Raglin John S
Department of Kinesiology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA.
Sports Med. 2007;37(4-5):404-7. doi: 10.2165/00007256-200737040-00034.
The unique physiological attributes of marathoners have long been recognised, but until the pioneering research of Morgan and Pollock (1977) little was known about their psychological characteristics. Their work revealed marathoners have significantly better mental health compared with non-athletes, with desirable mental health variables being most pronounced in elite competitors. It was also found that during competition, elite marathoners typically utilise a unique cognitive strategy labelled 'association', whereby they regulate pace based upon bodily sensations including pain and effort. More recent research indicates there are considerable individual differences in the psychological responses of marathoners to the stressors associated with training and competition, and in some cases negative emotions traditionally presumed to be harmful actually benefit performance. This brief review will highlight findings of psychological research involving marathoners and other endurance athletes, distinguishing between characteristics common among groups (i.e. nomothetic) with those particular to individuals (i.e. ideographic) or sub-groups of elite and non-elite competitors.
马拉松运动员独特的生理属性早已为人所知，但直到摩根和波洛克（1977年）的开创性研究，人们对他们的心理特征知之甚少。他们的研究表明，与非运动员相比，马拉松运动员的心理健康状况明显更好，理想的心理健康变量在精英选手中最为明显。研究还发现，在比赛中，精英马拉松运动员通常采用一种独特的认知策略，称为“联想”，即他们根据包括疼痛和努力在内的身体感觉来调节速度。最近的研究表明，马拉松运动员对与训练和比赛相关的压力源的心理反应存在相当大的个体差异，在某些情况下，传统上认为有害的负面情绪实际上对表现有益。这篇简短的综述将突出涉及马拉松运动员和其他耐力运动员的心理学研究结果，区分群体共有的特征（即通则性）与个体（即个性化）或精英与非精英竞争者亚群体特有的特征。
