The primary goal of the current study was to extend previous research suggesting that coaches are the primary gatekeepers who may be a barrier to working with athletes by examining high school coaches likelihood to refer to, interest in, and intention to hire a sport psychologist. Specifically, the current study examined relationships between high school coaches’ sex, age, and type of sport coached (i.e., contact vs. non-contact) and their likelihood to refer athletes to a sport psychologist for a variety of presenting issues (i.e., poor attentional focus, poor leadership, family issues, etc.). It also examined relationships between coaches’ sex, age, and type of sport coached (i.e., contact vs. non-contact) and their interest in working with a sport psychologist. Finally, the study examined reasons why coaches did not plan to hire a sport psychologist. An examination of the possible reasons that high school coaches do not plan to hire a sport psychologist served an exploratory purpose. Participants included 450 coaches who coached high school sports in the United States. Results indicated that female coaches and non-contact sport coaches were more likely to refer athletes to a sport psychologist for a variety of referral issues than male coaches and coaches of contact sports. Similarly, significantly more female coaches and non-contact sport coaches showed interest in working with a sport psychologist than male coaches and coaches of contact sports. Coaches who did not plan to hire a sport psychologist reported that cost, lack authority to hire, and lack of availability as primary reasons. Implications of the findings, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the effects of winning percentage and specific demographic data on the perceived burnout of varsity male head high school football coaches within the public secondary schools of Texas. Data were obtained from 226 varsity head high school football coaches during the 1990-1991 school year in Texas. Instruments used were the Maslach Burnout Inventory and a personal demographic data sheet. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient were used. Significance was set at .05. A relationship was found between burnout and career winning percentage, age, years as a coach, salary, coaching preparation, and school enrollment.

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In a club rugby union environment, sports nutrition information is frequently delivered to players by the central team figure, the coach. Rugby coaches in New Zealand undertake negligible formal nutrition training to become a coach, and the development of their knowledge base remains their responsibility. There is currently no literature on the nutrition knowledge level of New Zealand coaches. Internationally, literature on coaches' nutrition knowledge and dissemination of that knowledge is scarce. Research to date has used questionnaire techniques to quantify coaches' knowledge. These questionnaires have not been assessed for their psychometric properties. As such, a true measure of knowledge cannot be guaranteed from any of these contemporary studies. Therefore, the aims of this thesis were: 1) To design a nutrition knowledge questionnaire satisfying adequate statistical measures of validity and reliability; 2) To utilise the validated questionnaire to investigate the nutrition knowledge level of these coaches 3) To investigate whether or not New Zealand premier club rugby coaches provide nutrition advice to their athletes and the factors affecting this; and 4) To investigate the factors that predict coaches' knowledge. Study 1 involved designing a questionnaire that satisfied acceptable psychometric criteria of validity (content and construct) and reliability (test-retest). It was designed by an expert panel of sports dietitians and distributed to five groups, dietitians, university business staff, and nutrition, business and fitness students, selected for their expected variation in sports nutrition knowledge. Construct validity was high as indicated by significant mean knowledge score differences between the groups (p = 0.0001). Dietitians and nutrition students achieved significantly greater mean scores than the remaining groups. The questionnaire was administered a second time to the business staff and the dietitians to assess test-retest reliability, for which two methods were used. The first method involved a Pearson's product-moment correlation, and demonstrated acceptable reliability (r = 0.74-0.93), aside from the fluid sub-category (r = 0.52). The second, and more robust, method involved a percentage calculation of questions answered in an identical manner on both test occasions. A good test-retest concordance was achieved, with 81.2% duplication of responses of all questions. The findings of this study indicated that the questionnaire was suitably valid and reliable to determine the sports nutrition knowledge of New Zealand premier club rugby coaches. In Study 2, coaches (n = 168) completed the validated questionnaire, received by Internet, linked via e-mail, or (in case of inaccessibility), standard mail. Coaches responded correctly to 55.6% of all knowledge questions. Those who provided nutrition advice to their players (83.8% of the group) obtained a significantly greater knowledge score, 56.8%, than those who did not provide advice, 48.4% (p = 0.008). The study also examined the factors determining nutrition knowledge level. Significant relationships were identified between total knowledge score of all coaches and their qualifications (p = 0.0001), their own knowledge rating (p = 0.0001), whether or not they underwent nutrition training (p = 0.002) and whether or not they provided nutrition advice (p = 0.004). It can be concluded that New Zealand premier club rugby coaches are inadequately prepared to impart nutrition advice to athletes and could benefit from further nutrition training.

The primary purposes of this study were to explore the relationships among four work experiences (i.e., job variety, job autonomy, job stress, and job feedback) and coaches?? job satisfaction to examine the influence of institutional support (i.e., affective institutional support and financial institutional support) on job satisfaction, and to investigate if the relationship between the type of institutional support and job satisfaction differs (does not differ) between revenue generating sport coaches and non-revenue-generating sport coaches. To achieve these purposes this study examined the relationships among four work experiences and institutional support variables on job satisfaction. This study also examined differences between revenue-generating sport and non-revenue-generating sport coaches. Coaches (N = 599) in 7 sports (i.e., football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball, and tennis) from NCAA Division I schools were asked to participate in this study. The response rate was a 34.7 % (208 / 599). Participants included 145 males and 63 females. Of the 208 completed and returned questionnaires, 100 (48.1%) were from revenue sport coaches (i.e., football and basketball). Meanwhile, 108 (51.9 %) were from non-revenue sport coaches. The results indicated that job variety, job stress, job feedback, affective institutional support, and financial institutional support were significantly related to job satisfaction. Namely, these three job experiences and two types of institutional support in the organizational environment impacted coaches?? attitudes, or job satisfaction. Further, for revenue generating sport coaches, financial institutional support was a significant indicator of job satisfaction; however, for non-revenue-generating sport coaches, affective institutional support held a stronger relationship to job satisfaction than did financial institutional support. Additionally, one of the job experience variables, job feedback, played a meaningful role to both coaches of revenue sports and coaches of nonrevenue sports in shaping job satisfaction.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which a relationship existed between the set of predictor variables including age, sex of the athletic director, years of experience as athletic director at the institution and the highest terminal degree held and the male and female head coaches' perceptions of the role of athletic director. The role of athletic director was defined in terms of the dimensions of Initiating Structure and Consideration as determined by the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire - Form XII (LBDQ).Hypotheses were developed to determine if relationships existed between: (1) the set of predictor variables and the dimensions of Initiating Structure and Consideration as perceived by female head coaches; and (2) the set of predictor variables and the dimensions of Initiating Structure and Consideration as perceived by male head coaches. Hypotheses were also developed to determine the significance of increase which the addition of the sex designation of the athletic director has on the dimensions of Initiating Structure and Consideration as perceived by male and female head coaches,The population of the study consisted of athletic directors and 101 male and female head coaches from 34 women athletic departments from selected midwestern states. The universities selected were from those listed in the 1979-80 AIAW National Directory as having an enrollment of 1000 or more students.Athletic director data were obtained through the use of the Athletic Director Information Sheet (ADIS) which provided a list of male and female head coaches and demographic data. Head coaches completed the LBDQ. Scores for the dimensions of Initiating Structure and Consideration as determined by the male and female head coaches' responses to the LBDQ and demographic data as determined by ADIS responses were analyzed by multiple regression analysis to determine whether or not relationships significant at the .05 level existed between the set of predictor variables of the athletic director and the Initiating Structure and Consideration scores from the male and female head coaches.Findings1. The set of predictor variables including age, years of experience as athletic director at the institution, terminal degree held, and sex designation of the athletic director were found to be significantly related to the scores of female head coaches on the Initiating Structure dimension.2. There was no significant relationship between the set of predictor scores and the scores of the female head coaches on the Consideration dimension.3. No significant relationship existed between the set of predictor variables and the scores from the male head coaches on either the Initiating Structure or the Consideration dimension.4. The addition of the sex designation of the athletic direction provided no significant increase in the proportion of explained variance in predicting either male or female head coaches' perceptions on the Initiating Structure and Consideration dimensions from the set of predictor variables.Conclusions1. Female head coaches perceived athletic directors as exhibiting more of the characteristics of Initiating Structure which are associated with the formal or structural aspects of the organization.2. The age, sex, number of years as athletic director at the institution and the degree held did not produce a significant relationship when associated with the Initiating Structure and Consideration dimensions as perceived by the male head coaches.3. The sex of the athletic director did not significantly affect the relationship that existed between the athletic director and the male and female head coaches. 4. The Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire - Form XII provides one method of examining head coaches' perceptions of leader behavior of athletic directors on the dimensions of initiating Structure and Consideration.

The primary purposes of this study were to explore the relationships among four work experiences (i.e., job variety, job autonomy, job stress, and job feedback) and coaches?? job satisfaction to examine the influence of institutional support (i.e., affective institutional support and financial institutional support) on job satisfaction, and to investigate if the relationship between the type of institutional support and job satisfaction differs (does not differ) between revenue generating sport coaches and non-revenue-generating sport coaches. To achieve these purposes this study examined the relationships among four work experiences and institutional support variables on job satisfaction. This study also examined differences between revenue-generating sport and non-revenue-generating sport coaches. Coaches (N = 599) in 7 sports (i.e., football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball, and tennis) from NCAA Division I schools were asked to participate in this study. The response rate was a 34.7 % (208 / 599). Participants included 145 males and 63 females. Of the 208 completed and returned questionnaires, 100 (48.1%) were from revenue sport coaches (i.e., football and basketball). Meanwhile, 108 (51.9 %) were from non-revenue sport coaches. The results indicated that job variety, job stress, job feedback, affective institutional support, and financial institutional support were significantly related to job satisfaction. Namely, these three job experiences and two types of institutional support in the organizational environment impacted coaches?? attitudes, or job satisfaction. Further, for revenue generating sport coaches, financial institutional support was a significant indicator of job satisfaction; however, for non-revenue-generating sport coaches, affective institutional support held a stronger relationship to job satisfaction than did financial institutional support. Additionally, one of the job experience variables, job feedback, played a meaningful role to both coaches of revenue sports and coaches of nonrevenue sports in shaping job satisfaction.

No description available.

Graduation date: 1987

In a club rugby union environment, sports nutrition information is frequently delivered to players by the central team figure, the coach. Rugby coaches in New Zealand undertake negligible formal nutrition training to become a coach, and the development of their knowledge base remains their responsibility. There is currently no literature on the nutrition knowledge level of New Zealand coaches. Internationally, literature on coaches' nutrition knowledge and dissemination of that knowledge is scarce. Research to date has used questionnaire techniques to quantify coaches' knowledge. These questionnaires have not been assessed for their psychometric properties. As such, a true measure of knowledge cannot be guaranteed from any of these contemporary studies. Therefore, the aims of this thesis were: 1) To design a nutrition knowledge questionnaire satisfying adequate statistical measures of validity and reliability; 2) To utilise the validated questionnaire to investigate the nutrition knowledge level of these coaches 3) To investigate whether or not New Zealand premier club rugby coaches provide nutrition advice to their athletes and the factors affecting this; and 4) To investigate the factors that predict coaches' knowledge. Study 1 involved designing a questionnaire that satisfied acceptable psychometric criteria of validity (content and construct) and reliability (test-retest). It was designed by an expert panel of sports dietitians and distributed to five groups, dietitians, university business staff, and nutrition, business and fitness students, selected for their expected variation in sports nutrition knowledge. Construct validity was high as indicated by significant mean knowledge score differences between the groups (p = 0.0001). Dietitians and nutrition students achieved significantly greater mean scores than the remaining groups. The questionnaire was administered a second time to the business staff and the dietitians to assess test-retest reliability, for which two methods were used. The first method involved a Pearson's product-moment correlation, and demonstrated acceptable reliability (r = 0.74-0.93), aside from the fluid sub-category (r = 0.52). The second, and more robust, method involved a percentage calculation of questions answered in an identical manner on both test occasions. A good test-retest concordance was achieved, with 81.2% duplication of responses of all questions. The findings of this study indicated that the questionnaire was suitably valid and reliable to determine the sports nutrition knowledge of New Zealand premier club rugby coaches. In Study 2, coaches (n = 168) completed the validated questionnaire, received by Internet, linked via e-mail, or (in case of inaccessibility), standard mail. Coaches responded correctly to 55.6% of all knowledge questions. Those who provided nutrition advice to their players (83.8% of the group) obtained a significantly greater knowledge score, 56.8%, than those who did not provide advice, 48.4% (p = 0.008). The study also examined the factors determining nutrition knowledge level. Significant relationships were identified between total knowledge score of all coaches and their qualifications (p = 0.0001), their own knowledge rating (p = 0.0001), whether or not they underwent nutrition training (p = 0.002) and whether or not they provided nutrition advice (p = 0.004). It can be concluded that New Zealand premier club rugby coaches are inadequately prepared to impart nutrition advice to athletes and could benefit from further nutrition training.