ISSN: 1543-9518|Vol. 24

Performance Enhancement Drugs: Knowledge, Attitude, And Intended Behavior Among Community Coaches In Hong Kong

Submitted by: Lena Fung

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to elucidate the perceived knowledge, actual knowledge, attitude, and intended behavior of community coaches with respect to performance enhancement drugs (PED). The Theory of Planned Behavior was used as a guiding framework to structure the questionnaire used for data collection. Results of the analyses suggested that community coaches under-estimated their own knowledge about PED. Most respondents are supportive to the anti-doping movement in terms of both attitude and behavior intent. Results of the present study also partially agreed with the Theory of Planned Behavior, perceived knowledge, actual knowledge, and attitude towards PED were found to be significantly related to behavioral intent. Implications of the results were discussed.

Introduction

The Athlete should not be the only person to be blamed in case of a positive drug test. Numerous studies have pointed out that an athlete’s use of drugs in sport could be attributed to a complex interaction of personal and environmental factors (Nicholson and Agnew, 1989; Tricker, Cook, and McGuire, 1989). Possible contributing environmental factors include attitudes of peer group and parents, accessibility to drugs, and cultural norms and values (Polich, Ellichson, Reuter, and Kahan, 1984; Tricker and Connolly, 1997).

In the coaching literature, coaches are viewed as having a strong influence in regulating athletes’ behavior and attitude (Anshel, 1990; Orlick, 1990). For example, Dieffenbach, Gould, and Moffett (2002) suggested that coaches play crucial roles in influencing quality of coach-athlete relationship, developing achievement goals for the athletes, mentoring athletes’ development and indirectly model the positive skills and characteristics athletes need for success. Therefore, it is argued that coaches could be one of the more important agents in preventing drug use among athletes and should be included in any doping prevention campaigns (Dubin, 1990).

For coaches to function optimally as role models and in assisting young athletes to formulate correct attitudes against doping, they must also possess accurate knowledge and appropriate attitude on doping and drug use. Although coaches can gain information about drug use and drug abuse through various channels, seminars and information packages are the media more favored by Hong Kong community coaches. In Hong Kong, the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee, Hong Kong, China and the Hong Kong Coaching Committee are the major stakeholders to provide such information to community coaches. In order for these agencies to develop appropriately sequenced knowledge, some understanding of the current status of coaches’ knowledge and attitude on drug use and drug abuse is necessary. Therefore, one of the purposes of the present study was to assess the perceived knowledge, actual knowledge, attitude, subjective norms, and behavioral intent related to performance enhancement drug (PED) among Hong Kong community coaches.

In developing this study and in constructing the questionnaire for data collection, the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1988) was used as a guiding framework. According to this theory, a person’s behavior is mainly determined by his/her behavioral intent which, in turn, is influenced by attitude towards the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. As the theory has been successfully used to predict recreational drug use (McMillan and Conner 2003; Orbell, Blair, Sherlock, and Conner, 2001), intentions to use PEDs among collegiate athletes (Allemeier, 1996) and in adolescents (Lucidi, Grano, Leone, Lombardo, and Pesce, 2004), we were confident that it could provide a meaningful structure for the study.

Methods

Participants

A total of 114 community coaches attending a coach education class during the data collection period were invited to take part voluntarily in the study. The sample is comprised of 93 male and 21 female (Age: 29.3 ± 8.1; mean ± SD). Among the participants, 28% are university graduates, 11% were university students, the remaining 61% are secondary school graduates.

Instrument

The questionnaire used for data collection was developed by the authors from literature review and consultation with experts working in the area of doping and drug use. The questionnaire is comprised of 61 items. Apart from the demographic section, all other items were designed to elucidate perceived knowledge on PED, actual knowledge about PED, attitude, subjective norms, and behavior intent on drug use in sports. A combination of response types was employed, including likert-type scale and binominal scale. As the possible total scores from items related to perceived knowledge on PED and from items related to actual knowledge about PED differs, the raw score from each category was transformed to allow for parallel comparison. In transforming the scores, the maximum of 100 points was used as the reference.

Results

A summary of means and standard deviations of key constructs examined in this study is presented in Table 1. The score mean for perceived knowledge on PED was 23.7 whereas the score mean for actual knowledge on PED reached 66.1.

Scores on attitude, subjective norm, and intent behaviour were computed in a way that positive scores represent preferred attitude, norm and intentional behavior that support the anti-doping movement. Negative scores, on the other hands, represent the support of the use of doping to take advantage over other athletes. The scores in attitude, subjective norm, and behavioral intent are 1.21 ± 0.91, –0.16 ± 1.01, and 1.37 ± 1.4 respectively. Both attitude and behavioral intent of the Hong Kong community coaches are supportive of the anti-doping movement. However, the score on subjective norm was negative and this suggests that they perceive doping as a problem in the sporting community. Table 2, 3 and 4 show the response pattern of participants to questions on attitude, subjective norm, and behavioral intent, respectively.

In terms of attitude, majority of the respondents agreed (86.2% agreed or highly agreed) that doping is not only a problem in sport but also a social problem. Most respondents did not have strong feeling on whether sanction imposed on doping cases is stringent or not (57.9% have no comment on the issue). The majority disagreed (63.7% disagreed or highly disagreed) that athletes can use drugs to enhance performance if it does not hurt his/her health. Most respondents did not believe (70.1% respondents disagreed or highly disagreed) that refusal to take PEDs equals to refraining from being an elite athlete. Respondents are slightly biased to disagree (43.8% disagreed or highly disagreed and 35.1% had no comment) that scientific research should develop drugs that can pass tests of doping control.

Questions in elucidating subjective norm of the respondents found out that most respondent disagreed (47.4% disagreed or highly disagreed) that most achievement records in sport are related to doping. The majority respondents agreed (73.6% agreed or highly agreed) that doping is a serious problem in international sports. On the other hands, most respondents disagreed (51.8% disagreed or highly disagreed) that doping is a serious problem in Hong Kong sports.

The behaviour intent of the respondents is in general supportive to the anti-doping movement. Most respondents (65.8%) claimed that they would take positive actions against his/her friends or relatives who are on banned substance. The respondents slightly biased towards not working with medical team to produce high quality banned substance (44.3% disagreed or highly disagreed and 41.6 had no comment). The majority of the respondents (62.8%) claimed that they would not find ways to assist his/her friends or relatives to get hold of banned substance.

Table 5 shows the Pearson correlation coefficients among the key constructs of the study. Behavioral intent is significantly correlated to perceived knowledge (r = -.270, p = .004), actual knowledge (r = .304, p = .002), and attitude (r =.335, p = .000) but not to subjective norm (r = .065, p = .493).

Two other significant correlations were identified, namely the correlation between actual knowledge and perceived knowledge (r = -.263, p = .007), and between attitude and actual knowledge (r = .233, p = .018).

Discussion

According to the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1988), a person’s behavior is mainly determined by his/her behavioral intent which, in turn, is influenced by attitude towards the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Result of the present study finds partial agreement with the Theory, namely the level of intentions to perform a particular behaviour depends on the individual’s attitude on the behaviour. However, the relationship between subjective norm and behavioral intent was not significant in our study. One of the possible reasons for this discrepancy is that the participants are community coaches who may not perceive themselves as having any significant influence or involvement with the doping problem more commonly found in elite level athletes. The three items used to elucidate information on the subjective norms were biased towards drug use among elite level athletes. Therefore, even though the respondents might have agreed to the presence of doping problem at

the elite level, the items were not sufficiently sensitive to capture their opinions on drug use issues on their day-to-day settings. Further investigation on this issue with refined items would be needed.

The present study also aims at elucidating the Hong Kong community coaches’ current status of knowledge and attitude on PEDs. This group of coaches was found to be relatively supportive to the anti-doping movement according to their attitude (1.21 ± 0.91) and behaviour intent (1.37 ± 1.4) scores. A survey on Norwegian coaches found that coaches have strong and unequivocal attitudes against doping (Figved, 1992). Laure, Thouvenin, and Lecerf (2001) also found that 98.1% of the France coaches consider that they have a role to play to flight against doping. The present respondents’ actual knowledge on PEDs, reached the mean value of 66.1, was fair and yet had rooms for further improvement. This baseline measurement could also be used for monitoring the effectiveness of any intervention programs in the future.

It is interesting to notice that there is a huge discrepancy between the respondents’ perceived knowledge (mean = 23.7) and actual knowledge (mean = 66.1). Participants tend to under-estimate their knowledge in PED and doping control. This conclusion is further supported by the negative correlation between the perceived knowledge and actual knowledge (r = -.263, p = .007). The more knowledgeable they are, the greater their under-estimation. It is possible that the more they know about PED and the doping control system, the more they understand that the problem of drug in sport is more complicated than presented. This implies that any education program designed for the coaches on PEDs could be more effective if it is mandatory. As the individuals with the least knowledge is likely to perceived that they have enough knowledge about the issue.

It is also interesting to note that the low perceived knowledge on doping among coaches was also found in a survey on France coaches. 80.3% of the France coaches consider themselves badly trained in the prevention of doping (Laure, et al., 2001).

Unlike the Hong Kong community coaches, the Norwegian coaches believed that they are well informed about doping (Figved, 1992). This can be due to the fact that the education about PEDs for coaches was more structured and successful in Norway than that in Hong Kong. Furthermore, the difference on cultural background may have lead to the under-estimation of the Hong Kong coaches’ knowledge on PEDs as discussed in the previous paragraph.

Currently, seminars on PEDs are few and infrequent in Hong Kong. A systematic curriculum on doping is also lacking. According to Figved’s study (1992), most coaches believed that seminars, courses, and evening sessions were the best ways of changing attitudes and increasing knowledge. Given the important role of coaches in influencing the direction of fair play in sports and the findings from this study, we suggest the need to develop a systematic and spirally progressive education program on drug use and drug abuse. Furthermore, incentives such as certifications and fee waivers could be developed to encourage coaches to such courses so as to work towards knowledge and attitude development in the area of PED.

References

  1. Allemeier, M.F. (1996). CIAU athletes’ use and intentions to use performance enhancing drugs: a study utilizing the theory of planned behaviour. Thesis (M.A.) University of British Columbia, Eugene, Ore: Microform Publications Int’l Inst for Sport & Human Performance, University of Oregon.
  2. Anshel, M.H. (1990). Sport psychology: From theory to practice. Gorsuch Scarisbrisk: Scottsdale, AZ.
  3. Ajzen, I. & Fishbein, M. (1988). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behaviour. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
  4. Dieffenbach, K., Gould, D., & Moffett, A. (2002). The coach’s role in developing champions. International Journal of Volleyball Research, 5(1), 30-32.
  5. Dubin, C. (1990). Commission of inquiry into the use of drugs and banned practices intended to increase athletic performance. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Government Publishing Centre, 615.
  6. Figved, S.E. (1992). Drug education programs for coaches and leaders. Science Periodical on Research and Technology in Sport, 12(4), 5-9.
  7. Laure, P., Thouvenin, F., and Lecerf, T. (2001). Attitudes of coaches towards doping. J Sports Med Phy Fit, 41, 132-136.
  8. Lucidi, F., Grano, C., Leone, L., Lombardo, C., & Pesce, C. (2004). Determinants of the intention to use doping substances: An empirical contributions in a sample of Italian adolescents. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 35, 133-148.
  9. McMillan, B. & Conner, M. (2003). Applying an extended version of the theory of planned behavior to illicit drug use among students. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33, 1662-1683.
  10. Nicholson, N. & Agnew, M. (1989). Education strategies to reduce drug use in sport. Sports Coach, 13(1), 38-41.
  11. Orbell, S., Blair, C., Sherlock, K., & Conner, M. (2001). The theory of planned behavior and ecstasy use: Roles for habit and perceived control over taking versus obtaining substances. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31, 31-47.
  12. Orlick, T. (1990). In pursuit of excellence (2nd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
  13. Parish, C.A. (1973). An epidemiological survey of drug use among secondary school students in grades eight and eleven in eastern South Dakota. Doctoral dissertation, University of South Dakota.
  14. Polich, J.M., Ellichson, P.L., Reuter, P., & Kahan, J.P. (1984). Strategies for controlling adolescent drug use. The Rand Publication Series, Ca.
  15. Tricker, R. & Connolly, D. (1997). Drugs and the college athlete: An analysis of the attitudes of student athletes at risk. Journal on Drug Education, 26, 275-287.
  16. Tricker, R., Cook, D., & McGuire, R. (1989). Issues related to drug abuse in college athletics: Athletes at risk. Sport Psychologist, 2(1), 155-165.

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by the Faculty Research Grant of the Hong Kong Baptist University.

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

2015-03-27T13:13:57-05:00June 7th, 2006|Contemporary Sports Issues, Sports Coaching, Sports Exercise Science, Sports Management, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on Performance Enhancement Drugs: Knowledge, Attitude, And Intended Behavior Among Community Coaches In Hong Kong
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Preferred Player Characteristics and Skills of Division I Men’s Basketball Coaches

Submitted by: William F. Stier Jr. & Robert C. Schneider

Abstract

A national survey of selected men’s basketball coaches, at the NCAA Division I level, revealed how essential the respondents felt certain work ethic characteristics were for successful basketball players on their team. The respondents also revealed how important specific skills or talents were for the success of men’s NCAA men’s Division I basketball programs. The survey was completed by means of a 36-item Likert scale questionnaire. This investigation determined to what degree NCAA Division I coaches should seek specific work ethic characteristics and physical skills/talents in their players.

Introduction

College basketball coaches seek athletes with high caliber skills and specific basketball talent as well as a good overall work ethic. Although there is plenty of antidotal information regarding the type of desirable skills and talent desirable in the world of basketball, there has been very little definitive research done in terms of determining exactly what skills, talent and examples of work ethic are highly rated by coaches of men’s basketball at the NCAA Division I level of competition (Stier, 1997).

Successful and effective coaching is a highly complex and multi-dimensional enterprise (Jones, Housner, and Kornspan, 1997). It is very important, according to Owens & Stewart (2003) to be able to understand individual squad members’ physical, emotional, social and cognitive needs if the team is to be successful, that is, win. In a study by Forman (1995), it was determined that college basketball coaches need to make a commitment to each player’s growth and improvement in the sport if the team, as a collective unit, is to emerge victorious in actual competition,

In a study of elite athletes by Mallet & Hanrahan (2004), it was determined that players recognize the need to train hard to be winners. Training hard implies working diligently to improve both individual and team performance in order to produce meaningful results when it counts, in actual competition (Laios and Theodorakis, 2002). This emphasis on both individual and team (collective) training is reinforced by Bursari, (2000).

Elite athletes exhibit significant effort in games as well as in practice and this dedication extends to off-season work habits (Adams, 1996). The ability and willingness to work hard as well as to work harder are important examples of an athlete’s ability that can lead to success on the proverbial playing field, especially if the coach believes in the athlete and is successful in motivating the individual player to work harder (Jowett, 2003).

Literature presented by Stier (1998) included several major factors that distinguish consistent winning teams from teams that consistently lose: (a) better skilled athletes and (b) better conditioned athletes. The importance of adequate strength and conditioning was emphasized by Laios and Theodorakis (2002). Dirks (2000) studied control variables of team performance representing elements of the coach and players’ talent. And, in 1999, Pascarella et al. looked at the topic of physical energy that is required of athletes in actual competition.

Purpose of the Study

The purposes of this study were two-fold. The first purpose was to determine the essentiality of selected work ethic characteristics on behalf of athletes. And, the second was to determine the importance of specific skills or talents of athletes to the success of men’s NCAA men’s Division I basketball programs. In summary, this investigation sought to determine to what degree coaches should seek in their Division I men’s basketball players’ specific work ethic characteristics and physical skills/talents.

Methods

The Questionnaire

A survey instrument was developed from the existing current literature related to work ethic characteristics of players as well as specific athletic skills and talents that might have an effect on the success or failure of NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs. An extensive literature search found basketball related articles in which work ethic characteristics and various athletic skills and talent for athletes engaged in basketball were identified and which served as the foundation for the 36 items included on the Likert scale statements of the questionnaire.

Of the total of 36 Likert scale statements, 15 related to work ethic characteristics while 21 related to athletic skills and talents that might have an impact upon the success or failure of Division I men’s basketball programs. For work ethic characteristics, respondents were instructed to circle the number that corresponded with the degree of essentiality they believed most accurately depicted the impact that selected work ethic characteristics have upon the success [winning games] of their basketball programs and had the following categories of essentiality from which to choose: 5 – Very Essential, 4 – Essential, 3 – Neither Essential nor Unessential, 2 – Unessential, and 1 – Very Unessential. For the second category, specific athletic skills and talents, the coaches had the following Likert scale options which included the following choices of importance from which they were asked to circle the corresponding number: 1 – Very Important, 2 – Important, 3 – Neither Important nor Unimportant, 4 – Unimportant, and 5 – Very Unimportant.

To help address content validity a draft of the survey questionnaire was completed by five Division I head basketball coaches who were determined to be expert coaches for the purpose of gaining feedback regarding the instrument. In order to be deemed an expert coach, the coaches were required to have coached men’s basketball at the Division I level for at least 10 years and won at least 75% of their games during that time. After receiving the feedback from the expert coaches, appropriate suggestions and recommendations were incorporated into the final version of the survey instrument which was then utilized in this national study. The University’s Internal Review Board reviewed the final, revised version of the instrument and gave its approval.

The subjects for this national survey included all 315 men’s NCAA Division I head basketball coaches whose names and addresses were provided by the NCAA national headquarters. Of these, 118 completed and returned usable surveys generating a return rate of 37.5%.

Results

Work Ethic – Training

The category of work ethic contained two general categories, (a) training and (b) effort.

Of the eight characteristics related to training, six pertained directly to players’ training; two pertained to sacrifices made by athletes and the remaining two dealt directly with the athletes’ state of physical conditioning. Training hard was deemed to be the single most essential characteristic for winning, according to the respondents. In fact, 74.6% of the coaches indicated that training hard was very essential to winning while 25.4% classified it as essential.

Strength and conditioning was likewise thought to be very essential by a large percentage of coaches (72.9%), and deemed essential by 25.4%. Individual training was the only other work ethic characteristic thought to be very essential by more than half of the coaches (52.5%), while another sizeable group of coaches (44.1%) also classified this characteristic as essential. Table 1 shows all eight work ethic characteristics and how the respondents classified each in terms of how essential they are to winning basketball games at the Division I level.

Work Ethic – Effort

Of the seven characteristics identified in the survey as being related to effort, three dealt directly with effort, two addressed the conditioning efforts of players, while the remaining two involved how essential were the players’ work habits—in the eyes of the responding coaches. Individual player’s effort, in general, was consistently valued very highly by coaches with five of the seven categories deemed to be very essential by more than sixty percent (64.4%) of the respondents. Only two categories relating to effort were deemed to be very essential by less than half of the coaches, and both related to off-season activities. These were (a) player’s off-season conditioning efforts (45.8%) and (b) player’s off-season work habits. Table 2 illustrates how essential the coaches viewed these seven work ethic characteristics that related to effort.

Athletic Skills and Talents – Performance and Abilities

The section on athletic skills and talents contained two general categories, (a) performance/skills and (b) basketball talent. Of the eight performance skills identified in the investigation, two related directly with performance, two pertained directly to individual and team play while three dealt with abilities of players. The remaining skill is related to the physical energy that a player exudes. Only three performance skills were deemed to be very important by more than half of the coaches responding to the survey: (a) game performance (83.1%), (b) team oriented play (67.8%), and (c) physical energy (66.1%). Table 3 illustrates how the respondents rated each of the eight performance/abilities in terms of their importance or unimportance to winning Division I basketball games.

Athletic Skills and Talents – Basketball Talent

Of the 21 basketball talent categories that the coaches rated in terms of importance, 7 items related to physical talent while the remaining 14 focused on specific basketball skills. Defense, with 57.6% of the coaches, and passing, with 55.5%, were the only talent items that more than half of the respondents rated as very important. Two other talent categories are worth noting in that both (a) overall fundamental base and (b) rebounding were the only two talent categories that all the respondents classified as very important or important. Table 4 shows how the coaches classified all of the categories of basketball talent relative to their importance of unimportance in terms of their impact upon winning.

Conclusions

This national investigation sheds light on how Division I basketball coaches view the essentiality of specific work ethic characteristics and the importance these coaches place on specific skills or talents identified as having impact upon winning in competition. The results have implications for coaches in respect to what qualities, characteristics, skills and talents to look for in terms of potential recruits as well as current team members.

References

  1. Adams, M.J. (1996). The perception of high school players and coaches in regard to individual and team efficacy in basketball. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
  2. Bursari, J.O. (2000). Revisiting analogy as an educational tool – PBL and the game of basketball. Medical Education, 34, 1029-1031.
  3. Dirks, K.T. (2000). Trust in leadership and team performance: evidence from NCAA Basketball. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 1004-1012.
  4. Forman, B. (1995). Factors of hiring head coaches in collegiate athletics. Unpublished master’s thesis, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.
  5. Jones, D.F., Hosnder, L.D., & Kornspan, A.S. Interactive decision making and behavior of experienced and inexperienced basketball coaches during practice. Journal of
  6. Teaching in Physical Education, 16, 454-468.
  7. Jowett, S. (2003). When the “honeymoon” is over: a case study of a coach-athlete dyad in
  8. crisis. The Sport Psychologist, 17, 444-460.
  9. Laios, A., & Theodorakis, N. (2002). The pre-season training of professional basketball teams in Greece. International Sports Journal, 6(1), 146-152.
  10. Mallet, C.J., & Hanrahan, S.J. (2004). Elite athletes: why does the ‘fire’ burn so brightly?
  11. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 5, 183-200.
  12. Owens, L. & Stewart, C. (2003). Understanding athletes’ learning styles. International Society of Biomechancis in Sport, Coach Information Service, http://www.education.ed.ac.uk/cis/index.html.
  13. Pascarella, E.T., Truckenmiller, R., Nora A., Terenzini, P.T., Edision, M., & Hagedorn, L.C. (1999). Cognitive impacts of intercollegiate athletic participation. The Journal of Higher Education, 70, 1-26.
  14. Stier, W. F., Jr. (1997). Coaching modern basketball — Hints, strategies and tactics. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
  15. Stier, W. F., Jr. (1998). Coaching concepts and strategies (2nd ed.). Boston: American Press.
Table One
Table TwoTable ThreeTable Four

2015-03-27T11:46:35-05:00June 1st, 2006|Contemporary Sports Issues, Sports Coaching, Sports Exercise Science, Sports Management, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on Preferred Player Characteristics and Skills of Division I Men’s Basketball Coaches
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War, Warrior Heroes and the Advent of Transactional Leadership in Sports Antiquity

Submitted by: Jason D. Carthen

Abstract

This paper explores the advent of a transactional leadership
paradigm in sports antiquity. Specifically, an athlete’s reaction
to means and types of intrinsic/extrinsic motivation is explored via relevant
leadership praxis. Resultant achievements on the athletic field of play
(stadion) are examined via review of an athlete’s reaction to: (a)
external influence, (b) preparation, (c) training, (d) coaching, and (e)
an established path to victory/defeat. The reactions are explored via
the dimensions of a contingent reward structure and the implications for
its adoption in order to succeed and become victorious at ancient Olympia.
The paper concludes with a summary discussion of the proffered transactional
paradigm existent in sport, and an athlete’s adherence to or subsequent
rejection of said paradigm to mediate his/her success.

Introduction

With some of the earliest accounts of sport beginning in
the fourth century; the history of sport has it’s underpinnings
in antiquity (Sansone, 1988; Valavanis, 2004; Woff, 1999). This paper
suggests a typology of “transactional leadership” as a forerunner
to the seminal theory offered later by James MacGregor Burns (Bass, 1985;
Burns, 1978). Utilizing ancient sources, this inquiry begins with the
exploration of contingent reward structure, active management by exception,
and a passive management by exception paradigm (Bass, 1985; Yukl, 2002).
In accordance with the constructs mentioned above, the advent of transactional
leadership begins via the emergence of professionalism in ancient sport
and a subsequent decline of competition simply for its benefit (Rigauer,
1981).

Summary lessons gleaned from this inquiry suggest: (a) An
athlete’s level of cognitive schema with regard to leader behavior
serves as a predictor of an athlete’s successful performance, (b)
an athlete’s successful performance is moderated by acceptance or
rejection of a transactional leadership paradigm, and (c) a certain modicum
of agreeableness must be present in order to thrive in sports specific
transactional relationships (Raglin, 2001). While this paper is conceptual
in nature; the study of transactional leadership upon athletes suggests
opportunities for future research.

Transactional Leadership

Burn’s (1978) seminal work served to promulgate two
types of leadership orientation theories, transformational and transactional
leadership. Transformational leadership is predicated on the leader’s
ability, “…to move those influenced to transcend their own
self-interests for the good of the group, organization, or country”
(Bass, 1985, p. 15). Complimentary to transformational leadership is the
theory of transactional leadership, which identifies the leader as the
catalyst for expectations, goals, and provision of recognition and rewards
when a task is completed (Bass, 1985). Transactional leadership serves
as the pathway to “contingent reinforcement”. Whereby, the
leader and follower agree on the necessary path to achieve the reward
or avert punishment (Bass, 1985; Bass & Avolio, 1994; Burns, 1978).
As a caveat, reinforcement usually portends a follower’s compliance;
however, a follower will not always act in their own best interests. For
example, in sport; transactional leadership offers a cognitive framework
which helps to explain an athlete’s willingness to subject their
body to serious injury and possibly death. Furthermore, athletes appear
to be able to call forth a level of conation that allows them to compete
even in pain. Otto Graham of the Cleveland Browns football team serves
as an example. “Hobbled by a cracked rib, he came off the bench
at his coach’s request and ran and passed his lethargic team to
victory” (Natali, 2001, p. 22). Obviously, a heightened level of
commitment to achieve the reward is paramount to an athlete’s success.

Passive management by exception

Passive management by exception suggests a hands-off leadership
approach until a subordinate or follower elicits a need for an intervention.
However, this management style creates only an opportunity for negative
feedback. Hall of fame coach Paul Brown frequently engaged in passive
management by exception. “…after an interception thrown by one
of his quarterbacks, Coach Brown walked up to him and whispered in his
ear “You’ll never, never, ever get a chance to throw that pass again”
(Bell, 1991, p. 91). This example illustrates the transactional agreement
which existed between Coach Brown (leader) and his players (followers),
whereby the followers received a reward based upon their performance or
alternatively they received a swift corrective action (The player mentioned
was traded the next day) based on their inability to perform.

Active management by exception

A leader’s willingness to intervene only when something
goes wrong is a shared construct in both active management by exception
and passive management by exception. However, the theory of “active
management by exception” did not appear until five years after Bass’s
1985 higher order construct of transformational leadership (Bass &
Avolio, 1990). In active management by exception there is a divergence
with regard to rule enforcement after a mistake is encountered. For example,
if an active plan of correction is in place prior to a mistake then the
infraction may be viewed differently by the leader. The final component
of leadership associated with transactional leadership is “Laissez-faire
Leadership” (Yukl, 2002, p. 254). This latent stage of the theory
suggests levels of passivity in the leader’s approach that are both
ineffective and border on indifference toward the follower.

Path goal theory

The effectiveness of contingent reward is predicated on
a follower’s anticipated value of the perceived reward. For this
reason, “path-goal theory” is appropriate when offering a
salient methodology associated with contingent reward (Bass, 1985; House,
1971). House (1971) intimates that path-goal theory is comprised of, “…increasing
personal payoffs to subordinates for work-goal attainment, and making
the path to these pay-offs easier to travel by clarifying it, reducing
roadblocks and pitfalls, and increasing the opportunities for personal
satisfaction en route” (p. 324). Furthermore, as the path to goal
attainment by the follower is illuminated and made accessible by the leader,
the opportunities for personal satisfaction are more accessible to the
follower (Bass, 1985).
A key determinate in the path-goal theory of motivation is related to
the leader’s ability to intervene in the sequences of goal clarity,
and guidance. “…the leader creates a supportive environment of
logical support, warmth, friendliness, and helpfulness by doing such things
as being friendly and approachable and looking out for the welfare of
the group” (House, 1971, p. 321). In summary; path-goal theory helps
to explain how contingent reward works and establishes the next section
of inquiry.

Sport in Antiquity

The Isthmian games were recognized as one of the four Pan-Hellenic
(all Greek) festivals, second in importance only to the Olympic Games
which were inaugurated in 776 B.C. In contrast to the Olympic Games which
honored Zeus as the patron deity, the Isthmian games were instituted to
honor Poseidon in 580 B.C. (Steven G. Miller, 2004; Palaeologos, 1964).
Isthmia holds special significance due to its bi-annual competition and
its importance as a trade port situated directly on the eastern side of
the Peloponnesus. The sanctuary of Poseidon where the games took place
was situated on one of the most important crossroads of ancient Greece,
the Isthmos (Golden, 1998). It’s significance is related to the
brevity between festivals and the inclusion of events such as the pentathlon,
chariot races, and horseracing (Broneer, 1999). Midway through the second
century B.C., the Isthmian Games came under the control of Corinth due
to maritime trade benefits and overseas colonization. Corinth subsequently
became renowned throughout the world for its ability to offer trade and
ease of passage (Woff, 1999). However, this renowned status would lead
to Corinth’s destruction by the Romans in 146 B.C., due to jealousy
and a need for subjugation (Grant, 2005). It was not until 44 B.C. by
the proclamation of Julius Caesar that Corinth was able to host the games
once again (Kyle, 2004). Despite the turmoil and implications of war,
the Games continued to evolve with Isthmia crafting the first “hysplex”
(starting gate) and embracing sports as a paradigm commensurate with culture
(Swaddling, 1980).

Sadly, participation in the games merely for enjoyment quickly
became a relic with the advent of professionalism in sport and society.
“The winner of the boys stadion race at the Panathenaea at Athens
received fifty amphoras of olive oil worth the equivalent of $45,000 US
dollars today” (Golden, 1998, p. 142) . Furthermore, the athlete
that did not win in the games was subject to abject disgrace and possible
retribution by their coach and judges. “You who have worked hard
enough to qualify for Olympia, ridding from your lives whatever is idle
and cowardly-proceed. Those who have not trained themselves to this level-let
them wander where they please” (Spivey, 2004, p. 78). Perhaps the
most glaring evidence for the untenable pressure to receive the “contingent
reward” is found in Perrottet’s (2004) account of an athlete
at the games:

Arrhichion: in the final of 564 B.C., was caught in a
lethal ladder hold and was expiring from asphyxiation. Inspired by a
shout from his coach, Arrhichion managed to roll over and give his opponent’s
foot a savage twist. The opponent raised the finger of surrender just
as Arrhichion died (p. 172).

In the next section; the evolution of sport reveals the
coming foundation of transactional leadership and the resultant far reaching
implications for sport in modernity.

Sport and society

Why then is the evolution of sport via a transactional paradigm
important to society? Sport has the ability to transcend all social and
cultural constraints (Yurdadon, 2005). Furthermore, the structure, forms
of behavior and interaction found in sport settings are similar to those
found in other societal settings. In other words, sport is a microcosm
of society (Frey & Eitzen, 1991; Golden, 1998). However, in day-to-day
societal functioning it does not simply end there; there are eternal constructs
that imply a preferred path or a direct relationship between the very
nature of sport and biblical instructions for humanity (Connor, 2002).
For example, the apostle Paul alludes to this very premise as he exhorts
the Corinthians with the following timeless metaphor “Do you not
know that in a race all the runners run but only one gets the prize? Run
in such a way as to get the prize” 1 Cortihians 9:24 (NIV). Indeed,
sport as a product of social reality is capable of communicating at a
level which cannot be ignored.

Emerging from this social reality is the positive concept
of “arête” which denotes (a) skill, (b) prowess, (c)
pride, and (d) excellence (Miller, 2004b). The term does not merely convey
lofty adjectives, instead it reveals a level of influence that permeates
the very existence of sport and society (Golden, 1998). Furthermore, this
level of influence is revealed in the co-existence of sport and culture
in antiquity. “…education in antiquity was set in the gymnasium,
[where] the Akademy [sic] of Plato was first and foremost a place of exercise
for the body” (Miller, 2004a, p xi). The confluence of athletics
with education reveals the interwoven concept of sport and society, whereby
the two can no longer be mutually exclusive.

In direct contrast to the example “arête”
mentioned above, the evolution of negative influences in sport and society
provides the basis for an athlete’s willingness to ascribe to a
level risk taking that is both dangerous and suggestive of cognitive dissonance.
“Those athletes who chose death over defeat were always highly revered”
(Miller, 2004a, p. 29). The preceding example served to portend the gradual
loss of athletic innocence that would herald the adoption of succeed at
all costs mentality still present today.

Bill Romanowski typifies the very nature and resolve of
an athlete from antiquity and their willingness to attain the “contingent
reward” at all costs. “Despite the effects of my first NFL
concussion, I never before experienced an injury that would remove me
from a game. Each play meant so much to me that to miss even one was like
a death sentence” (Romanowski & Schefter, 2005, p. 59). Romanowski’s
account is not too different from my own personal schema during my tenure
in the NFL. As an athlete you want to achieve the desired goals as set
forth by your coach, and quite possibly you are willing to do anything
to achieve the desired result. For example, during a conversation with
Coach Bill Parcells his assertion that “Carthen, unless you get
out there and hit somebody your going to get sent home” (B. Parcells,
personal communication, April 1994) elicited such a need to disprove his
statement that I was willing to do anything for the contingent reward,
i.e., viciously hit someone. While it may not constitute definitive research;
my NFL playing experience provides anecdotal evidence that affirms the
presence of a transactional paradigm in sport.

Continuing with the discussion of influence; the ability
of an individual to influence another individual or a group’s behavior
at any given time, suggests far reaching implications for that individual’s
locus of control (Stuntz & Weiss, 2003; Yukl, 2002). For example,
in antiquity the level of influence that a “Hellanodikai”
(coach) was able to wield provided the extrinsic motivation, leadership,
and influence necessary for an athlete’s achievement of targeted
goals. During the Olympic festival “…they could impose fines or
order whippings, and all of their decisions were final; only an appeal
to the Olympic council could overturn them, a move no athlete would take
lightly” (Perrottet, 2004b, p. 42). I posit that Bass and Avolio’s
(1994) definition of “transactional operators” appropriately
provides a lucid definition of the Hellanodikai in antiquity and some
professional coaches in modernity. “Transactional operators exist
for their own personal agenda without concern for the welfare of the others.
He or she enters into an agreement to satisfy their own personal…initiatives
and goals” (p.13). Indeed, the concept of transactional operators
in antiquity is not that far removed from some coaches in modernity.

Mental Health and Sport Performance

The premise that an athlete’s mental health dictates
their performance is not a new concept. Furthermore, the subject continues
to receive extensive inquiry (Chelladurai & Riemer, 1997; Kenow &
Williams, 1999; Raglin, 2001). In sports antiquity; an athlete’s
success was predicated on several factors, including size, preparation,
coaching, and sheer will. However, their level of self-efficacy served
as the catalyst for burgeoning victory. “Olympic champion Melancomas
of Caria …was able to keep his guard up for two days at a time, forcing
his opponents to give up from exhaustion” (Perrottet, 2004, p. 168).
While the level of self-efficacy demonstrated by Melancomas is indicative
of the value placed on contingent reward, caution is needed to stave off
a level of cognitive dissonance. For example, in order to retain electrolytes
and hormones in his system; Bill Romanowski’s contemplation of ingesting
his own urine in order to achieve the reward necessary would be unacceptable
to many elite athletes (Romanowski & Schefter, 2005). Indeed, achieving
the contingent reward both in antiquity and modernity is worthy of contemplating
the risk vs. the reward.

Discussion and Conclusion

This paper set forth the existence of a transactional paradigm
in sports antiquity. At the macro level; this paper served to polarize
the interwoven aspects of ancient sport and transactional leadership (Burns,
1978). At the micro-level; this inquiry revealed that a follower’s
adherence or rejection of contingent reinforcement serves as a road map
to follower motivation and goal attainment (Bass, 1985). Furthermore,
lessons gleaned from the research suggest sport and society are inextricably
linked, with far reaching implications for what is social reality and
what are actual playing field developments. While parallels between organizations
and the work like behavior of top-level athletic teams exist, there will
remain fertile ground for opportunities to study the complexities of effective
leadership (Frey & Eitzen, 1991; Rigauer, 1981).

 

References

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York: Free Press.

Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1990). Developing Transformational
Leadership: 1992 and Beyond. Journal of European Industrial Training,
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Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving Organizational Effectiveness
through Transformational Leadership. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

Bell, T. (1991, August 19). Brown Stresses Need for Change. Chicago Sun
Times, p. 91.

Broneer, O. (1999). The Isthmian Games. Paper presented at the International
Olympic Academy, UK.

Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row.

Chelladurai, P., & Riemer, H. A. (1997). A Classification of Facets
of Athlete Satisfaction. Journal of Sport Management, 11, 133-159.

Connor, S. (2002). A Sporting Guide to Eternity. Geanies House, Fearn,
Great Britain: Christian focus Publications.

Frey, J. H., & Eitzen, S. D. (1991). Sport and Society. Annual Review
of Sociology, 17, 503-522.

Golden, M. (1998). Sport and Society in Ancient Greece. New York: Cambridge
University Press.

Grant, R. G. (2005). Battle: A Visual Journey through 5,000 Years of
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Kenow, L., & Williams, J. M. (1999). Coach-Athlete Compatibility
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Kyle, D. G. (2004). Winning at Olympia. Archaeology(April Issue).

Miller, S. G. (2004a). Ancient Greek Athletics. New Haven Connecticut:
Yale University Press.

Miller, S. G. (2004b). Arete: Greek Sports from Ancient Sources (3rd
ed.). Los Angeles, California: University of California Press.

Natali, A. (2001). Brown’s Town. Wilmington, Ohio: Orange Frazer Press.

Palaeologos, C. (1964). The Ancient Olympics. Paper presented at the
Proceedings of the International Olympic Academy, University of Leeds.

Perrottet, T. (2004). The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient
Games. New York: Random House.

Raglin, J. S. (2001). Psychological Factors in Sport Performance. Sports
Medicine, 31(12), 875-890.

Rigauer, B. (1981). Sport and Work: European Perspectives (A. Guttmann,
Trans.). New York: Columbia University Press.

Romanowski, B., & Schefter, A. (2005). Romo: My Life on the Edge:
Living Dreams and Slaying Dragons. New York, New York: Haper Collins.

Sansone, D. (1988). Greek Athletics and the Genesis of Sport. Los Angeles,
California: University of California Press.

Spivey, N. (2004). The Ancient Olympics: A History. New York: Oxford
University Press.

Stuntz, C. P., & Weiss, M. R. (2003). Influence of Social Goal Orientations
and Peers on Unsportsmanlike Play. Research Quarterly for Exercise and
Sport, 74(4), 421.

Swaddling, J. (1980). The Ancient Olympic Games. Austin,Texas: University
of Texas Press.

Valavanis, P. (2004). Games and Sanctuaries in Ancient Greece: Olympia,
Delphi, Isthmia, Nemea, Athens. Los Angeles: Getty Publications.

Woff, R. (1999). The Ancient Greek Olympics. New York: Oxford University
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2015-03-27T11:34:48-05:00March 5th, 2006|Sports Coaching, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on War, Warrior Heroes and the Advent of Transactional Leadership in Sports Antiquity
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An Exploration of State and Trait Anger, Anger Expression and Perfectionism in Collegiate Springboard Divers

Submitted by: Jacob Sinclair, Daniel R. Czech, A. Barry Joyner & Barry A. Munkasy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the
dimensions of perfectionism and various aspects of anger, such as state,
trait, and the expression of anger, for collegiate springboard divers.
The role of gender was also investigated. Forty women and 19 men were
administered the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2; Spielberger,
1999) and the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (F-MPS; Frost,
Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990). Data analysis showed no significant
differences between genders for any scales or subscales of anger or perfectionism.
State anger and its subscales were not significantly correlated with any
subscales of perfectionism. Anger expression scales were not found to
be significantly correlated with the subscales of perfectionism. Only
trait anger, and the subscale trait anger/ angry reaction, were found
to have significant relationships with the concern over mistakes dimension
of perfectionism. The perfectionism personal standards subscale was also
correlated with trait anger/ angry reaction.

Introduction

Many athletes strive to reach the highest levels of competition possible.
Competitors dream of the perfect game, performance, or skill execution
required of sport. Much time is invested into practice, conditioning,
and competition to provide athletes the best opportunity for a quality
experience. With such emphasis placed on attaining so difficult a goal,
resulting failures are to some extent inevitable. Individuals who exhibit
qualities characteristic of the construct “perfectionism”
may be significantly affected by these failures. How people experience
and react to failure is directly associated with the level and type of
perfectionism possessed. Those who demonstrate more adaptive perfectionistic
reactions to failures are more likely to express positive, or success
oriented, thoughts about sport. Those whose reactions align with maladaptive
perfectionism likely will exhibit negative, or failure oriented, behaviors
following failure in sport (Frost & Henderson, 1991; Hamachek, 1978).

The most common components present in the various definitions of perfectionism
are the engagement of actions and behaviors that lead to the setting of
exceptionally high standards for the purpose of being the best in a chosen
endeavor. These actions are often accompanied by highly self-critical
evaluations by the perfectionist (Burns, 1980; Frost, Marten, Lahart,
& Rosenblate, 1990; Hill, Zrull, & Turlington, 1997; Lombardi,
Florentino, & Lombardi, 1998).

Hamachek (1978) has characterized perfectionism as either normal (adaptive)
or neurotic (maladaptive). According to him, adaptive perfectionists are
those who set extremely high personal standards, are highly motivated
to do their best on every task attempted, experience pleasure while working
hard, and are able to recognize weaknesses which enable the individuals
to perceive themselves as successful, even when those high standards are
not met. In contrast, maladaptive perfectionists are characterized as
those who set unrealistic and inflexible goals, are driven by an intense
fear of failure, are extremely self-critical, and are unable to experience
satisfaction from accomplishments.

To measure perfectionism, a number of scales have been constructed (Anshel
& Eom, 2002; Burns, 1980; Garner, Olmstead, & Polivy, 1983; Randolph
& Dykman, 1998), two of which have been used the most consistently:
The Hewitt and Flett Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (HF-MPS; Hewitt
& Flett, 1991) and the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale
(F-MPS; Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990). The HF-MPS measures
three dimensions of perfectionism: Self-oriented perfectionism, other-oriented
perfectionism, and socially prescribed perfectionism. The F-MPS examines
an overall perfectionism score, and six independent dimensions of perfectionism:
Concern over mistakes, personal standards, doubts about actions, parental
expectations, parental criticism, and organization.

Perfectionists, maladaptive and adaptive, require that certain standards
for themselves, others, and situations be met. When results are not perceived
to be adequate by the perfectionist, an emotional response may be elicited.
One such emotion is anger (Saboonchi & Lundh, 2003). Anger can be
described as a state emotion, or as a trait personality characteristic.
Spielberger, Jacobs, Russell, and Crane (1983) have conceptualized state
anger as the experience of negative feelings similar to being annoyed
or irritated, or to a greater extent, filled with rage. During this experience,
the autonomic nervous system can become aroused to different degrees depending
on the situation. Spielberger et al. describe trait anger as how frequently
state anger is experienced.

An exploration of perfectionism and anger by Hewitt and Flett (1991)
was one of the first to examine how these constructs may be related. Using
data from 91 university students, the study concluded that self-oriented
and socially prescribed perfectionism were correlated with anger, with
socially prescribed perfectionism being more strongly related. These results
were inconsistent with Saboonchi and Lundh (2003) who found that in a
randomly selected sample of adult men and women with a mean age of 37
years, self-oriented perfectionism had a weak correlation with anger,
but other-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism had no significant
relationship. This study concluded that anger in perfectionists was manifested
more so because of high goals not being achieved, than by any perception
regarding treatment by others. The age difference in the samples may have
confounded these results, as evidenced by another study (Hewitt et al.,
2002) using children which resulted in dissimilar conclusions. Unlike
earlier research, this study found no correlation between self-oriented
perfectionism and anger, but did indicate a relationship between socially
prescribed perfectionism and aspects of anger. This type of perfectionism
was shown to be positively correlated with outward expressions of anger
and negatively correlated with actions indicative of anger suppression.
This lack of a relationship between self-oriented perfectionism and anger
may be explained by children not holding themselves as accountable for
their actions as an adult might, and instead, lashing out at others who
are perceived to be placing unfair perfectionistic demands upon them.

The results of these studies, albeit somewhat inconclusive, do provide
evidence that socially prescribed perfectionism may have a slightly stronger
relationship with anger than with other dimensions of perfectionism. This
interesting association has seemingly been unexplored within the realm
of sport, despite consistent findings of perfectionism in athletes (Owens
& Slade, 1987) and an association between poor performances precluded
by high goal setting and anger (Fazackerley, Lane, & Mahoney, 2004).

Recently researchers began to examine perfectionism, anger, and sport
collectively. Valance and Dunn (2002a), using their newly developed sport-specific
version of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Frost, Marten,
Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990), found that with adolescent ice hockey
players, trait anger was highly correlated with the subscales concern
over mistakes and perceived coach pressure. Perceived coach pressure,
a subscale of the sport oriented version of the F-MPS, is similar to the
parental expectations subscale of the F-MPS. The results of this study
demonstrated a significant relationship between maladaptive perfectionism
and trait anger. A follow up study examining state anger and perfectionism
implemented a situation criticality variable. Youth ice hockey players
were measured for perfectionism and state anger in two scenarios which
had different degrees of criticality to the outcome of the competition.
The results indicated that maladaptive perfectionists had higher state
anger and experienced greater levels of anger following mistakes than
adaptive perfectionists during competition, particularly during a critical
time period. The study also concluded that situation criticality, or the
extent to which a situation within a competition is perceived as critical
to the outcome, was positively correlated with emotional responses during
competition (Vallance & Dunn, 2002b).

An aesthetic sport such as springboard diving has innate characteristics
that focus on attaining perfectly executed performances. As a subjectively
scored athletic event, there is a set “perfect” score, for
which divers aim. It is plausible to believe that this standard may draw
competitors in this sport towards perfectionistic thoughts and behaviors,
which in turn may lead to situations conducive to experiencing greater
levels of anger and anger expression. If an athlete who experiences anger
consistently while engaged in sport can become more aware of how that
anger may be stemming from maladaptive perfectionism, a greater understanding
regarding the ensuing dysfunctional beliefs and actions may be attained.
This may lead to a greater control over anger, more appropriate expressions
of anger, and potentially, performances that are less affected by experiences
of anger.

Statement of Purpose

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between
the concern over mistakes and personal standards dimensions of perfectionism
with the various scales and subscales of anger, as measured by the State-Trait
Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2; Spielberger, 1999). Secondary purposes
were to: a) examine how the parental criticism and parental expectations
subscales of perfectionism relate to state anger, trait anger, and anger
expression, and b) to explore how gender relates to the perfectionism-anger
relationships.

Methodology

Participants

Fifty-nine springboard divers, 19 men and 40 women, from varsity collegiate
teams throughout the United States participated in this study. The divers’
ages ranged from 18-26 years, had competed the previous two years, and
had a minimum of two years competitive experience. Competitive experience
was operationally defined as a minimum of six United States Diving sanctioned
meets or six NCAA Collegiate meets per year.

Instrumentations

The Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Frost, Marten, Lahart,
& Rosenblate, 1990) was used to assess the dimensions of perfectionism.
This scale consists of 35 items that use a five-point Likert scale ranging
from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree). The scale measures overall
perfectionism and six independent dimensions of perfectionism. The subscales
are concern over mistakes (CM), personal standards (PS), parental expectations
(PE), parental criticism (PC), doubts about actions (DA), and organization
(ORG). The CM subscale measures the extent to which an individual reacts
negatively to one’s own mistakes. PS measures the extent to which
a person sets high standards. The PE subscales indicates the strength
of an individual’s perceptions regarding his or her parents’
setting of high standards for the individual. PC is a measure of how a
person perceives criticism from his or her parents regarding their performances.
The subscales DA and ORG measure how satisfied or dissatisfied an individual
is with a performance or project, and how important order and neatness
is to an individual, respectively. For greater interpretation of the scores,
a directional scale was added by the primary investigator of this study.
This seven-point Likert scale measures how an individual feels perfectionism
affects his or her performance. Overall internal reliability for F-MPS
has been reported at .90 (Parker & Adkins, 1995) and has been concurrently
validated by Frost et al. with the HF-MPS (Hewitt & Flett, 1991) and
the Burns Perfectionism Scale (Burns, 1980). Frost et al. also demonstrated
a Cronbach’s alpha of .91 for this scale.

The State Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (Spielberger, 1999) was
used to measure trait anger, state anger, and anger expression. The STAXI-2
is a 57-item scale which uses four-point Likert scales. The first part
of the STAXI-2 is the state anger (SANG) scale. It consists of fifteen
items measuring how intensely an individual experiences anger during either
the testing period, or a time or situation specified by the test administrator.
For this study, the individuals were directed to indicate how he or she
generally feels during a competition or practice. The Likert scale for
the state anger scale ranges from 1 (Not at all) to 4 (Very much so).
The state anger scale consists of three subscales: state anger / feeling
angry (SANGF), state anger / feel like expressing anger verbally (SANGV),
and state anger / feel like expressing anger physically (SANGP). The second
part of the STAXI-2 is the trait anger (TANG) scale. This scale consists
of ten items measuring an individual’s proneness to experience angry
feelings. The Likert scale for this measure ranges from 1 (Almost never)
to 4 (Almost always). Two subscales are used to comprise the TANG scale:
Trait anger / angry temperament (TANGT) and trait anger / angry reaction
(TANGR). The final part of this inventory measures the ways in which an
individual expresses and controls anger. These scales consist of 32 items
using the same Likert scale as the TANG scale. The following scales make
up this final part of the STAXI-2: The anger expression-out (AX-O) scale,
the anger expression-in (AX-I) scale, the anger control-out (AC-O) scale,
the anger control-in (AC-I) scale, and the anger expression index (AX).
Like the F-MPS, and additional seven-point Likert directional scale was
added to measure how an individual feels anger positively or negatively
affects performance. The three primary components of the STAXI-2 have
been concurrently validated by Spielberger with various subscales of the
Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (Buss & Durkee, 1957), Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory (Hathaway & McKinley, 1967), Spielberger’s
(1979) State-Trait Personality Inventory (as cited in Spielberger, 1999)
and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975).

Procedures

A packet containing a cover letter, the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism
Scale, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2, informed consent
forms, directions for the administration of the surveys, and a self-addressed
stamped envelope, was sent to university teams. The letter included a
rationale for the study and the possible benefits to springboard diving,
in addition to information on the length of time necessary to complete
the scales. A requested return date was also noted in the cover letter.
The informed consent form addressed issues regarding an assurance of confidentiality
and anonymity. The information in the packet was to be read by those administering
the scales.

The diving programs were contacted by either phone or email prior to
receiving the surveys. The scales were administered primarily in the practice
facilities for each team. Data were also collected at a diving competition
from those individuals who met the prerequisites. In this case, the packets
were distributed at a pre-competition meeting and were to be returned
as soon as possible. Most were returned by mail several weeks later.

A reminder email was sent two weeks prior to the return date. Packets
were mailed a second time to those programs who had requested an additional
packet. Collection ceased soon after the deadline had passed.

Results

Multiple Pearson’s Correlation analyses were conducted to examine
the relationships between: a) the F-MPS subscales CM and PS with all scales
and subscales of the STAXI-2, and b) the F-MPS subscales PE, PE, DA, and
ORG with the STAXI-2 scales SANG, TANG, and the AX Index. Because there
were 35 correlations examined and 10 independent t-tests analyzed, the
alpha level was adjusted to p < .01.

The subscale CM resulted in two significant correlations. TANG showed
a weak, positive relationship (r = .374, r2 = .140, p < .01), while
TANGR (r = .490, r2 = .240, p < .01) demonstrated a moderate, positive
relationship. No other scales or subscales of the STAXI-2 were found to
be significantly correlated with CM, and only one other scale approached
significance; AX-I (r = .310, r2 = .096, p = .019). Results for all correlations
for CM are shown in Tables 1, 2, and 3.

For the F-MPS subscale PS and the STAXI-2 scales and subscales, only
one significant correlation surfaced. TANGR was found to have a weak,
positive relationship with PS (r = .408, r2 = .166, p < .01). Two other
STAXI-2 scales approached significance: TANG (r = .307, r2 = .094, p =
.019) and AC-I (r = .310, r2 = .096, p = .018). The correlations for PS
are shown in Tables 1, 2, and 3.

For all other correlations examined, only one was found to be significant
at the alpha level of p < .01. PE was found to have a weak, positive
relationship with TANG (r = .397, r2 = .158, p < .01) as shown in Table
4.

To examine the differences between genders for the F-MPS subscales CM,
PS, PE and PC, four two-tailed independent t-tests were utilized. These
independent t-tests, along with all others used in this study, had an
alpha level adjusted to p < .01. Results show no significant differences
between men and women for the above constructs. See Table 5.

Three one-tailed independent t-tests revealed no significant differences
between genders on SANG, AX-I, and AX-O. See Table 6.

For the STAXI-2 scale TANG, a two-tailed independent t-test again resulted
in no significant differences between genders. See Table 7.

The directional scales added to the F-MPS and the STAXI-2 surveys also
resulted in no significant differences between genders. See Table 8.

To examine the differences between the correlations specified in the
hypotheses, a Fisher’s zr transformation was utilized. However,
only a single transformation contained at least one significant correlation,
thus essentially nullifying any significant results for all others, of
which there were none. The one Fisher’s zr transformation that did
contain a significant relationship, CM and PS for TANG, also resulted
in a non-significant difference between correlations.

Discussion

The data analysis on the relationship between the perfectionism subscales
and SANG resulted in unexpected outcomes. Individuals who score highly
on the CM subscale have an increased focus on errors (Frost, Marten, Lahart,
& Rosenblate, 1990) and have a greater desire to self-present positively
to others (Hamachek, 1978). Because athletes fitting this criterion are
less able to remove negative athletic related images from his or her mind
(Frost & Henderson, 1991) it was hypothesized that SANG would be positively
correlated with CM. Additionally, Hewitt and Flett (1991) found a correlation
between socially prescribed perfectionism and a measure of anger, which
although not specified, appeared to be more closely related to state anger.
Socially prescribed perfectionism has been found to be significantly correlated
with CM (Frost, Heimberg, Holt, Mattia, & Neubauer, 1993) but unexpectedly,
CM was not found to have a significant relationship with SANG for the
current study despite its correlation with AX-I approaching significance
(r = .310, r2 = .094, p = .019). This may lead to the conclusion that
those who score highly on CM may experience angry feelings, but perhaps
not during diving practice or competition, as only the SANG scale of the
STAXI-2 (Speilberger, 1999) inquires about emotions coinciding with the
diving experience.

Examining the subscales of SANG, and the relationships present with the
CM and PS subscales of perfectionism, resulted in additional counter-intuitive
findings. Vallance and Dunn (2002b) found that maladaptive perfectionists,
or those who’s CM score was high, had significant correlations with
SANGF and SANGV. The current study’s hypothesis proved to be incorrect,
in that CM did not have a significantly stronger correlation with these
subscales than did PS. In fact, PS had a stronger correlation with SANGF,
although none of these correlations were significant at p < .01.

The final SANG subscale, SANGP, also resulted in relationships with PS
and CM that were not significant. It was presumed that participating in
a sport in which the participant is under water and out of view immediately
following a performance, in addition to having the opportunity to leave
the immediate vicinity of the competitive venue during a competition or
practice, would increase the incidence of a diver’s desire to express
anger in a physical manner. Examples of these expressions might be hitting
walls under water, clenching fists or other muscles, or slamming lockers.
However, this proved not to be the case, and may be due to the fact that
two of the five items of the STAXI-2 (Spielberger, 1999) which measure
SANGP describe acting violent toward “somebody.” The participants
of this study may have interpreted “somebody” as someone else
in the practice or competition setting. In springboard diving, this is
not socially acceptable, as it may be in a few other sports, and would
potentially result in greater negative consequences.

TANG, and its subscale TANGR, were found to have the greatest number
of significant correlations. TANGR was significantly correlated with both
CM and PS, with CM having a stronger relationship. These results were
not unexpected as it follows logic that those who are most concerned with
how they appear to others naturally might experience greater levels of
anger in frustrating situations, or following a negative evaluation. However,
it was unexpected that CM had a significant relationship with TANG, but
PS did not. Hewitt and Flett’s (1991) self-oriented dimension of
perfectionism, which is significantly correlated with PS, has been found
to be positively correlated with TANG, but socially prescribed perfectionism,
which correlates with CM, was not (Saboonchi & Lundh, 2003). Because
of these previous findings, it was believed that PS would have a stronger
relationship with TANG than CM. However, results of this study showed
the opposite. These findings demonstrate some support the premise that
springboard divers who are more concerned about mistakes and how a performance
is evaluated may experience a greater frequency of angry emotions than
those who are more concerned with eclipsing self-imposed standards.

The perfectionism subscales examining perceptions of parents also resulted
in interesting findings. TANG was found to be significantly correlated
with PE, however PC was not. It appears that within the springboard diving
community, anger may be experienced in greater frequency by those who
perceive parents as having extremely high standards imposed on him or
her, than by those who perceive parents as overly critical for not meeting
certain standards. Perhaps this is due to other emotions being elicited
by those with overly critical parents, such as sadness, apathy, or resignation.
More research is needed in this area for a greater understanding of this
dynamic.

Examining gender in the context of perfectionism, anger, and springboard
diving also brought about interesting findings. Based on previous literature
(Anshel, & Eom, 2002; Flett, Hewitt, Endler, & Tassone, 1995;
Frost, Heimberg, Holt, Mattia, & Neubauer, 1993; Gotwals, Dunn, &
Wayment, 2003; Saboonchi, & Lundh, 2003) it was believed that perfectionism
would not be significantly different between genders. The results of this
study supported conclusions drawn in earlier research regarding the similarities
between how men and women experience perfectionism. What was surprising
were the differences between genders for the various scales and subscales
of anger.

Results for TANG and gender were consistent with the findings of Spielberger’s
(1999) investigation. There were no significant differences between gender
and the two subscales of TANG. This was also true for SANG and its subscales,
despite Spielberger’s findings demonstrating significantly higher
scores for men than women on each construct. In addition to Spielberger
(1999), Forgays, Forgays, and Spielberger (1997) revealed results supporting
the belief that men and women experience anger differently.

One possible explanation for the incongruence of SANG scores between
the current study and those cited above is that for Spielberger’s
(1999) study, survey items were to address the participant’s state
at the time of the test administration in a controlled setting. The participants
used in this study were asked to recall and indicate how he or she generally
felt during a competition or practice. It is possible that while diving,
similar state anger emotions may be elicited between genders, regardless
of how state anger is experienced in a more controlled setting.

With regard to anger expression, it was hypothesized that women would
score significantly higher on the AX-I scale, and men would score significantly
higher on the AX-O scale. Results showed neither to be supported, with
women actually scoring slightly higher on AX-O. It is less surprising
that AX-I scores were not significantly different, as Spielberger (1999)
had similar results. However, the assumption in this case was based on
previous findings that women experience shame with greater frequency,
and that shame is positively correlated with AX-I (Lutwak, Panish, Ferrari,
& Razzino, 2001). It was thought that being an elite athlete on display
in an individual sport such as diving, may have lead to increased instances
of shame if the athlete were to perform poorly. If this were the case,
women may experience shame with greater frequency than men, thus leading
to a greater propensity for experiencing and suppressing anger, as measured
by the AX-I scale. It appears, though, that participating in springboard
diving is not sufficient enough to alter the extent to which men and women
typically experience and suppress angry feelings.

Interestingly, women did score higher on AX-O, although not significantly.
These results refute the findings of Spielberger (1999) that men scored
significantly higher than women on this scale, and are even more noteworthy
when juxtaposed with Forgays, Forgays, and Spielberger’s (1997)
conclusion that the outward expression of anger is a more distinctive
and significant event for women than men. It is possible that the lack
of significant differences within this sample may be due to the disparity
in the number of men and women participants, but greater research is needed
regarding the uniqueness of the similarities between genders for these
typically asymmetric constructs.

Overall, findings in this study produced unexpected results. The similarities
between genders prompts the need for future research on how springboard
divers differ with samples derived from other sport populations. The relatively
small number of participants and the difference in the number of men and
women who participated may have affected these findings. Having only 59
participants may have decreased the power for the correlations and independent
t-tests to such an extent, that few correlations and independent t-tests
resulted in significance. Despite this possibility, it may be that there
is an aspect of springboard diving that either draws in a certain type
of individual to participate, or fosters similar personality characteristics
through participation.

The lack of variability in this sample decreases the ability of the results
of study to be generalizable to individuals who participate in other sports.
Because of this, differences between team and individual sports should
be examined in future studies. There appears to be a very small amount
of research examining perfectionism and anger in an athletic setting and
comparisons between team and individual sport participants has not been
a focus. With social evaluation and individualized standards, cornerstones
of the dimensions of perfectionism, varying greatly between team and individual
sports, anger and perfectionism may prove to be experienced very differently
through participation in diverse settings. More research of this kind
may lead to a greater understanding of how the perfectionism-anger dynamic
is uniquely experienced in springboard diving.

Although not specifically scrutinized in the current study, there did
appear to be differences in scores between the normal population and springboard
divers. Greater research is needed comparing the relationships of anger
and perfectionism between these groups. Understanding how these populations
differ on these constructs may shed light on the presence of conditions
that lead to the formation of relationships between the various dimensions
observed in this study.

Finally, research that has a deeper focus on the trait anger-perfectionism
dynamic is needed. This study found the strongest and greatest number
of correlations between these dimensions, and understanding why this is
the case could prove to be useful. Perfectionism is also a trait characteristic
and examining the development of these qualities, and the ties between
them, could lead to greater insight into how they may be fostered or discouraged.

Table 1
Correlations for the F-MPS subscales Concern Over Mistake (CM) and Personal
Standards (PS) and the STAXI-2 scale State Anger (SANG) and subscales
State Anger / Feeling Angry (SANGF), State Anger / Feel Like Expressing
Anger Verbally (SANGV), and State Anger / Feel Like Expressing Anger Physically
(SANGP)

 

SANG SANGF SANGV SANGP
CM .189 .139 .217 .120
PS .209 .202 .160 .210

Table 2
Correlations for the F-MPS subscales Concern Over Mistake (CM) and Personal
Standards (PS) and the STAXI-2 scale Trait Anger (TANG) and subscales
Trait Anger / Angry Temperament (TANGT) and Trait Anger / Angry Reaction
(TANGR)

TANG TANGT TANGR
CM .374** .187 .490**
PS .307* .123 .408**

**Correlation is significant at the .01 level (two-tailed)
*Correlation is significant at the .05 level (two-tailed)

Table 3
Correlations for the F-MPS subscales Concern Over Mistakes (CM) and Personal
Standards (PS) and the STAXI-2 scales Anger Control-In (AC-I), Anger Control-Out
(AC-O), Anger Expression-In (AX-I), and Anger Expression-Out (AX-O)

 

AC-I AC-O AX-I AX-O
CM -.092 -.177 .310* .135
PS .310* .113 .234 .136

*Correlation is significant at the .05 level (two-tailed)

Table 4
Correlations for the F-MPS subscales Parental Criticism (PC), Parental
Expectations (PE), Doubts About Actions (DA), and Organization (ORG) and
the STAXI-2 scales State Anger (SANG), Trait Anger (TANG), and the Anger
Expression Index (AX)

 

PC PE DA ORG
SANG .178 .159 .035 -.078
TANG .274* .397** .165 .031
AX .179 .176 .030 -.054

**Correlation is significant at the .01 level (two-tailed)
*Correlation is significant at the .05 level (two-tailed)

Table 5
Results for independent t-tests for gender on the F-MPS subscales Concern
Over Mistakes (CM), Personal Standards (PS), Parental Expectations (PE),
and Parental Criticism (PC)

Subscale Gender (Number) Mean Standard Deviation Sig.(2-tailed)
CM Men (19)Women (40) 24.7923.33 9.076.57 .483
PS Men (19)Women (40) 26.6825.03 5.575.07 .260
PE Men (19)Women (40) 13.7914.65 4.383.98 .455
PC Men (19)Women (40) 6.958.20 3.923.09 .188

Table 6
Results for independent t-tests for gender on the STAXI-2 scales State
Anger (SANG), Anger Expression-In (AX-I), and Anger Expression-Out (AX-O)

Scale Gender (Number) Mean Standard Deviation Sig. (1-tailed)
SANG Men (19)Women (40) 26.8924.40 8.778.10 .286
AX-I Men (19)Women (40) 17.8917.26 4.563.44 .554
AX-O Men (19)Women (40) 14.4214.56 3.664.22 .900

Table 7
Results for independent t-test for gender on the STAXI-2 scale Trait Anger
(TANG)

Scale Gender (Number) Mean Standard Deviation Sig. (2-tailed)
TANG Men (18)Women (40) 17.2817.25 4.744.67 .983

Table 8
Results for independent t-tests for gender on the directional scales added
to the F-MPS (PERDIRECT) and the STAXI-2 (ANGDIRECT)

Scale Gender (Number) Mean Standard Deviation Sig. (2-tailed)
PERDIRECT Men (18)Women (38) 1.33.76 1.331.73 .223
ANGDIRECT Men (18)Women (39) -.28-.62 1.021.31 .339

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2015-03-27T11:32:30-05:00March 4th, 2006|Sports Coaching, Sports Management, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on An Exploration of State and Trait Anger, Anger Expression and Perfectionism in Collegiate Springboard Divers
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Are Physical Education and Sports Teachers in Turkey Trained Appropriately? : A Study of Basic Education Institutions

Submitted by: Hakan Sunay, Ph.D. and Surhat Muniroglu, Ph.D.

Abstract

Teaching physical education and sports activities are among the indispensable
occupations of our time. Sports, apart from being an occupation of entertainment
and free time, have also a function that develop health and contributes
joy and happiness to the participants’ daily lives. Physical education
and sports activities have become signs of contemporariness. In Turkey,
the average beginning age for children’s participation in many or
team or individual sport activities is between ages 8 and 12. This is
also the average age level that most children start to participate in
school Physical Education and Sport courses. Physical Education is not
an elective course. It therefore is a core course and Turkey has a national
physical education teaching program. Despite the fact physical education
teachers are educated in various public and private physical education
programs, the core of the curriculums are very similar. All of the Physical
Education Teacher Education programs for the eight-year mandatory elementary
schools are monitored and constituted through the ministry of education.
While entire P.E. curriculums for education teachers are administrated
centrally and monitored by the ministry of education, there are few special
programs that training and preparing quality physical education and sports
teachers to teach high level physical education and sports courses at
8-year compulsory basic education institutions. The effectiveness of the
current programs that applied at most of compulsory basic education institutions
of eight years is a significant concern of this study. The purpose of
this research is to determine to what extent the physical education teacher
training programs that are currently used by those universities are effectively
and successfully training preparing physical education teachers to teach
at compulsory eight-year elementary schools.

Introduction

Education can be described as a planned and programmed process which
is applied in order to attain the desired changes in a person’s
behavior. Two basic and indispensable elements of education are the student
and the teacher. Unlike the traditional perspectives, in addition to lecturing,
the role of a teacher should be geared mostly towards guiding and advising.
This is also true for teaching physical education and sports. Physical
education teachers should guide students according to their interest and
skills. In order to attain the desired mental, social, psychological and
psychomotor developments, teachers should be creative and develop important
student specific tasks to improve individual creativity of various age
groups. The significant importance should be given to the programs that
deal with children who are at the beginning level(s). This situation brings
into the agenda a modernization of the programs to improve both the ability
of teachers to teach effective physical education courses and the program
tools that are going to be used in this process. It is a common belief
that currently most physical education teachers are ill prepared to successfully
teach physical education courses at the eight year compulsory schools.

Historically successful physical education programs have one thing in
common: they all use history as a learning process. For instance, those
who prepared and developed the modern physical education programs in the
United States America have benefited from teaching philosophies of Europe
(Lumpkin, 1990). The first modern efforts in order to train contemporary
physical education teachers began in the 18 th Century in Europe and in
the USA (Friedman, 1983). In the Ottoman Empire, these courses entered
the Curriculum in 1846 under the name of Gymnastics which was brought
about by the Tanzimat decree declared in 1839 during the reign of Sultan
Abdulmecit (Kasap, 1992). Selim Sirri Tarcan attended the Heyet-I Ilmiye
which assembled in 1923 and succeeded in integrating one-year-long the
‘physical education teachers’ school” into the government
program (Terbiye-i Bedeniye DarUlmuallimini).

The efforts for training sports instructors continued by the assistance
of three instructors (one woman, two men; Inge Nerman, Ranger Jonson and
Sven Alezanderson) who were called from Sweden between 1926-1929 and with
the 3,5-9 months – lasting courses of physical education teachers
during the years 1929-1930. In the scholar years of 1932-1933 a –
three- year- long physical education department was started at the Gazi
Education Institution in Turkey in order to train teachers for secondary
and high school levels. This was the only institution until 1966-1967.
Since then several other institutions have been developed and have been
offering physical education teachers education programs such as Istanbul
Institute of Physical Education, and various other universities in Bursa,
Izmir and Diyarbakir. In 1992 most of these schools were transformed into
physical education and sports higher schools. In Turkey, youth and sports
academies contributed to the process for training physical education teachers
as well as education institutes. Youth and sports academies were founded
under the youth and Sports ministry and were put into service in three
cities. The basic objective of the youth and sports academies is “to
train coaches, youth leaders, managers, experts as provided for in the
Body Training law numbered 3530.” Although the primary goal of youth
and Sports Academies was not to train physical education teachers as demands
raised for more physical education teachers the Sports Academies started
to certify their graduates to also be physical educators without pedagogic
training. At the end the Youth and Sports Academies lasted for only 10
years and they were closed forever.

Methodology

In Turkey, there are 48 universities that offer teaching physical education
programs and a total of 411 instructors are teaching physical education
courses. 171 instructors from Gazi University, Hacettepe University, Middle
East Technical University (METU), Ege University, Akdeniz University,
Celall Bayar University, Marmara University and Ankara University were
surveyed. A survey questionnaire consisting of 57 questions was developed.
The reliability coefficient of the survey is r = .96. By taking this course
of method, the research was formulated and determined by those who participated
in the research, taking into consideration the order of importance of
the branches determined by the Higher Education Board (HEB). These values
were interpreted according to the arithmetic averages of the participating
instructors’ (subjects) views. In conclusion, some significant statistical
differences were observed among various programs in terms of application
of teachers education programs both at the administrative and academic
levels. The research was carried out in July, August and September 2000.

The data we got in order to fulfill the purposes of the research were
provided by the surveys created by the researchers. The survey form was
prepared by means of the programs of the 48 physical education and sports
teaching departments of universities. Within this context, firstly the
programs which are aimed at training physical education and sports teachers
were scanned and the related courses were determined for the physical
education and sports teachers who will be on duty at primary and secondary
schools. The determined courses were grouped and submitted to a group
of instructors for their opinions and as a last stage, they were revised.
Thus a survey of 57 courses was created which would be submitted to the
instructors for their views. The reliability coefficient of the survey
is a + 96. The proposal concerning 57 courses, which formed the basis
of the research, were subdivided and evaluated according to the branches
determined by HEB. These branches are:

1 – Coach and Movement Sciences

2 – Sports Management Sciences

3 – Sports Health Sciences

4 – Psycho Social Fields in Sports

5 – Sports Training

6 – General Culture

7 – Applied Sports Field

8 – Information on the Teaching profession.

The subjects were determined under 8 dimensions. The proposals for courses
forming the bases of the research were developed taking into consideration
the order of importance of these courses the fields of which have been
determined by HEB.

Statistical processes were realized according to the arithmetic averages
of the participating instructions views about the related courses. The
courses determined in the program Draft proposal were put into order according
to their importance. The arithmetic averages of each group of courses
involving their own fields were taken as basis. The courses, which were
found above the arithmetic averages of the 57 courses submitted, were
proposed as elective courses. Lastly, a program was created which was
based on these findings.

Findings and Discussion

The purpose of the research is to determine the appropriateness of the
programs at the schools that are aimed at training physical education
and sports teachers who will work at 8 – year – long compulsory
basic education institutions. Within this context the programs applied
in Turkey were investigated and an evaluation was made for each of the
common courses.

The need for training staff in the academic and professional fields of
the sports sciences that were brought about by the constant change and
development in sports has become evident. This change and development
continued with the transformation of some of these schools into higher
schools and with the acceptance of eight fields by HEB within the framework
of related domains (Acikada, 1991). Moreover, the distribution of the
eight fields within the curriculum was determined as followed:

 

1 – Applied Sports Field; this field entails the
definition of the applied sports branches and teaching techniques.

2 – Field of Information on the Teaching profession; this section
includes the courses which are compulsory for teaching profession according
to ministry of national Education and HEB. In our country as in other
parts of the world, it is not possible to be a teacher without having
the necessary information on the teaching profession.

3 – General Cultures; this is the information necessary for a
qualified teacher. These include some courses that are not compulsory
for teaching but which are about current issues.

4 – The Field of Movement and Exercise Sciences; it is to evaluate
sports within the fact of movement and to shape it according to exercise
dimension.

5 – Field of Sport Health Sciences; involves the health dimensions
of sports and the relation between sports and health.

6 – The Field of Sports management and Sciences; involves the
dimension of sports related to management sciences.

7 – Sports Education; emphasized the manner of teaching sports
and involves the introduction of sports field.

8 – Psycho-Social Fields in Sports; involves the psychological
and sociological dimension of sports.

The determined groups of courses were divided into the above-mentioned
fields and evaluated within this framework.

Related to this, the proposed courses are presented in the table of
Annex 1 according to their order of importance for training physical education
and sports teachers who will be on duty at the basic education institutions.

As understood from the table, the group arithmetic average of the courses
included in the applied group has been found as X = 3.02. In this respect,
the basic and team sports such as gymnastics, athletics, rhythmic gymnastics,
volleyball and handball have been found on the highest level, whereas
the sports branches such as bodybuilding, marksmanship, and weight lifting
have been found at the lowest values. When we investigate the education
programs of Wales and England, we could see that team sports such as football,
volleyball, basketball, handball, gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics were
at the highest level in term of the values attributed to them (Anonymous,
1995).

The research of Acikada (1991), which was carried out of 22 physical
education teachers with the purpose of development of physical education
and sports curriculum, produced similar results. The arithmetic average
for the courses which were under the information on teaching profession
has been found as X = 4.16. Although the arithmetic averages of the views
of the instructors for courses such Education Psychology, Education Sociology,
Program Development, Introduction to Education Sciences and Education
management has remained under the group average, these courses are compulsory
for the teaching profession.

The arithmetic average of the courses under the group of general culture
has been found as X = 3.41. in this respect, Foreign Language and already
compulsory Revolution History of the Turkish Republic and Computer courses
have been attributed and it has been noted that the Courses of Physics,
Chemistry, mathematics and Statistics were not important according to
the instructors for the physical education and sports teachers who will
be on duty at primary secondary schools. The research of Acikada (1991
gives similar results (Acikada, 1991).

The group arithmetic average of the courses under the movement and Exercise
Sciences has been found as X = 3.83. in this respect, the courses of motor
Development and Exercise Information were at the highest level, while
the course of Biomechanics has remained under the group arithmetic average
(X = 3.52).

The group arithmetic average of the courses under the Sports health Sciences
has been found as X = 3.95. In this respect the courses of First Aid and
sports physiology were at the highest level, whereas the Anatomy course
has been found under the group arithmetic average (X = 3.67).

Two courses were determined under the Sports Management Sciences. The
group arithmetic average of the courses under this group has been found
over the group average (X = 4.11). We think this is significant.

The group arithmetic average of the courses under the Sports Training
Field has been found as X = 4.18. In this respect, the courses of Skill
Acquiring and Special Teaching methods have been found at the highest
level, while the course of Comparative Sports Education was at the lowest
level.

There were two courses under the Psycho-Social Field in Sports and their
group arithmetic averages has been found as X =3.73. The course of Sports
Psychology was over the group arithmetic average (X = 4.11), while the
course of Sports history has been found at the lowest level in terms of
importance attributed to it, not only in its own group, but also in comparison
with all of the proposed courses (X = 3.34). These results show similarities
with those of the study carried out by Ursprung and his colleagues. Ursprung
and his colleagues have grouped courses offered at the physical education
and sports departments as Personal and Teams Sports pedagogy, Movement
and Health Sciences, Social Sciences and Scientific method (Ursprung and
his colleagues, 1995). Moreover, the groups of courses that should be
offered are parallel to the courses determined by Harrison,
Blakemore (1992) and Nicholas (1990), (Harrison and Blakemore, 1992),
(Nicholas, 1990).

Results and Suggestions

According to the results of the research, the participating instructors proposed to include gymnastics (aerobics and rhythmic gymnastics), athletics, swimming and team sports such as basketball, volleyball, handball, football, and racket sports such as badminton in the curriculum of the eight-year-long compulsory basic education institutions, especially during the periods covering 1-5 (ages 6-11). On the other hand, courses such as First Aid and Sports Physiology under the Sports Health Sciences, Motor Development and Exercise Information under the movement and Exercise Sciences, Recreation under the Sports Management Sciences, Skills Acquiring and Special Teaching method under the Sports Training Fields, Sports Psychology under the psycho-Social Fields in Sports were also proposed by the instructors. Within this context, the compulsory and elective courses that were determined in the draft program with the purpose of training physical education and sports teachers are as follows:

1. Semester T P CH
Gymnastics
1
4
3
Athletics I
1
2
2
Foreign Language I
2
0
2
Rev. History I
2
0
2
Intr. To Teaching Prof.
3
0
2
2. Semester
Foreign Language II
2
0
2
Rev. History II
2
0
2
Turkish II
2
0
2
Basketball I
1
4
3
Handball I
1
4
3
Athletics II
1
2
2
Rhytm T. and R. Gym
1
4
3
First Aid
1
2
2
3. Semester
Foreign Language III
2
0
2
Gymnastics II
1
4
3
Athletics III
1
2
2
Volleyball I
1
4
3
Gen. Teaching Meth.
3
0
2
Motor Development
2
0
2
Football I
1
4
3
Program Dev. (Elective)
3
0
2
Edu. Sociology (Elective)
3
0
2
4. Semester
Foreign Lang. IV
2
0
2
Table Tennis
1
2
2
Aerobic Gym.
1
2
2
Swimming I
1
2
2
Scouting
1
2
2
Learning Skills
3
0
3
Basketball II
1
4
3
Edu. Psychology (Elective)
3
0
3
Edu. Management (Elective)
3
0
3
5. Semester
Foreign Language V
2
0
2
Exercise Information
3
0
3
Sports Psychology
2
0
2
Handball II
1
4
3
Football II
1
4
3
Psych. Counseling
3
0
3
Sports Management (Elective)
2
0
2
Sports history (Elective)
2
0
2
6. Semester
Foreign Language VI
2
0
2
Volleyball II
1
4
3
Swimming II
1
2
2
Test. Evaluation
3
0
3
Badminton
1
2
2
Anatomy (Elective)
3
0
3
Biomechanics (Elective)
3
0
3
Anthropometry (Elective)
3
0
3
7. Semester
Foreign Language VII
2
0
2
Recreation
2
0
2
Teaching Application
2
4
4
Natural Sports
1
2
2
Research Techniques (Elective)
2
0
2
Campa. Sports Teaching (Elective)
2
0
2
8. Semester
Foreign Language VIII
2
0
2
Sports Physiology
3
2
4
Optional Specialization
2
4
4
Teaching Application
2
4
4
Sports Sociology (Elective)
3
0
3
Sports Health (Elective)
3
0
3
Total Credit Hours: 145

T = Theoretical Courses

P = Practical Courses

CH = Number of Credit Hour Values

Table 1: The distribution of the courses that are proposed to be included in the main program, which trains physical education and sports for eight-year-long basic education institutions (according to the field and order of importance).

Fields Courses N Median SD Order of
Subjects Median Standard Importance
Deviation
Applied Sports Field Gymnastics 171 4.6056 0.64 1
Athletics 171 4.5352 0.88 2
Rhythm Training 171 4.2113 0.97 3
Volleyball 171 3.9014 0.93 4
Handball 170 3.9 0.98 5
Basketball 171 3.8592 0.96 6
Swimming 171 3.662 1.29 7
Scouting 171 3.662 1.08 7
Football 171 3.5775 1.13 8
Table Tennis 170 3.4 1.1 9
Natural Sports 170 3.1857 1.15 10
Aerobics 171 3.1127 1.29 11
Badminton 170 3.0571 1.14 12
Tennis 169 2.9275 1.12 13
Wrestling 171 2.7324 1.3 14
Cycling 170 2.7286 1.18 15
Skating 171 2.5352 1.21 16
Fencing 170 2.1714 1.06 17
Archery 171 2.1408 1.06 18
Rowing 171 2.0704 1.11 19
Underwater Sports 169 2.0435 1.04 20
Far Eastern Sports 170 1.9714 1.09 21
Weightlifting 170 1.9571 1.12 22
Marksmanship 171 1.9155 1.04 23
Bodybuilding 170 1.8286 1.15 24
Info. On Teaching Teaching Application 170 4.6286 0.76 1
Gen. Teaching Methods 171 4.4225 0.8 2
Psychological Counseling 169 4.2609 0.92 3
Testing Evaluation 171 4.2113 0.92 4
Educational Psychology 171 4.1408 0.97 5
Educational Sociology 171 4.1127 1.02 6
Program Development 171 4.0428 1.06 7
Intro. To Educ. Science 171 3.9296 1.11 8
Education Management 171 3.7465 1.04 9
General Culture Foreign Language 171 4.0141 1.13 1
History of Turkey 171 3.6479 1.32 2
Computer 170 3.5286 1.15 3
Research Techniques 171 3.4085 1.3 4
Statistics 170 3.0143 1.2 5
Basic Services 170 2.8714 1.14 6
Movement/Exercise Motor Development 170 4.4714 0.96 1
Exercise Info. 170 4.0857 1.13 2
Antropometry 170 3.5286 1.16 3
Biomechanics 170 3.2676 1.23 4
Sports Health First Aid 169 4.2609 0.83 1
Sports Physiology 170 3.9571 1.26 2
Sportive Health 117 3.8286 1.08 3
Anatomy 171 3.7606 1.2 4
Sports Management Recreation 170 4.1143 1.08 1
Sports management 170 3.4714 1.14 2
Sports Education Learning Skills 169 4.4348 0.78 1
Special Teaching Methods 169 4.3913 0.93 2
Intro to PE and Sports 170 4.0714 1.13 3
Comparative Sports Education 170 3.5857 1.2 4
Psycho- social field Sports Psychology 170 4.1143 1.15 1
Sports History 169 3.3478 1.23 2
2016-04-01T09:59:08-05:00January 5th, 2006|Contemporary Sports Issues, Sports Coaching, Sports Management|Comments Off on Are Physical Education and Sports Teachers in Turkey Trained Appropriately? : A Study of Basic Education Institutions
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