Performance in high pressure situations highly depends on how athletes respond to failure. This is particularly critical in dyadic teams, where the performance failure of one athlete immediately affects the entire team. In beach volleyball, where the performances of both athletes are highly interdependent, such failure may have even more extreme consequences. We explored how 23 junior elite beach volleyball athletes experienced team-related failure and how they coped with this failure under pressure by conducting semi structured interviews and using Reflexive Thematic Analysis to analyse the data. Results indicated that individual performance failure of one athlete often seemed to trigger an attentional shift and increased perceived pressure in the teammate, frequently resulting in a subsequent decline in their performance as well. Athletes described emotional responses and both individual and interpersonal emotion regulation strategies as central to managing failure and preventing further performance deterioration. Notably, athletes tended to offer the type of support they themselves would have preferred in that moment, which was often perceived as intrusive or unhelpful by their partners. Ineffective regulation was described as an underlying mechanism through which an initial failure (e.g., loss of points) escalated into losing a set and, ultimately, the match and/or following matches. Applied implications include implementing a structured “teammate talk”, in which athletes proactively discuss helpful and unhelpful support and regulation strategies prior to competition in order to prepare for critical performance situations.

In Kap. 3 wurden Verhaltenserklarungen beschrieben, die sich ausschlieslich auf Personlichkeitseigenschaften beziehen. Zu diesen Personlichkeitseigenschaften gehoren auch Motive. Motive sind relativ stabile Personlichkeitsdispositionen. Da sich Individuen in der Auspragung unterschiedlicher Motive unterscheiden, konnen Motive auch herangezogen werden, um Unterschiede im Verhalten zu erklaren. Sie sind gewissermasen Grundvariablen fur vorhersagbare Unterschiede im Verhalten von Individuen. In einem rein personzentrierten Ansatz mussen die Motivdispositionen zugleich erklaren, was das Handeln antreibt und steuert. Situative Faktoren rufen in solch einem Ansatz ein entsprechendes Motiv lediglich wach. Wenn eine Person mit einem starken Leistungsmotiv beispielsweise gefragt wird, ob sie an einem Spiel wie »Mensch argere dich nichturde bei ihr augenblicklich das Leistungsmotiv das weitere Handeln bestimmen. Unterschiede zwischen verschiedenen Teilnehmern am Spiel wurden allenfalls mit motivabhangigen Motivationsunterschieden in gleicher Situation erklart werden. Wie Kap. 3 zeigt, reicht der Erklarungswert der Modelle, die in dieser Form allein auf Personlichkeitsvariablen zuruckgreifen, nicht sehr weit. Dazu bieten theoretische Ansatze einen Gegenpol, die allein auf situative Variablen, situative Reize, die Verhalten anregen und steuern, zuruckgreifen.

In Chapter 3, we considered explanations of behavior that draw solely on personality characteristics. Motives are relatively stable personality dispositions. Because the strength of the various motives differs interindividually, they can be invoked to explain differences in behavior. Indeed, motives can be seen as variables underlying predictable differences in individual behavior. In person-centered approaches, motive dispositions are also expected to explain the forces initiating and directing behavior. Seen from this perspective, situational factors serve only to arouse a particular motive. If, for example, someone with a strong achievement motive is invited to play a game of ludo (or Parcheesi), the achievement motive will take effect immediately, and determine that player's behavior from that moment on. Any differences between the players in this situation would have to be explained by motive-dependent motivational differences. As shown in Chapter 3, however, the explanatory value of models that rely solely on personality variables is limited. An alternative approach is one that focuses on situational variables, on the situational stimuli that trigger and direct behavior. In this chapter, we look at the major theoretical developments that have emerged from situation-centered explanations of behavior.

Motivation und Volition spielen im sportlichen Handeln eine herausgehobene Rolle. Im Leistungssport kommt naturgemäß der Leistungsmotivation eine zentrale Rolle zu. Befunde zeigen eine besondere Wichtigkeit des Anschlussmotivs im Freizeitsport. Die Sportpsychologie hat eine Vielzahl von Befunden zu spezifischen Bedingungen von Motivation und Volition im sportlichen Kontext vorgelegt. Dazu gehört auch die Entwicklung sportspezifischer Messinstrumente für Motive, Motivation und Volitionsfaktoren. Erst in jüngster Zeit wurde dabei die Aufmerksamkeit auch auf die Unterscheidung von impliziten und expliziten Motiven gerichtet. Volition ist in Form von Selbstregulationsprozessen eine Komponente, ohne die das Durchhalten im Training und/oder das erfolgreiche Absolvieren eines nerven- und kräftezehrenden Wettkampfs kaum möglich erscheinen. Sportpsychologische Interventionen beziehen sich daher zu einem Großteil auf Selbstregulationsmaßnahmen.

Like Chapter 4, this chapter deals with the situational determinants of behavior. All of the theories to be discussed assume that the organism is able to anticipate events and that behavior is guided by anticipatory goal states. The underlying assumption is that goal states are involved in the “reinforcement” of behavior. When our actions meet with success, the respective goal states are associated with positive affect. When we fail, or in the case of negative reinforcement, they are associated with negative affect. The anticipation of the affect associated with goal states activates a behavioral tendency to either approach or avoid specific goal states. Situational stimuli that alert the organism to affectively charged goal states are known as incentives. Hence, the present chapter deals with incentive theories of motivation.

Background: Recently there has been much research around the importance of athlete-centred coaching and the subsequent effect on coaching practice. However, in elite coaching, (in this case, highly skilled, experienced professionals working with representative-level athletes or teams) many individuals subscribe to the principles of athlete-centred coaching but these views are not evident in their practice.Purpose: This research examined the values, beliefs and proposed intentions that coaches expound and compared these to those behaviours observed in practice and competition.Methods: We utilised a mixed methods approach employing a sequential exploratory design over a period of six months with 15 elite sport coaches from a variety of sports. Coaches were interviewed about their coaching philosophy and practice and then their actions were observed on six occasions in practice and competition. Interview data were treated to thematic analysis whilst observations were analysed using RStudio2023.03.0.Findings: Four themes were generated from the interviews: importance of player/athlete-centred philosophy; coach as a role model; coach as facilitator; get it right in training. Observations revealed that coach behaviour and emotions did change between training and competition, despite their assertions that competition mirrored training. These coaches were focused on the outcomes of competition, showing more controlling behaviours and exhibiting more stress and anxiety, not consistent with athlete-centred principles. Coupled with this, these coaches did not acknowledge these behavioural and emotional contrasts, maintaining their philosophy aligned with their role and actions. Further research may determine whether coaches are more influenced by their individual philosophy and practice or the demands of their employing organisation.

This chapter discusses psychological relaxation techniques to enhance recovery in sports. Four areas for the utilisation of relaxation will be outlined: a) relaxation as a recovery tool, b) relaxation as a means of developing inner balance, c) relaxation as a regeneration accelerator, and d) relaxation as a method of self-regulation. Furthermore, various psychological techniques like breathing, music, progressive muscle relaxation, and hypnosis will be described in terms of validation and conditions of application. For the best validated techniques more detailed descriptions and application guidelines will be provided as well.

This chapter provides an insight into a prevention programme for burnout and depression specific to a target group of junior elite athletes competing in an individual sport discipline. The programme was part of an applied project called “Group coaching of selected athletes of the Bavarian Swim Association”, which was founded by the German Federal Institute of Sport Science. The project was conducted with junior elite swimmers in order to strengthen prospectively important factors and therefore help prevent the development of psychological problems. Results showed that athletes in individual sports are at higher risk for depressive syndromes. Therefore, junior elite swimmers were assumed to gain most from a preventive intervention programme. On the basis of vulnerability-stress models, various important factors have been associated with burnout and depression. These factors served as an evaluation indicator for the assessment pre- and post-intervention.

Despite illness, some people report good well-being and a satisfying quality of life (QOL). It is proposed that recovery plays a crucial role for chronically ill people to achieve well-being and a good QOL. This implies that recovery is addressed from a broader perspective than merely healing somatic as well as mental illnesses. In this chapter, recovery is conceptualised as a general resource that can act as a buffer against the stress of illness and the negative experiences associated with it. If people are engulfed by their illness, underrecovery is likely to prevail. The person may have no access to personal relevant resources for recovery and lack the capacity to find individual best recovery. Low QOL would be the consequence. Traditional Western biomedicine has not primarily been oriented towards "repairing" medical problems and not promoting well-being and the quality of life of human beings. As a result of medical paternalism and deficit-based approaches illness is commonly defined as a deviation from the norm that needs to be restored. To achieve recovery that promotes a good QOL despite (chronic) illness, patients need to be empowered to become active agents of their well-being. Thus, their self-determination must be enhanced and their capacity for self-regulation increased to achieve recovery as a resource that enables individuals not only to recover from stress but also to show resilience against the circumstances of their illness.

Due to various reasons explored in previous studies, adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) are at risk of developing post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). The aim of this study is to explore multiple potential psychosocial protective factors in ACHD and to understand their role in different complexities of congenital heart disease (CHD) and PTSS. This study was part of the “ABS-AHF” study, where 234 ACHD were recruited from November 2021 to August 2022 at a tertiary CHD care center. Data were collected on PTSS (PDS), resilience (RS-13), sense of coherence (SOC-L9), and social support (F-SozU K-14). The mean scores were 70.55 + / − 12.31 [21–91] for resilience, 35.83 + / − 4.81 [15–60] for sense of coherence (SOC), and 4.30 + / − 0.79 [0.93–5] for social support. SOC (OR, .91; p = .024 [.84; 9.98]) and social support (OR, .48; p = .001 [.29; 7.96]) were shown to reduce the likelihood of PTSS. Low resilience (OR, 2.40, p = .0248 [1.18; 5.18]) seems to increase this likelihood. Integrating parents and relatives early on seems to be an important protective resource. Parental support in childhood affects the development of SOC which is in line with social support related to lower PTSS. With regard to resilience and SOC, a brief and manageable screening option for personal resources is available to refer potentially vulnerable patients to specialized psychosocial care. Care offers should address coping styles and life with CHD. Offering multidisciplinary care, integrating the patient’s social network, and education for patients to increase resilience and SOC might provide a way to enhance psychosocial outcomes, quality of life, and adherence in ACHD.

Das Buch versteht sich als kurzgefasstes Praxisbuch, in dem Anleitungen für eine sportpsychologische Praxis auf der Grundlage fundierter Erkenntnisse der sportpsychologischen Forschung gegeben werden. Dabei wird ein breites Spektrum von Aufgabenbereichen der sportpsychologischen Praxis im Wettkampf- und Leistungssport angesprochen: von der Diagnostik über die Persönlichkeitsentwicklung und Teambildung, vom mentalen Training bis hin zur psychischen Gesundheit und Wohlbefinden. In all diesen Bereichen veranschaulichen Praxisbeispiele, wie Jürgen Beckmann und Anne-Marie Elbe in ihrer praktischen Arbeit vorgehen. Das Buch ist nicht nur eine vollständige Überarbeitung und thematische Erweiterung der zweiten Auflage der erfolgreichen „Praxis der Sportpsychologie“, sondern zeichnet sich auch durch eine weitergefasste Grundorientierung aus. Es wird nun auch eine systemische Perspektive einbezogen und das Methodenrepertoire z.B. durch die klinische Hypnose erweitert.

A holistic or systemic perspective is critical to effectively managing stress and promoting recovery. Stress and recovery are essential components of well-being, and their interplay shapes individual health outcomes. Recognising the systemic nature of stress and recovery is critical to designing effective interventions and policies. By promoting a balance between stress and recovery in physiological, psychological, and social terms, individuals and societies can build resilience, promote optimal well-being, and mitigate the negative effects of chronic stress. In addition, this chapter presents a critical perspective on the "work-life balance" strategy, stating that it neglects to acknowledge the complex relationship between stress and recovery in the detailed way that the recovery-based methods discussed in this book do.

This systematic review assesses the methodological quality of manuscripts focusing on scales that explicitly measure nature connectedness. A literature search in six electronic databases was conducted using a search strategy based on PICO guidelines. Only peer-reviewed primary research available in English language, published between 2000 and 2021, meeting the scope of this review were included. Data from 35 studies were narratively analyzed. Their methodological quality was assessed using the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist. Only five studies were rated as high/adequate quality. Based on the findings we make the following recommendations: (a) the need for the development of a more universal nature connectedness construct, (b) the requirement to increase the methodological quality of the scales, (c) the need to identify which the scales measure trait or state, (d) the need to increase the validate scales cross-culturally, and (e) the need to develop scales that can be employed with non-adult samples.

The experience of anxiety around a competition may be one of the most prominent reasons for elite athletes to seek psychological consulting. However, competitions are merely one source of anxiety in elite sport. Others are, for example, fear of injury or social physique anxiety. Anxiety strongly affects athletes’ mental health and well-being. This chapter will address sources of anxiety in elite sport, explain the emergence of anxiety, discuss the state- or trait-like nature of anxiety and show how it relates to performance, well-being, and the development of mental health issues. Current theoretical understandings and models are presented, which serve as the basis for assessment for research and applied purposes. Personal (like personality traits or age) and situational (like coaching style or public scrutiny) risk factors and potential mechanisms for experiencing high levels of anxiety will be discussed. Furthermore, it will be shown how these factors can interfere with athletes’ well-being and increase their vulnerability to depression, anxiety, and stress. The diverse areas of anxiety make simple, practical implications difficult but different prevention and intervention strategies as well as directions for future research and practice will be presented.