The Sport Commitment model (SCM) is a well-known theoretical framework to illustrate how the psychological state of commitment to sport has been influenced and studied in able-bodied persons. Considering the characteristics and lived experiences of people with disabilities, additional antecedents of sport commitment were added in the structure of the SCM. In order to extend the application of this revised SCM to persons with disabilities, the concept of three levels (personal, social, and environmental) of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model was employed to differentiate the impacts of nine antecedents to sport commitment. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the revised SCM in terms of the magnitude of contribution of nine antecedents (enjoyment, personal investment, involvement opportunities, social constraints, involvement alternatives, self-efficacy, negative consequence of sport participation, social support, and accessibility of sport facilities and settings) on sport commitment to athletes with disabilities. The second purpose of this study was to investigate the superiority between original and alternative sport commitment models (mediation and direct/indirect model). A total of 157 adult athletes (Mean age= 34.87, SD = 11.78) with physical disabilities from team and individual sports across the United States, Europe, and Asia completed an online survey of 60 items across the nine antecedents hypothesized to influence sport commitment in athlete with disabilities. Results indicated involvement opportunities, followed by personal investment, were the strongest predictors of sport commitment (R2 = 65). In contrast, enjoyment, social constraints, involvement alternatives, self-efficacy, negative consequence of sport participation, social support, and accessibility of sport facilities and settings had no significant prediction on sport commitment. Chi-square difference test showed the direct/indirect model (χ2 (211) = 318.41; RMSEA = .05; CFI = .97; SRMR = .06) had better goodness-of-fit indices than the mediation model (χ2 (215) = 390.55; RMSEA = .06; CFI = .95; SRMR = .11). Based on the principle of parsimony, the original model (χ2 (215) = 384.95; RMSEA = .07; CFI = .95; SRMR = .06) was deemed a better model to understand the mechanism of sport commitment than the direct/indirect model. The SCM was an effective theoretical framework for adult athletes with disabilities. However, it still requires more studies to understand its effectiveness to other developmental ages and stages of athletes with disabilities.

The purpose of this Master’s research was to explore factors involved in youth athletes’ sport commitment decision following multiple concussions and persistent symptoms. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 pre-adolescent and adolescent athletes (three males, eight females) between 12 and 18 years of age (M = 15.25). Participants were involved in a variety of sports including soccer (n = 3), hockey (n = 3), basketball (n = 1), cheerleading (n = 1), gymnastics (n = 1), jiu-jitsu (n = 1), and rugby (n = 1). Based on the data emanating from the interviews, two articles were written. In article one, the sport commitment model (SCM) (Scanlan, Chow, Sousa, Scanlan, & Knifsend, 2016) facilitated the exploration of the determinants of youth athletes’ sport commitment following multiple concussions and persistent (i.e., lasting beyond 28 days) symptoms. A further objective was to expand upon the current SCM by exploring other potential determinants specifically related to return to play after multiple concussions. Findings indicated that sport enjoyment, valuable opportunities, and the desire to excel were the most salient sources of sport commitment. Constructs pertaining to social influences were the least influential in athletes’ sport commitment. Findings also supported the addition of athletic identity as a new construct in the SCM. Article two uncovered the psychosocial challenges faced by youth athletes during recovery and return to play following multiple concussions and protracted symptoms. The findings revealed that athletes with concussions experience concerns about persistent symptoms, re-injury anxiety, a diminished perceived ability, lack of social support, and emotional turmoil and mental health problems. Finally, findings provided insight into the potential role concussions and ensuing psychosocial challenges may play in mental health and wellbeing. Collectively, this research improves the understanding of difficulties experienced by youth athletes following multiple concussions and supports the need to improve concussion education and foster a more supportive environment.

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Syftet: Syftet med denna studie var att studera relationen mellan motivation, närvaro och prestation hos elever på två specialidrottsgymnasium.  Frågeställningar: – Finns det något samband mellan motivation (inre, yttre &amp; amotivation) och närvaro? – I hur stor grad skiljer sig motivationen bland specialidrottseleverna utifrån kön och årskurs? – Finns det något samband mellan specialidrottselevernas inre motivation och prestation? Metod: Urvalet för studien bestod av gymnasieelever mellan 15 och 19 år från två olika idrottsgymnasium (NIU) i Stockholms län. Deltagarna kom från blandade klasser mellan årskurs 1-3. Gymnasieeleverna tillhörde specialidrottsklasser med olika idrotter som inriktning. För att mäta elevernas motivationsnivå användes självskattningsskalan Sport motivation scale II (SMS II), självskattningskala för närvaro och för att mäta upplevd prestation, The Attainment of Sport Achievement Goals Scale (A-SAGS). För att se om det fanns ett statistiskt samband mellan inre motivation, närvaro och prestation användes Pearsons korrelation. Gruppjämförelser gjordes med två olika tester oberoende T-test och oberoende Anova. Resultat: Det fanns inget statistiskt samband mellan motivation och närvaro. Dock fanns det ett statistiskt signifikant samband mellan inre motivation och prestation. Elever som hade en större inre motivation presterade bättre. Det fanns även ingen statistisk signifikant skillnad mellan kön och motivationsnivån (RAI). Det fanns inga statistiskt säkerställda skillnader mellan årskurser i motivation. Slutsats: Studien visar att motivation är en viktig faktor. Det innebär för att en idrottare ska utvecklas över hela skoltiden, behöver skolor arbeta för att främja elevernas/idrottarens motivation. / <p>Ämneslärarprogrammet, Specialidrott</p>

This thesis aimed to: (a) design a factorially valid survey to assess sub-themes relating to ‘involvement opportunities’ (IOs), which are an antecedent variable in the sport commitment model (Wilson et al., 2004); (b) examine the placement of enjoyment alongside IOs in the sport commitment model; (c) determine the pathways (i.e., direct and/or indirect) by which specific IOs sub-themes affect functional and obligatory commitment and if they differ in number, strength and direction of association (Choosakul et al., 2009); and (d) examine differences between recent initiates compared to those who have been more continuously involved (Chu & Wang, 2012) in Masters swimming. Based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of survey data from 725 swimmers (260 males, 465 females, M age = 50.5, range = 25-92), results confirmed a 10 factor solution of IOs sub-themes. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that the number, direction, and strength of associations between specific IOs sub-themes and commitment vary depending on commitment type, as do the nature of direct and indirect pathways affecting commitment. Invariance testing showed recent initiates and continuously-involved swimmers to be invariant across measurement and structural models. Overall, results support the need to measure and assess IOs at the level of the sub-theme and to consider a bi-dimensional (Santi et al., 2014; Wilson et al., 2004) sport commitment model.

No description available.

Le Sens Communautaire est important pour le bien-être et le développement social positif des adolescents (Pretty, 2002 ; Cicognani et al., 2006; 2012). Cependant, peu d'études ont fourni des informations significatives sur les mécanismes qui peuvent conduire à la construction d'une communauté dans le sport (Warner, 2011). L'objectif de cette thèse est de contribuer à la définition d'une communauté sportive, en examinant les mécanismes sous-jacents à la formation d'un Sens Communautaire dans des contextes sportifs à l'adolescence. Pour cela, un premier chapitre présente une revue de littérature sur le Sens Communautaire et un deuxième chapitre examine la littérature sur le sens communautaire sportif, et la participation sportive à l'adolescence. Par la suite deux axes de recherches sont proposés. Le premier axe comprend deux études qualitatives. Les résultats de ces études ont révélé que la communauté sportive comprend en particulier, les parents, l'entraineur et les pairs sportifs. Il émerge une difficulté pour ces jeunes athlètes à maintenir des relations avec des pairs non sportifs. Le deuxième axe comprend deux études quantitatives. La première étude a porté sur la validation du questionnaire du Sens Communautaire Sportif à l'Adolescence (SCSA), en langue française et italienne. La seconde étude a porté sur la compréhension des processus de ce SCSA en mettant en évidence ses relations avec le climat perçu des parents, de l'entraineur, des pairs non-sportifs, et de l'engagement sportif. Les résultats ont montré qu'à l'adolescence, le SCSA influence de manière significative l'engagement, et que la relation entre le climat perçu des pairs non-sportifs et l'engagement sportif est médié par le SCSA / The Sense of Community is important for the well-being and positive social development of adolescents (Pretty, 2002; Cicognani et al., 2006, 2012). However, a few studies have provided significant information on the mechanisms that can lead to the construction of a community in sport (Warner, 2011). The objective of this thesis is to contribute to the definition of a sport community, examining the mechanisms underlying the formation of Sense Community in sport contexts in adolescence. For this, the first chapter presents a review of literature about Sense of Community and the second chapter examines the literature on the Sense of Community in Sport and sports participation in adolescence. Subsequently two lines of research are proposed. The first line consists of two qualitative studies. The results of these studies revealed that the sport community includes in particular parents, peers and coach sports. There emerges a challenge for these young athletes to maintain relationships with nonathlete peers. The second line comprises two quantitative studies. The first study focused on the validation of the questionnaire Adolescents Sense Community in Sport (SCSA), in French and Italian. The second study focused on understanding the processes of SCSA and its relationship with parents, coach, peer non-athletes climate perceived and sport involvement. The results showed that during adolescence, the SCSA significantly influences the commitment, and the relationship between peer non-athletes climate perceived and sporting commitment is mediated by SCSA