Personality has widely been documented to play an important role in the cognitive appraisal and stress processes. Emerging studies highlight the stress mindset as a new concept that could add to the understanding of individual differences in stress experiences. This study aimed to examine the relative contribution of Big Five personality dimensions and stress mindset in accounting for measures of cognitive appraisals of stress among the competing athletes. The study was conducted on a sample of 125 collegiate athletes of both genders who actively compete in sport. All the participants were regular undergraduate or graduate students at the Faculty of Kinesiology of the University of Zagreb. A questionnaire including demographic information about athletes and their sport career, stress mindset measure (SMM), situation-specific cognitive appraisal scale, sources of stress scale, and personality scale measured by IPIP-50 was administered in an online form using the Google Forms platform. Multivariate hierarchical regression procedures resulted in somewhat different predictor structures accounting for cognitive appraisals of threat, loss, and challenge, used as criterion variables. The set of Big Five personality dimensions and stress mindset measure proved to have a significant additive contribution to the explanation of each of the three cognitive appraisal criterion variances. The study results support the current body of literature suggesting a unique role of the stress mindset construct in explaining individual differences in cognitive stress appraisal among athletes above and beyond general personality dimensions.

The aim of this study was to examine gender and body-mass index differences in quality of life and exercise motives of adolescents. The sample consisted of 744 first-year high school students from the City of Zagreb. Quality of life was measured with an adapted version of the Kidscreen-27, and exercise motivation with the EMI-2. The results suggest that adolescents experience positive quality of life and their exercise motivation derives from intrinsic and extrinsic motives. Higher levels of male adolescents' quality of life, compared to females', predominantly result from a greater sense of physical well-being, more pleasant emotions and moods, more positive school and family environment, and the ability to plan and spend leisure time. Normal-weight adolescents are more satisfied with their physical activity and health than overweight ones. Male adolescents are more driven by enjoyment, challenge, competition, strength, and social motives (belonging, pressure, and recognition), unlike females, who exercise more because of weight control. Normal-weight adolescents are more motivated for exercise by enjoyment than overweight ones, who are more driven by weight control. The implications of these findings were discussed.

Previous studies have shown to some extent the positive influence of music on high intensity exercise and corresponding recovery. Yet, these findings are not completely applicable to high-intensity interval exercise. The main objective of the current study was to examine the impact of motivational popular music on psychological and physiological responses to high-intensity interval training (HIIT]. 17 physically active male undergraduate kinesiology students performed a 10-min HIIT in a form of a ball-throwing task where four active phases alternated successively with four passive rest phases, in three different conditions: rest phases without music, with faster-tempo music (140-160 bpm) and slower-tempo music (90100 bpm). Affective response to physical activity (well-being, psychological distress and fatigue), performance efficiency of the ball-throwing task and heart rate recovery [HRR] during rest phases were measured. Both music conditions (faster-and slower-tempo) resulted in significantly lower HRR (p<0.017) and more positive well-being (p<0.017) opposed to no music condition. There were no differences in psychological and physiological responses during the HIIT between conditions with faster and slower music. Our findings suggest that listening to music in rest phases during a HIIT can improve well-being and influence the HRR. Optimal tempo and music selection as well as the HRR in high-intensity interval training is yet to be determined.