The Mental Toughness Questionnaire-48 (MTQ48; Earle, 2006) is the most utilised instrument to measure Mental Toughness (MT) in sport (Gucciardi, Hanton, & Mallett, 2012). To date, preliminary research examining the factorial validity of the MTQ48 has yielded equivocal findings (Gucciardi et al; Horsburgh, Schermer, Veselka, & Vernon, 2009) regarding its ability to measure the 4/6C’s model of MT (Clough, Earle, & Sewell, 2002; Earle). The primary aim of this thesis was to provide a truly comprehensive examination of the factorial validity of the MTQ48 in an effort to provide an adequate measure of the 4/6C’s model of MT. Study 1 re-examined the factor structure of the MTQ48 by using a very large sample of competitive student athletes and found little support for its factorial validity. Inspection of item content revealed concerns regarding the adequacy of MTQ48 items to represent the 4/6C’s model of MT. Study 2 developed the University of Chichester Mental Toughness Questionnaire (UCMTQ) whereby items were generated to better represent the 4/6C’s model of MT. Although the UCMTQ’s factorial validity was superior to the tested models of the MTQ48, the results of Study 2 provided little support for its factorial validity. It was concluded that the poor factorial validity of the UCMTQ could have been due to the inadequacy of the factor definitions developed by Clough, Marchant, and Earle (2007) to represent the core traits underpinning the 4/6C’s model of MT (challenge, commitment, control, and confidence).

Exercise dependence is described as " ... psychological and/or physiological dependence upon a regular regime of physical activity ... and is characterised by recognisable withdrawal symptoms when the need to exercise remains unfulfilled after 24-36 hours ... " (Sachs & Pargman, 1979 p. 143). The study of exercise dependence has been a focus for consideration by researchers from the disciplines of physiology and psychology for approximately 30 years. Throughout this time, researchers have sought to measure, treat and prevent exercise dependence. A disease-based model has, therefore, dominated research and an extreme form of exercise behaviour has been medicalised. This study challenges the notion of the disease concept of exercise dependence and offers an alternative conceptualisation based on situation, time (Peele, 1985) and identity. It suggests that this medicalised concept of exercise dependence arises through a process of labelling certain types of participation for which there are only individual societal rewards. In interviews (n=27) with individuals and their significant others over three phases of data collection, life history analysis of the participants' subjective experiences of exercise dependence indicates that there is no evidence of 'negative addiction' (Hailey & Bailey, 1982). There is also no evidence of a negative impact on significant other relationships, although intense commitment to exercise sometimes causes temporary periods of conflict. Significant others accommodate their partners' exercise participation within the relationship and participants accommodate relationship demands within their exercise regime. The analysis also indicates that dependent participants, 'exercisers', have a changing attitude to exercise throughout their life history. It is proposed that the participants in this study construct one element of their self-identity through their exercise participation and that is subdivided into the physical self, the critical self and the social sel£ The thesis offers nine Propositions in an attempt to establish the basis for a sociological understanding of exercise dependence.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Drexel University, 2004. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-74).

The introduction of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) by the Premier League in 2012, and the subsequent formalization of sports psychology support, has resulted in increased opportunities for sports psychology practitioners to deliver their work within football academies (Nesti, 2012). The recognition of psychological support by the EPPP adds a new importance for us to better understand the impact of the lived experiences of applied practitioners within professional football clubs on their professional development and identity formation (Mitchell et al., 2016). The data on which this thesis is based has been drawn from research collected during a 3-year period from 2014 to 2017, where I (the researcher) occupied a dual role as a practitioner-researcher within the organisation of study. More specifically, I was responsible for the delivery of a psychological development program to academy players, support staff, and parents, and for the collection of data using ethnographic research methods. The first empirical chapter explored the use of practitioner-researcher ethnography as a research approach in sports psychology. Critical reflections highlighted some of the challenges that I faced whilst engaging in this dual role. Findings from this chapter highlighted the value of ethnography in encouraging the development of critical thinking skills, and self-awareness. However, a number of moral and ethical dilemmas arose because of the research demands. Therefore, it is suggested that a variety of support mechanisms (peer support, ethnography club) may help ethnographer’s better deal with challenging research situations that they may face. Following on from this, chapter 3 of the thesis used creative narratives to illuminate the impact of my experiences of delivering psychological support within one professional football club on my professional development, and identity as a sports psychology practitioner. My development journey aligned to the ICM (Côté, 2016), and was not smooth, or without challenge. In contrast, it was a rocky road (Collins & MacNamara, 2012), signified by a number of critical moments (Littlewood & Nesti, 2011). The challenges that I faced within the professional football club occurred as a function of the organisational culture (Roper, 2008), and ran parallel with the experiences of the youth players within this particular social context. The findings from this chapter suggest that identity is not a distinct end-point that sports psychology practitioners reach at the conclusion of their professional training. In contrast, identity is argued to be a fluid concept, continually evolving based upon the experiences that we have. Chapter 4 of the thesis followed the same structure as chapter 3, and presented the lived experiences of academy footballers over a longitudinal time frame. The findings that emerged within the chapter suggest that despite considerable changes in professional football over recent years the traditional masculine culture of this particular social context has remained reluctant to change (Nesti, 2012), and may be detrimental to the healthy psychological development of players who exist within it. Finally, chapter 5 of the thesis used action research principles to document the design, delivery, and evaluation of the psychological development program that was implemented within the professional football club. More specifically, interviews, focus groups, and evaluation sheets were used to attain the perspectives of key stakeholders (players, support staff, parents). The findings from this chapter demonstrated the complexities of psychological development, especially within the professional football culture. A level of confusion was present between stakeholders regarding the efficacy of the program. Although all individuals agreed that the program was beneficial in facilitating communication, and creating a supportive environment, there were discrepancies regarding its impact, and the nature of delivery.

A person's ability to see an object clearly is based on both the optical characteristics of their eyes and their ability to keep their eyes oriented toward the target. The ability to accomplish the latter can be compromised by self-motion if adequate compensation for the movement is not provided. The goal of the research presented here is to measure subjects' visual acuity during gaze tasks performed while walking. In addition, the effects of body movements on the gaze goals will be quantified using a measure of head fixation distance (HFD). By defining the distance between the subject and a point in space where minimal ocular compensation would be required, HFD provides a goal-relative measure that captures the integrated contributions from all non-ocular body movements. In Study I, subjects walked on a treadmill at 1.8 m/s and fixed their gaze on visual targets placed in front of them at 0.5 and 4 meters. During the "far" target condition, visual acuity was not different between standing and walking. Shorter HFDs during the "near" condition indicate changes in the coordinative relationships of non-ocular body movements. Although these changes appear to facilitate gaze stabilization by reducing the amplitude of the required eye movements, subjects' acuity was compromised while viewing the "near" target during locomotion. In Study II, treadmill speeds from 1.0 to 1.8 m/s were used to investigate the effects of walking velocity on gaze stabilization of the "near" target. Vertical HFD indicated that head pitch was compensating for more of the vertical trunk translation as walking velocity increased, yet visual acuity became progressively worse. In Study III, the "far" target condition from Study I was repeated to investigate visual acuity and vertical HFD at a sub-step timescale. The vertical HFD was shown to vary within the step-cycle and when compared to an assessment made mid-way between heelstrikes, visual acuity was shown to be compromised immediately following heel contact. The results from these experiments indicate that non-ocular mechanisms contribute to gaze stabilization while walking and provide evidence that ocular control is likely more complex than that provided by simple fixed-gain responses to vestibular stimulation.

Research (e.g. McKelvie, 1990) has shown that order of information can influence judgments. In light of equivocal findings in this research, Hogarth and Einhorn (1992) developed their belief-adjustment model to present a more detailed approach to predicting order effects. Greenlees, Dicks, Thelwell and Holder (2007) were the first to test the predictions of the belief-adjustment model in sport. The aim of this thesis was to extend Greenlees et al.'s work through a more systematic examination of order effects in sport. Specifically, the aims were to examine the generalisability of Greenlees et al.'s findings, to examine the impact of differing processing strategies on order effects, to investigate the influence of personality traits, and to consider variables that might offset order effects. To achieve these aims, four experimental studies were conducted. In Study 1, ultimate frisbee players watched DVD footage of two players (a control and target player) performing a catching and throwing drill, and assessed the ability of each target player. Participants viewed the same footage for the control player. For the target player, participants viewed the same footage, with half viewing a declining (successful to unsuccessful) performance pattern, and half viewing an ascending pattern. Study I found primacy effects when participants made one end-of-sequence (EoS) judgment. In addition, step-by-step (SbS) judgments eliminated primacy effects. Study I also controlled for the time delay inherent in making the SbS judgments, and found that SbS processing, rather than the time delays, eliminated order effects. Study 2 examined the effect of individual differences on order effects. Using the same methodology as in Study I, the impact of participants' theory of learning, level of motivation to think, and level of experience were examined.

Theoretical models of expectancy processes (e.g., Olson, Roese, & Zanna, 1996) have conceptualised the sources of information by which expectancies of others are formed, and suggest that expectancies have the potential to influence the cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses of both perceivers and targets. The main aim of this thesis was to examine expectancy effects within the coach-athlete relationship from the perspective of the athlete. Specifically, the aims were to examine: a) the sources of information that athletes deem influential when developing expectancies of a coach; b) the cognitive consequences of athletes' expectancies of coaches; c) the affective responses of athletes to initial expectancies of a coach; and d) the behavioural consequences of athletes' expectancies of their coach. In order to achieve these aims, the investigation employed a range of experimental methods including an explorative survey (study one); experimental designs, which involved obtaining athletes' ratings in response to a range of stimuli such as static photographs, written information, and dynamic video footage (studies two and three); and a field-based examination, which was assessed via a combination of notational analysis and questionnaire (study four). The main findings reveal that while static cues (e.g., gender) are deemed relatively unimportant during impression formation, dynamic cues (e.g., facial expressions) and third-party reports (e.g., reputation) are viewed by athletes as influential factors in the formation of expectancies about coaches. Specifically, the findings suggest that athletes' initial expectancies of an unknown coach's competency are influenced by the presentation of reputation information. Although the results show that coach gender also has a significant impact on athletes' expectancies, the effect of gender on athletes' expectancies was not as large as that of reputation information. In addition, reputation information is shown to significantly impact on athletes' positive affective responses to a coach. Finally, the results demonstrate that coach reputation impacts on athletes' attention, effort, and persistence during a training session. Overall, the research presented in this thesis provides support for the use of Olson et al.'s (1996) model of expectancy processes as a theoretical framework for the investigation of expectancy effects within the coach-athlete relationship. The thesis provides initial empirical support for the contention that athletes' expectancies of coaches impact on athletes' cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses. Such findings have important implications for coaching guidelines and the development of effective coach-athlete relationships. The proposal that third-party reports represent an influential source of information with regard to expectancy formation in sport has also received initial support.

The primary aim of the present thesis was to investigate the role that individual and situational factors play in moderating the impact that pre-event expectancies have on judgements of a tennis player's performance. The current programme of research utilised a between subjects design with competitive tennis players (Studies 1 and 2) and undergraduate volunteers (Studies 3, 4 and 5) being assigned to one of four experimental conditions in each study. The results of Study 1 supported past research findings (Buscombe et al., 2006) confirming the role that body language plays in influencing the impressions formed of tennis players. However, the results did not demonstrate expectancy effects with early judgements of a performer failing to influence subsequent ratings of that individual's play. Study 2 found that the participants' level of trait confidence and trait anxiety did not moderate the impact of body language on judgements of performance. Study 3 demonstrated an interaction between body language and time pressure (F(l, 53)=12.00, p=.OOl) such that when under time pressure the participants rated the target's play more favourably having previously viewed the player displaying positive (M=42.76, SD=7.25) as opposed to negative (M=24.2S, SD=5.lS) body language. As such, it was concluded that time pressure may serve to moderate expectancy effects in sport. Study 3 also indicated that a perceiver's dispositional need for closure did not exert any influence over judgments of the performer. Study 4 demonstrated that increasing the participants' accountability for their judgements did not moderate expectancy effects. However, in line with the results of Study 3, the player's body language was seen to influence ratings of that individual's performance. Employ a reallife target performer, Study 5 demonstrated that prior knowledge of the target player's recent win/loss record influenced the participants' subsequent ratings of that individual's performance (F(l, llS)=lO.72,p=.OOl). Specifically, the participants' ratings of play were more favourable having been presented with a positive (M=41.7, SE=.S7), as opposed to a negative (M=37.74, SE=.S3) prior playing record for the performer. Overall, the thesis indicates that expectancy effects are evident in sport and that the length of time permitted to a perceiver to form a judgement of an athlete may moderate these effects. This thesis provides the first structured examination in the extant literature of the role that individual and situational factors play in moderating expectancy effects in sport. Furthermore, the thesis provides the first indication that expectancy effects may be witnessed in real-life contests between two sports performers.

The overarching aim of the current thesis was to assess the well-being and ill-being correlates of two perfectionism dimensions (i.e., self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism) in hearing and deaf athletes. In Study One (Chapter Two), a cross-sectional approach revealed the similarities in the relationships between self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism and the broader array of burning out symptoms in deaf and hearing athletes. Study Two (Chapter Three) adopted a longitudinal design, and examined whether self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism predicted changes in enjoyment and subjective vitality over four months, as well as whether changes in exhaustion over the same time period mediated the hypothesised relationships. A further purpose of study two was to examine whether the hypothesised relationships were invariant across hearing and deaf athletes. Study Three (Chapter Four) adopted qualitative semi-structured interviews to gain a deeper understanding of high self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism in deaf and hearing athletes using a self-regulation framework. The majority of the findings suggest that self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism function in a similar manner across deaf and hearing athletes. It is hoped that the findings presented in this thesis may inform future research in deaf athletes to help protect this growing population from the perils of perfectionism.

An initial field based study was undertaken to measure and compare the intensity and directional sub-components of the state anxiety response in reflection to performance in cricket, in accordance with Hanin's (1980) Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning hypothesis. Following the results of the initial study, an alternative line of inquiry was followed. Subsequent investigations focused on the concept of 'repeatable good performance' as opposed to heightened performance states. More specifically, a triangulation of research studies, employing an inductive content analysis, a cultural consensus analysis and the repertory grid technique, attempted to understand what constitutes such a performance state in cricket. Additionally, the three studies attempted to establish what factors precede or are present during consistent good performance, and whether the antecedents for repeatable good performance are similar for varying roles within cricket. The triangulation generated a group of core element antecedents including: total self-confidence; optimal arousal levels; motivation and focus; and total match preparation, including, pre-match routines, set performance plans and use of imagery that are required by both batters and bowlers for the occurrence of repeatable good performance. An applied research study indicated that when the psychological requirements for repeatable good performance were included within an intervention, the potential for achieving repeatable good performance, and performance improvements, were increased. The study suggests repeatable good performance to be a viable construct within applied sport psychology. Despite such claims, further research is required to develop a scientifically valid definition of the construct, in addition to the further development of methods that allow for the identification and measurement of consistent performance.