Van Biesen Debbie, Morbee Sofie
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Virtus Academy, Virtus World Intellectual Impairment Sport, Sheffield, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2023 Mar 30;14:1099399. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1099399. eCollection 2023.
After the decision to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Games due to the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes had to adjust to a novel situation with feelings of uncertainty and insecurity. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, this study was the first to examine whether different motivational profiles among Paralympic athletes can be identified, and to link these profiles with the athletes' emotional, cognitive, and performance-related outcomes in times of a pandemic.
Five months before the start of the Paralympic Games, the participants ( = 32; mean age = 33.2 ± 6.8 years) completed an online questionnaire measuring their demographics, basic psychological needs, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, general well-being, and motivational self-regulation strategies. Two months after the Games, they completed a second online questionnaire measuring their actual and perceived performance at the past Games.
Through K-means cluster analysis, three distinct clusters were identified based on the athletes' dominant type of motivation, these are, dominantly amotivated ( = 11), autonomously motivated ( = 12), and controlled motivated ( = 9). Comparisons of athletes' emotional, cognitive, and performance-related outcomes depending on their motivational profile revealed that the athletes with a dominantly amotivated profile had the least adaptive outcomes (i.e., low need satisfaction, high need frustration, and more depressive symptoms). Athletes with a dominantly autonomously motivated profile made less use of controlling self-motivating strategies compared to the other two profiles. Moreover, their actual performance at the Paralympic Games was better.
Although none of the athletes were at severe risk for depression or showed extremely high levels of stress, these results confirm that improving the quality of athletes' motivation can safeguard their well-being and enhance performance in Paralympic Sports.
在因新冠疫情决定推迟2020年东京奥运会后，运动员们不得不适应一种充满不确定性和不安全感的新情况。本研究以自我决定理论为基础，首次探讨是否能识别出残奥会运动员不同的动机特征，并将这些特征与运动员在疫情期间的情绪、认知及与表现相关的结果联系起来。
在残奥会开始前五个月，参与者（n = 32；平均年龄 = 33.2 ± 6.8岁）完成了一份在线问卷，测量他们的人口统计学特征、基本心理需求、感知压力、抑郁症状、总体幸福感以及动机自我调节策略。在比赛结束两个月后，他们完成了第二份在线问卷，测量他们在过去比赛中的实际表现和感知表现。
通过K均值聚类分析，根据运动员的主导动机类型识别出三个不同的类别，即主要无动机的（n = 11）、自主动机的（n = 12）和受控动机的（n = 9）。根据运动员的动机特征对其情绪、认知及与表现相关的结果进行比较，结果显示，主要无动机的运动员适应性结果最差（即需求满意度低、需求挫折感高且抑郁症状更多）。与其他两类相比，主要自主动机的运动员较少使用控制性自我激励策略。此外，他们在残奥会上的实际表现更好。
尽管没有运动员面临严重的抑郁风险或表现出极高的压力水平，但这些结果证实，提高运动员动机的质量可以保障他们的幸福感，并提升他们在残奥运动中的表现。
