This study examined the influence of two interventions (therapeutic letter to self; values targeting) on student-athletes’ mental health using two variants of a single-subject design: a multiple-baseline single-subject design and a probe design. Four high-ability student-athletes (two males and two females) who competed in various sports (e.g., soccer and cycling) completed two preintervention measures (Mental Health Continuum Short Form; Clinical Outcomes Routine Evaluation 10) at baseline. These measures were then readministered after Intervention 1, Intervention 2, and at a 2-week follow-up using a probe design. Mental well-being (Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale) was assessed every 2 days from start to finish using a multiple-baseline across-participants design. Data were analyzed via visual inspection methods, specifically, immediacy of effect, mean change, effect sizes, and percentage of overlapping data. Results indicated that two participants who completed the study (Nina and Tim) showed an increase in total mental health and a decrease in psychological distress from baseline to follow-up. Findings are discussed with respect to prior research and study limitations.

In this article, the authors describe a new theory, the Evaluative Space Approach to Challenge and Threat (ESACT). Prompted by the Biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat (BPS: Blascovich and Tomaka, 1996) and the development of the Theory of Challenge and Threat States in Athletes (Jones et al., 2009), recent years have witnessed a considerable increase in research examining challenge and threat in sport. This manuscript provides a critical review of the literature examining challenge and threat in sport, tracing its historical development and some of the current empirical ambiguities. To reconcile some of these ambiguities, and utilizing neurobiological evidence associated with approach and avoidance motivation (c.f. Elliot and Covington, 2001), this paper draws upon the Evaluative Space Model (ESM; Cacioppo et al., 1997) and considers the implications for understanding challenge and threat in sport. For example, rather than see challenge and threat as opposite ends of a single bipolar continuum, the ESM implies that individuals could be (1) challenged, (2) threatened, (3) challenged and threatened, or (4) neither challenged or threatened by a particular stimulus. From this perspective, it could be argued that the appraisal of some sport situations as both challenging and threatening could be advantageous, whereas the current literature seems to imply that the appraisal of stress as a threat is maladaptive for performance. The ESACT provides several testable hypotheses for advancing understanding of challenge and threat (in sport) and we describe a number of measures that can be used to examine these hypotheses. In sum, this paper provides a significant theoretical, empirical, and practical contribution to our understanding of challenge and threat (in sport).

This paper outlines the development and preliminary validation of a sport-specific measure of athletes’ experience of challenge and threat. Three independent studies assess the content validity, factor structure, criterion validity and internal consistency of the Challenge and Threat in Sport (CAT-Sport) Scale. In study 1, a group of 25 athletes and 2 experts assessed the content validity of items derived from existing measures of challenge and threat. Participants examined a pool of 25 items, and were asked to rate the items’ applicability to their experiences of challenge and threat in sport. Items failing to reach applicability of 50% were excluded from further analysis. In study 2, 197 runners completed the 21 items retained from study 1 before competition. A principal components analysis with an oblique, direct oblimin rotation yielded a 12-item, two-component solution with items indicative of athletes’ experiences of challenge and threat. In study 3, 201 shooters completed the 12-item CAT-Sport before competition. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a 12-item 2-factor correlated model provided acceptable model fit with good internal consistency and criterion validity. Collectively these studies provide support for the CAT-Sport as a measure of athletes’ experience of challenge and threat in anticipation of sport competition.

Research suggests elite athletes have an equal-or, in some circumstances, possibly higher-probability of developing mental ill-health as the general population. However, understanding of these issues among athletes and coaches remains largely limited. The perceptions of mental-health problems among 19 elite athletes and 16 coaches were explored using two concurrent three-round Delphi surveys whose responses were compared. Athletes and coaches expressed different opinions and experiences of mental ill-health among elite athletes. However, both groups felt the pressure athletes place on themselves is a significant contributing factor and that obsessional compulsive tendencies and anxiety may be particularly prevalent. While associated stigma was thought to be a barrier to seeking support, both groups felt sport and clinical psychologists would provide the most appropriate support, with coaches playing an important signposting role. Implications for athletes, coaches, and clinical and sport psychologists are explored and suggestions for future research are presented.

The aim of this paper is to present a critical reflection on mental toughness using a creative analytic practice. In particular, we move from intrapersonal technical reflections to an altogether more interpersonal cultural analysis that (re)considers some of the assumptions that can underpin sport psychology practice. Specifically, in the ripples that extend from these initial technical reflections, we argue that it is important to understand vulnerability, and consider (a) wounded healers, (b) the ideology of individualism, and (c) the survivor bias to help make sense of current thinking and applied practice. Emerging from these ripples are a number of implications (naming elephants, tellability, neoliberalism) from which sport psychologists may reflect upon to enhance their own practice. In making visible the invisible, we conclude that vulnerability can no longer be ignored in sport psychology discourse, research, and practice. Should this story of vulnerability resonate, we encourage you, where appropriate to share this story.

This study explored the characteristics, contextual factors and consequences of counterfactual thoughts in seven elite athletes using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Counterfactuals were experienced regularly with self-directed and upward counterfactuals (cognitions about how things could be better) being most frequent. These upward counterfactuals typically occurred following performance that was below participants’ goals and expectations. These thoughts were perceived by participants to have a negative affect initially, and that they then led to facilitative behavioral consequences around learning and development. Some elements of counterfactual thinking could be used as a useful reflective tool to encourage elite athletes to problem solve and motivate cognitive, emotional and behavioral change to enhance future performance.

Considerations of athletes’ mental health are typically framed in the language of mental illness (Hughes and Leavey, 2012), a situation that contributes to stigmatization, denial, and the prevention of effective care. In this article, we provide a critical, narrative review of the extant literature on athlete mental health. Specifically, we begin by providing a brief synopsis of the extant literature on athletes’ mental health, illustrating both what we know about (i) the prevalence of mental health issues in sport and (ii) variables contributing to help-seeking behaviors in athletes. Against, this backdrop, we outline Keyes’ (2002) two-continuum model of mental health as a theoretical framework that has considerable promise in understanding, talking-about, and intervening to enhance, athletes’ mental health. This model posits two related, but distinct dimensions: one continuum indicates the presence or absence of mental health, the other the presence or absence of mental illness. From this perspective, a number of possibilities emerge. For instance, athletes could simultaneously have both positive mental health and experience of mental illness. Alternatively, athletes could be free from mental illness, but in Keyes’ terms be “languishing” (i.e., experiencing low levels of mental health). Implications for interventions based on the two-continuum model are discussed, particularly drawing on assets-based approaches to enhance flourishing (Theokas et al., 2005). We conclude the review by considering limitations in our understanding of how to promote flourishing and suggest avenues for further research.

Background: The efficacy and predictive utility of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in explaining a variety of behaviours including physical activity (PA) is well documented. However, the relative contribution of the theory's components in describing intention and behaviour may differ depending on the context, time and population being studied. Such evidence is necessary to inform PA advice and interventions aimed at special populations including pregnant women. Objective: The purpose of this study was to review the existing literature surrounding the application of the TPB in explaining exercise intentions and behaviour during pregnancy and to evaluate the magnitude of relationships between TPB constructs within this context. Method: Multiple search strategies yielded 99 potentially relevant studies of which 47 were assessed against the inclusion criteria. Finally, eight studies were subjected to a random-effects meta-analysis. Result: Results confirmed the existence of a strong relationship between intention and behaviour while perceived behavioural control (PBC) revealed a weaker correlation with behaviour. Women's attitude towards exercise had the strongest association with their intention to be physically active while expecting. However, both PBC and subjective norm showed strong relationships with intention. Conclusion: The study supports the TPB as a relevant conceptual framework for the investigation of PA intentions and behaviours during pregnancy. Furthermore, this study supported subjective norm as a pertinent construct to investigate exercise intentions and behaviour in a pregnant population. These findings present both researchers and practitioners with an opportunity for intervention and further research.

To date no reliable and valid measure of Challenge and Threat in sport has been developed. This study reports 4 stages in the development and validation of a Challenge and Threat in Sport (CAT-Sport) measure. In stage 1 item’s indicative of Challenge and Threat were derived from existing measures (Cognitive Appraisal Scale, Skinner and Brewer, (2004), Challenge and Threat Construal, Ptacek et al, (1994), The Primary and Secondary Appraisal Scale, Gaab et al, 2009) and focus groups with current athletes. This yielded a 21 item instrument with each item scored on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) through to 6 (strongly agree). In stage 2, the questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 127 (n = 80 male, n = 43 female) 21.1 kilometres (km) runners (Mage = 38.87, SD = 9.69) and 70 (n =56 male, n=14 female) 32.2 km runners (Mage = 42.22, SD = 9.48). A principal components factor analysis with Oblimin rotation yielded a two-component solution, one labelled challenge (variance =α=.84) the other labelled threat (variance = α=.71) leaving a 12-item questionnaire. Criteria for components extraction included: (a) eigenvalues greater than 1.0 to indicate that a component explains more variance than any single item; (b) a minimum of around 5% explained variance per component and; (c) components loading of .4 and above (Guadagnoli and Velicer, 1988). Items that cross-loaded were also removed. In stage 3, this 12-item questionnaire was distributed to a second sample of 57(n=32 male, n=25 female) 10km runners (Mage=38.62, SD=12.86) and 90 male (n = 55 male, n=35 female) 16.1km runners (Mage = 40.53, SD = 10.59). The two-component solution was tested using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (EQS version 6.1). A correlated 2-factor model best fit the data (Satorra-Bentler scaled 115.09 (p<0.01); Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) =0.80, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) =0.13, Robust Comparative Fit Index (RCFI) =0.85) although the goodness of fit indices fell below commonly agreed threshold criteria (Hu and Bentler, 1999, GFI 0.9, RMSEA 0.10, RCFI= 0.95). Stage 4 provided an exploratory examination of the instrument’s criterion validity in each sample of runners (using the final 12 items across both samples). When running times were standardized, a significant positive association was observed between challenge and running speed with all the distances combined, (r =.173, p =<0.01). No statistically significant correlations were observed between threat and performance. In conclusion report of Challenge is correlated with faster running performance.

Drawing upon the notion of “reflection for action”, we use the London 2012 Olympics as a mirror through which we may re-configure the image that scientists and practitioners have about athletes’ emotions. Media reports of the “Olympic Blues” among athletes have been considerable, yet our scientific understanding of athletes’ post-competitive emotional reactions has been largely neglected. Based on a stance that embeds athletes’ emotions in an altogether more interpersonal and social milieu, we present an integrative framework that bridges several disparate and hitherto largely unconnected bodies of literature. This framework (a) draws upon literature in relation to athletic identity and transition, (b) positions the “athlete” as part an interpersonal network that shapes the meaning and construction of events and (c) draws upon notions of mental time travel to place the athlete in a storied narrative that reflects both actual remembered and counterfactual pasts together with multiple hypothetical future trajectories. We illuminate this framework with quotes and experiences reported by Olympians, prior to, during, and/or after the London 2012 Olympics. By doing so, we hope to move not only toward a fuller appreciation of athletes’ emotional experience per se, but to consider the implications for enhanced athlete support for Rio 2016.

Objectives: Three studies examine the factorial validity, internal consistency, test-retest stability, and criterion validity of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ: Gross & John, 2003) for use with athletes.Design: Factorial validity, internal consistency, test-retest stability and criterion validity of the ERQ were examined over three stages, using three separate samples.Method: In stage 1 the factorial validity and internal consistency of the ERQ subscales were examined based on responses from 433 sport participants. In stage 2,176 sport participants completed the ERQ on two occasions separated by an interval of two weeks. In stage 3, the criterion validity of the ERQ was examined. Sport participants (n = 88) completed the ERQ and reported the intensity, frequency and direction of a range of emotions experienced when competing in sport.Results: Confirmatory factor analysis results lend some support to a two-factor model when reappraisal and suppression are allowed to correlate. Alpha coefficients were acceptable. Test-retest stability analyses indicated poor agreement and a greater influence of situational, as opposed to trait factors, in the variance of item scores on the second test administration. In addition, results were partially consistent with findings of Gross and John (2003): reappraisal scores were associated with pleasant emotions, but suppression scores were not associated with unpleasant emotions.Conclusion: Results provide mixed support for the validity of the ERQ in sport. Because the ERQ is intended to assess stable patterns of emotion regulation, the instability of items is a concern and reasons for this require further investigation. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

(2012). Chapter 2 - Emotion in Sport: Antecedents and Performance Consequences. Routledge Online Studies on the Olympic and Paralympic Games: Vol. 1, Coping and Emotion in Sport: Second Edition, pp. 33-61.

(2012). Chapter 10 - The Consequences and Control of Emotions in Elite Athletes. Routledge Online Studies on the Olympic and Paralympic Games: Vol. 1, Coping and Emotion in Sport: Second Edition, pp. 213-235.