Jordalen Gro, Lemyre Pierre-Nicolas, Solstad Bård Erlend, Ivarsson Andreas
Department of Coaching and Psychology, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
Department of Coaching and Psychology and Norwegian Research Centre of Children and Youth Sports, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
Front Psychol. 2018 Dec 4;9:2449. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02449. eCollection 2018.
The depletion of self-control competencies has been explained by an external shift in motivation, and recent research has emphasized that controlled types of motivation and self-control competencies are positively associated with exhaustion in youth athletes. Using the self-determination theory (SDT) and self-control theories, this study examined associations between athletes' motivation, self-control competencies, and exhaustion experiences throughout a competitive season. A total of 321 winter sport youth athletes (173 males, 98 females, and 50 unknown gender; aged 16 to 20 years, = 17.98, = 0.89) participated in this 10-week longitudinal study, including three time points. Using Bayesian structural equation modeling, associations between athletes' reported level of motivation regulations, self-control, and exhaustion throughout their competitive season were examined in two mediation models. Constructs were associated in a conceptual and consistent manner. Simple mediation models showed credible indirect and direct effects of motivation on exhaustion via self-control within amotivation, and intrinsic, integrated, identified, and external regulation analyses. These credible effects were not replicated in the focused mediation model, when controlling for self-control and exhaustion autoregressive effects. However, direction of effects in both models was consistent and congruent. Findings consistently supported the interplay between motivation and exhaustion via self-control in youth athletes over an important competition period of the year. Autonomous and controlled motivation interacted with self-control and, respectively, predicted perceived exhaustion negatively and positively. Thus, autonomous self-control motives are important in preventing negative sport participation development over time. However, simple and focused mediation models showed different results, suggesting a necessity for accurate considerations of analytical methods chosen to investigate longitudinal mediation. Specifically, future studies need to carefully consider the time interval between measurement time points when investigating changes in dynamic psychological constructs, and include autoregressive longitudinal effects in order to predict change in levels of the outcome over time.
自我控制能力的耗尽已被解释为动机的外部转变，并且最近的研究强调，受控制的动机类型和自我控制能力与青少年运动员的疲惫呈正相关。本研究运用自我决定理论（SDT）和自我控制理论，考察了运动员在整个赛季中的动机、自我控制能力与疲惫体验之间的关联。共有321名冬季项目青少年运动员（173名男性、98名女性和50名性别未知者；年龄在16至20岁之间，平均年龄 = 17.98岁，标准差 = 0.89）参与了这项为期10周的纵向研究，研究包括三个时间点。运用贝叶斯结构方程模型，在两个中介模型中考察了运动员在整个赛季中报告的动机调节水平、自我控制和疲惫之间的关联。各构念以概念上一致的方式相互关联。简单中介模型显示，在无动机、内在、整合、认同和外部调节分析中，动机通过自我控制对疲惫产生了可信的间接和直接效应。在控制自我控制和疲惫自回归效应时，这些可信效应在聚焦中介模型中未得到重复。然而，两个模型中的效应方向是一致且相符的。研究结果一致支持了在一年中重要的比赛时期，青少年运动员的动机和疲惫通过自我控制相互作用。自主动机和受控制动机分别与自我控制相互作用，并分别对感知到的疲惫产生负向和正向预测作用。因此，自主的自我控制动机对于随着时间推移预防负面的运动参与发展很重要。然而，简单中介模型和聚焦中介模型显示出不同的结果，这表明在选择用于研究纵向中介的分析方法时需要准确考虑。具体而言，未来的研究在调查动态心理构念的变化时，需要仔细考虑测量时间点之间的时间间隔，并纳入自回归纵向效应，以便预测结果水平随时间的变化。
