Psychological Flexibility in Athletes: Sport, Motivation, Goals, and the PPFI-Sport
Date
2022
Authors
Fisher, Jacinta
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Thesis
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Abstract
To perform at the highest level, elite athletes today need to be both mentally and physically fit. A key skill of mentally fit athletes is the ability to adapt to the stress of competition in order to enhance their performance. Psychological flexibility (PF) is a measure of how well individuals cope with distress while pursuing personally meaningful goals; it is considered fundamental to an individual's health and well-being, and has been linked to improved sporting performance. The Personalized Psychological Flexibility Index (PPFI) is currently the gold standard for measuring PF as it utilises a three-factor model that includes avoidance, acceptance and harnessing. The measure was recently adapted for athletes in a sporting context to the PPFI-Sport; this study aimed to further confirm and validate the PPFI-Sport among a broad athletic population using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). It investigated the relationships between PF and type of sport, motivation, goal orientation, and athlete demographics utilising the Sport Motivation Scale - 6 and the Task and Ego Orientations in Sport Questionnaire. The three-factor structure of the PPFI-Sport was reproduced by CFA, and the measure was found to be valid and reliable. Differences in levels of PF were found between individual and team sport athletes, between athletes with task- and ego-oriented goals, and between men and women. PF was related to intrinsic motivation, age, and level of competition. The strengths, limitations, and implications of the study are discussed, and future research opportunities are suggested. Utilising a longitudinal matched subjects design with able-bodied and para athletes is recommended. Keywords: Psychological flexibility, PPFI, sport psychology, individual and team sport, goals in sport, motivation in sport, achievement motivation, athletic performance
School/Discipline
School of Psychology
Dissertation Note
Thesis (B.PsychSc(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2023
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