Affective Forecasting and Social Physique Anxiety among Female Athletes: A Pilot Study

Authors: Jessica Wolverton1 & Urska Dobersek2  

1Athletics Department, McDaniel College, Westminster, USA; 2Department of Psychology, University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, IN USA

Corresponding Author:

Jessica Wolverton, M.S.
2 College Hill Westminster, MD 21157
jwolverton@mcdaniel.edu
410-857-2566

Jessica Wolverton, MS is a former collegiate volleyball coach and a current collegiate athletics administrator. Her research focus includes well-being, mental health resourcing, and programming for student-athletes.
Urska Dobersek, Ph.D., CMPC is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Southern Indiana. Her research interests include individuals’ identities, objectification of women, sexual and mate selection, and diet and mental health

Affective Forecasting and Social Physique Anxiety among Female Athletes: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT

While people make affective forecasts every day, they overestimate the impact of future events on their emotional states — displaying an impact bias. Comparatively few studies examined athletes’ accuracy of specific emotions in aesthetic sports. To remedy this gap, we explored predicted social physique anxiety and self-presentational concerns in an experimental analysis of 156 female collegiate volleyball players between 18 and 23 years of age. Athletes completed a Demographic Questionnaire and the Trait Anxiety Inventory before being randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions (i.e., control, practice, intersquad scrimmage game, or heavy spectator game). After the manipulation, their social physique anxiety levels and self-presentational concerns in sport were assessed. A one-way Analysis of Variance revealed significant differences among the conditions on social physique anxiety, F(3, 152) = 4.70, p = .004, h2 = .09. Specifically, Tukey HSD post-hoc test revealed that athletes in the control condition scored higher on social physique anxiety (M = 2.74, SD = 0.71) compared with intersquad scrimmage game condition (M = 2.15, SD = 0.70), p < .01, d = .83. No other significant differences were observed. Contrary to prior literature, athletes overestimated their forecasted anxiety in the control group and underestimated their forecasted social physique anxiety levels in a game closed to large crowds. Our study extends previous work on affective forecasting, and more importantly, provides additional information on specific emotions in aesthetic sports. Our findings suggest that coaches and sport psychology consultants could potentially reduce athletes’ social physique anxiety and self-presentational concerns by channeling their attention to the task at hand.

Key Words: affective forecasting, social physique anxiety, self-presentational concerns, pilot study

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2023-09-27T11:50:12-05:00September 29th, 2023|Research, Sports Coaching, Sports Health & Fitness, Women and Sports|Comments Off on Affective Forecasting and Social Physique Anxiety among Female Athletes: A Pilot Study

Increased Exposure to Women in Sport Increases Familiarity and Liking

Authors: Beth Dietz

Department of Psychology, Miami University, Middletown, Ohio, US

Corresponding Author:

Beth Dietz
Department of Psychology, Miami University
Middletown, OH 45044
dietzbl@miamioh.edu

Dr. Beth Dietz is a professor of psychology at Miami University. Her research interests include social identity, sport fans and spectators, women in sport, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Increased Exposure to Women in Sport Increases Familiarity and Liking

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The quantity of media coverage of sports played by females has not achieved parity with coverage of sports played by males. Additionally, coverage of sport played by females is often regarded as boring, uninteresting, and bland. The current study tests the hypothesis that as exposure to sport and gender increases, so will liking. Methods: Participants completed measures of familiarity, liking, and knowledge before and after a course on Sport and Gender. Results: The results showed increases over time in liking-to-watch, frequency-of-watching, knowledge of and familiarity with sport played by women (results also showed increases for neutral sports and sports played by males). Conclusions: These results suggest that repeated exposure to sports played by females leads to greater liking and interest. Applications: Increasing exposure to sports played by females in the media and in classrooms will lead to increased liking of, and likely demand, for sports played by females.

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2023-09-22T13:09:26-05:00September 22nd, 2023|Research, Sports History, Sports Marketing, Women and Sports|Comments Off on Increased Exposure to Women in Sport Increases Familiarity and Liking

Title IX and Its Impact on Opportunities for Women in NCAA Coaching and Administrative Leadership

Authors: Elisa Van Kirk

Department of Education, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, US

Corresponding Author:

Elisa Van Kirkl
SLU- 23 Romoda Dr.
Atwood Hall 21
Canton, NY, 13617
evankirk@stlawu.edu
860-919-3274

Dr. Elisa Van Kirk is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. Van Kirk played Division I softball and was a collegiate coach at the Division III level for over a decade. Currently, Van Kirk primarily works with the University’s graduate students who are pursuing a Master of Art in Leadership degree.
Van Kirk’s research focuses on collegiate athletics, athletic leadership, as well as sports and gender.

Title IX and Its Impact on Opportunities for Women in NCAA Coaching and Administrative Leadership

ABSTRACT

Title IX was evolutionary when first enacted, and it provided a framework to address equity in education in many respects; however, it has had limited effects in many other areas, including in NCAA athletic administration. In this commentary, a discussion is offered in regard to the ongoing impacts of Title IX in college athletics and ways in which this legislation has impacted women and their opportunities for leadership. Examples from the literature from women who once held roles in NCAA Division III leadership are considered and their experiences are drawn upon to demonstrate ways in which barriers and sources of inequity continue to exist. Recommendations are offered for women seeking leadership positions based on the experiences of the women in this study.

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2023-03-13T09:35:26-05:00March 13th, 2023|Commentary, Sport Education, Sports History, Women and Sports|Comments Off on Title IX and Its Impact on Opportunities for Women in NCAA Coaching and Administrative Leadership

Branding in women’s sports: A literature review

Authors: Isabell Mills

Corresponding Author:
Isabell Mills, PhD
1400 E Hanna Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46227
millsi@uindy.edu
219-805-3791

Isabell Mills is an assistant professor of sport management
at the University of Indianapolis. Her research areas are sport and fitness
branding.

Branding in women’s sports: A literature review

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the gaps in the branding literature as it pertains to women’s sports. The review included 11 articles from sport management and business journals, investigating personal branding, team branding, and media coverage. Additionally, the review explored the practical implications as well as avenues of future research (i.e., conceptual model).

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2020-06-02T12:04:47-05:00November 22nd, 2019|General, Sports Marketing, Women and Sports|Comments Off on Branding in women’s sports: A literature review

Exposure to Women’s Sports: Changing Attitudes Toward Female Athletes

Authors: Travis Scheadler, Audrey Wagstaff, Ph.D., MJE

Corresponding Authors:
Travis Scheadler
tscheadler@wilmington.edu
(937) 751-5799
6811 Oakland Rd
Loveland, OH 45140
Wilmington College

Audrey Wagstaff, Ph.D., MJE
audrey_wagstaff@wilmington.edu
(937) 481-2253
1870 Quaker Way
Pyle Box 1221
Wilmington, OH 45177
Wilmington College

Exposure to Women’s Sports: Changing Attitudes Toward Female Athletes

ABSTRACT
Many sports fans argue that women’s sports are boring compared to men’s sports. Simultaneously, women’s sports, compared to men’s sports, are rarely broadcasted in the media. Therefore, could the media be making sports fans believe that women’s sports are less desirable by giving them less coverage? Using the Agenda-Setting Theory, Framing Theory, and Mere Exposure Effect, an intervention was developed to promote women’s sports to sports fans. Half of the participants received watched highlight films of women’s sports each week for 4 weeks. Results indicate that the intervention decreased prejudice towards female athletes after 3 weeks but had no effect on interest towards women’s sports. Future studies should immerse participants into the live action of women’s sports rather than highlight footage.
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2018-05-25T14:36:14-05:00June 5th, 2018|Women and Sports|Comments Off on Exposure to Women’s Sports: Changing Attitudes Toward Female Athletes
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