / Both unspecific acute and chronic low-back pain (LBP) are global problems in the general public aswell as elite athletes. Elite-athletes are exposed to high physical demands which could affect LBP. This study investigated the prevalence of LBP in elite-handballers, associations between LBP and several variables such as handball-sessions/week and playing-position. Secondly, the study investigated if LBP impedes on players participation within sport. A web-based survey was sent to elite-clubs in Sweden’s highest divisions; Handbollsligan, SHE, Allsvenskan. A total of 91 players participated, 46 men and 45 women. The survey-questions investigated the prevalence of LBP and variables which could be associated with LBP. A total of 77% stated issues with LBP, 40% of these suffers from chronic LBP. A higher median age were associated with LBP (p=044). No statistical significance was found in Chi-2 tests between prevalent LBP and style of play (women p=0,6 men p=0,6 total p=0,8), LBP and offensive-position (women p=0,8 Men p=0,3 total p=0,5), LBP and defensive-position (women p=0,2 men p=0,8 total p=0,7). No significant association was found between handball-sessions/week and LBP (p=0,1, odds-ratio 0,574, CI 0,296 – 1,11). Adjustment for age did not affect the outcome mentionably (p=0,1, odds-ratio 0,581, CI 0,294 – 1,14). Many players experienced that LBP affected their participation overall but few missed matches and training because of LBP. No significant association between style of play, playing-position or handball-sessions and LBP was found. LBP is common in swedish elite-handballers, but the number of participants were too low to state this for certain.

In research on disordered eating in female collegiate athletes, psychosocial correlates including elevated scores on measures of body image concerns, weight pressures, sociocultural internalization, and mood state were found significantly more often in either the eating disorder or symptomatic group as opposed to the asymptomatic group. Unique or nuanced pressures exist for male athletes as well, specifically a different ideal for body image, often described by a drive for muscularity. I examined these effects in a sample of 698 male collegiate athletes. All participants completed questionnaires, which provided measures of drive for muscularity, social desirability, body satisfaction, negative affect, sociocultural pressures, sport weight pressures, and internalization and social comparison among other factors not pertinent for this analysis as part of a larger study. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the existence of five factors (general and sport pressures, internalization, body dissatisfaction, negative affect and drive for muscularity) to which a sixth was added to reflect dietary intent, all of which are explained in the Petrie and Greenleaf sociocultural model. A logistic regression showed that dietary intent and drive for muscularity differentiated significantly between the symptomatic/eating disordered athletes and those who were asymptomatic.