2023-05, Schüler, Julia, Stähler, Johanna, Wolff, Wanja

We assume that athletic success is associated with certain beliefs that on the one hand promote performance-enhancing behavior (training volume), but on the other hand can also be detrimental to health (sports addiction). These beliefs are succinctly characterized by the title of the 9-item “Mind-over-Body” scale presented here. They are the three beliefs that 1) athletic performance requires a high level of effort, 2) that willpower plays an important role in athletic success, and 3) that athletic success requires pain tolerance. A total of six web-survey-based studies with a total of 1121 participants (approximately gender parity), including individuals with different levels of athletic performance (no competition; amateur sport; regional, national, or international competition), examined the psychometric network and construct and criterion validity of the MoB scale. Exploratory graph analyses, which included the studies with the largest sample sizes, showed that the three belief components (effort, willpower, pain) form separable communities within the MoB network and that the MoB items form communities distinct from self-control and self-efficacy. Meta-analyzed correlations across all six studies showed low positive correlations with self-control and self-efficacy. In terms of criterion validity, MoB beliefs were positively correlated with training volume and exercise addiction. We discuss MoBs as “on the edge of unhealthy” and place MOBs within a framework of related but distinct concepts.

2023, Schüler, Julia, Wegner, Mirko, Plessner, Henning, Eklund, Robert C.

2022-10, Maas, Jasper, Schoch, Simone, Scholz, Urte, Rackow, Pamela, Schüler, Julia, Wegner, Mirko, Keller, Roger

Many teachers report high levels of occupational stress. Teachers’ basic need satisfaction is essential for teachers’ well-being at work. Social support from school principals is assumed to play an important role for teachers’ basic need satisfaction. However, the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between social support from school principals and teachers’ basic need satisfaction are mostly unknown. Previous research suggests that job demands and job resources may play an important mediating role. Therefore, we examine whether teachers’ perceived job demands and job resources serve as mediators between social support from the school principal and teachers’ basic need satisfaction. Using longitudinal data of N=1071 teachers over the course of one school year, we applied structural equation modelling to test the hypothesised mediation model. Results showed that the relationship between social support from the school principal and teachers’ basic need satisfaction was mediated by teachers’ perceived job demands and job resources. Particularly, the job demand ‘unclear organisational conditions’ and job resource ‘social support from colleagues’ indicated the strongest effects on teachers’ basic need satisfaction. These findings emphasise the responsibility of school principals to provide social support to their teachers and create a well-structured and supportive workplace. In doing so, school principals contribute to a work environment in which teachers can thrive.

2022, Maas, Jasper, Schoch, Simone, Scholz, Urte, Rackow, Pamela, Schüler, Julia, Wegner, Mirko, Keller, Roger

The satisfaction of teachers’ need for relatedness is an important pre-condition for teachers’ wellbeing. Receiving social support plays an important role in satisfying the need for relatedness. Following job crafting theory, the present study aims to examine (1) whether searching for social support results in an increase in the satisfaction of the need for relatedness and (2) whether this effect is mediated by an increase of received social support from the school principal and from colleagues. Using longitudinal data (N = 1071) we calculated residualized change scores and applied structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized mediation model. Results confirmed the beneficial effect of searching for social support on the satisfaction of the need for relatedness. This effect included a direct effect and an indirect effect through the receipt of social support from colleagues. The receipt of social support from the school principal was positively related to searching for social support but was unrelated to the satisfaction of the need for relatedness. These findings emphasize the importance that teachers build strong and supportive relationships within the school team, as this helps to satisfy their need for relatedness, which in turn contributes to better wellbeing among teachers.

2023, Schüler, Julia, Wegner, Mirko, Plessner, Henning, Eklund, Robert C.

The introduction to this textbook gives an overview of the scientific field of the psychology of sport and exercise. It is explained that sport psychologists try to describe, explain, predict, and change human experience and behavior in the area of physical activity. We display how sport psychology is concerned with phenomena in competitive rule-governed physical activities, while exercise psychology rather deals with health-related physical activity. We further show how one and the same phenomenon can be viewed from different theoretical perspectives in each subdiscipline of sport psychology, including cognition, motivation, emotion, personality, development, and social psychology. The present textbook is further divided into a theoretical and a practical part. However, we emphasize that both theory and practice in sport psychology are intertwined and influence each other strongly. Finally, we give a selective overview on the history of sport psychology and organization and institutionalization of the scientific subject of sport psychology.

2023, Schüler, Julia, Wolff, Wanja, Duda, Joan L.

2022-08-09, Haufler, Alisa, Ditzen, Beate, Schüler, Julia

Background: Previous research shows that providing social support in socioevaluative stress situations reduces participants' stress responses. This stress-buffer effect, however, does not hold for everybody, and some studies even found a stress-amplifying effect of social support. Motive disposition research suggests that social motives (affiliation and power) lead to differential and sometimes even opposing affective and physiological responses to interpersonal interaction processes. We here integrate both lines of research and hypothesize that participants with strong affiliation motives benefit, while participants with strong power motives do not benefit from social support in terms of psychobiological responses to a given stressor. Further, participants with strong affiliation and power motives are expected to respond to social support with the arousal of motive-specific affects and reproductive hormone responses (affiliation: progesterone; power: estradiol and testosterone). In addition, we test sex differences in the response to social support and in the strengths of social motives.

Objective: The main objective of this study is to test whether social motives and participants’ sex moderate the effects of social support in stressful situations.

Methods: We aim to collect data from 308 participants recruited at our local university. Participants’ social motives are assessed using a standardized measure in motive research (Picture Story Exercise). Then, the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups (TSST-G) is used to experimentally induce psychosocial stress. One group of participants receives social support from an associate of the experimenter, while the control group does not receive social support. Stress responses will be assessed by a modified version of the state anxiety scale of the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory and by physiological indicators of stress (cortisol and α-amylase from saliva samples) at 7 measurement points. Reproductive hormones will be analyzed in 4 of these 7 saliva samples. Heart rate and heart rate variability will be assessed continuously. We will additionally measure participants’ performance in an interview (part of the TSST-G) using a self-developed categorization system.

Results: The Ethics Committee of the University of Constance approved the application to conduct the study on December 18, 2018. Furthermore, the study was retrospectively registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (DKRS; ID: DRKS00028503) on March 09, 2022. The start of the experiment was planned for the beginning of 2019, but was postponed to June 2021 due to COVID-19. Publication of the first results is planned for spring 2023.

Conclusions: Our theory-driven integration of social motives in social support research and the precise analysis of sex differences might disentangle inconsistent findings in TSST research. The more faceted view on individual differences has direct implications for applied contexts as it provides a framework for tailored conceptualizations of social support programs.

2023, Elbe, Anne-Marie, Schüler, Julia, Sivaramakrishnan, Hamsini, Thøgersen-Ntoumani, Cecilie

If you enter the terms “motivation” and “sport” into an online search engine, you will be overwhelmed by the sheer number of entries. The popularity of the concept of motivation and the breadth of its use reflect its importance for issues relating to health, athletic performance, and general life contexts on an individual and a societal level. Light needs to be shed on the question “What motivates people to engage in sport?” and the question needs to be considered from many different perspectives. In lay language, many different synonyms are used for motivation like incentive, initiative, interest, passion, ambition, and driving force. How much of this layman’s understanding is reflected in the scientific operationalizations of “motivation?” The synonyms presented above share one important aspect in common with the scientific concept of motivation: the activating or energizing component. Motivation is the driving force behind an action.

2023, Schoch, Simone, Keller, Roger, Keller, Jasper, Rackow, Pamela, Scholz, Urte, Schüler, Julia, Wegner, Mirko

Positive Emotionen gelten als Schlüsselfaktor zur Steigerung des Wohlbefindens und der Arbeitsleistung. Die vorliegende Studie beleuchtet den Zusammenhang zwischen transformationalem Führungsverhalten der Schulleitung und dem Erleben positiver Emotionen von Lehrpersonen. Es wird untersucht, ob dabei (a) die erhaltene soziale Unterstützung aus dem Team und (b) die Befriedigung der psychologischen Grundbedürfnisse als vermittelnde Mechanismen wirken. Basierend auf Längsschnittdaten von N = 1 217 Lehrpersonen zeigte sich, dass das individuelle transformationale Führungsverhalten die Bedürfnisse nach Autonomie und sozialer Eingebundenheit befriedigt, was zu einer Erhöhung der positiven Emotionen der Lehrpersonen beiträgt. Für die kollektive transformationale Führung waren die Ergebnisse weniger eindeutig. Sie weisen aber darauf hin, dass diese zu mehr sozialer Unterstützung innerhalb des Teams führt. Dadurch werden die Bedürfnisse nach Autonomie und sozialer Eingebundenheit stärker befriedigt, was wiederum zur Steigerung der positiven Emotionen der Lehrpersonen beiträgt. Schulleitungen können folglich positive Emotionen von Lehrpersonen über zwei verschiedene Wege fördern: Indem sie (1) die psychologischen Grundbedürfnisse der Lehrpersonen befriedigen und (2) die Voraussetzungen für ein unterstützendes Teamklima schaffen.

2022-06-03, Weich, Christian, Schüler, Julia, Wolff, Wanja

Sport and exercise can be boring. In the general population, thinking of sports as boring has been linked to exercising less. However, less is known about the role of boredom in people who participate in ultra-endurance competitions: Do these athletes also associate their sports with boredom, and does boredom pose a self-regulatory challenge that predicts if they encounter a crisis during an ultra-endurance competition? Here, we investigate these questions with a sample of N = 113 (n = 34 female) competitors of a 24 h hour running competition, aged M = 37.6 ± 13.8 years. In this study, n = 23 very extreme athletes competed as single starters or in a relay team of 2, and n = 84 less extreme athletes competed in relay teams of 4 or 6. Before the run, athletes completed self-report measures on sport-specific trait boredom, as well as the degree to which they expected boredom, pain, effort, and willpower to constitute self-regulatory challenges they would have to cope with. After the run, athletes reported the degree to which they actually had to deal with these self-regulatory challenges and if they had faced an action crisis during the competition. Analyses revealed that very extreme athletes displayed a significantly lower sport-specific trait boredom than less extreme athletes (p = 0.024, d=−0.48 d=−0.48 ). With respect to self-regulatory challenges, willpower, pain, and effort were expected and reported at a much higher rate than boredom. However, only boredom was as a significant predictor of experiencing a crisis during the competition (odds ratio = 12.5, p = 0.02). Our results show that boredom also matters for highly active athletes. The fact that the experience of boredom—and not more prototypical competition-induced challenges, such as pain or effort—were linked to having an action crisis highlights the relevance of incorporating boredom into the preparation for a race and to the performance management during competition.