Collective goals and shared tasks: Interdependence structure and perceptions of individual sport team environments

Effects of Cooperation and Competition on Performance, Emotion, and Effort: Goal and Means Interdependence

Social interdependence theory proposes that task structure influences performance via social interaction. Using this framework, we examined sport performance. Fifty-six males performed a basketball task under four conditions: as an individual (individual, perform your best) and as a member of a team of two (cooperation, where teammates sought to better their individual performance; means independent competition, where two teams competed sequentially to outperform the other team; means interdependent competition, where two teams competed simultaneously to outperform the other team). Task performance (points) was better during means independent competition than other conditions. Anxiety and effort peaked during the competitions and enjoyment was greater during competition and cooperation than during the individual condition. Emotions, effort, and actions are discussed as explanations for the performance effects. Social interdependence theory provides a valuable framework to understand emotion, motivation, and performance. Team competition can be used to promote effort and enhance performance in sport.

The Association of Family, Friends, and Teacher Support With Girls' Sport and Physical Activity on the Island of Ireland

BACKGROUND

The current study was the largest physical activity (PA) surveillance assessment of youth undertaken in Ireland in recent years. The purpose of this research was to assess the impact of social support, while controlling for age and screen time, on PA and sport participation, across a representative sample of Irish female youth.

METHODS

A total of 3503 children (mean age: 13.54 [2.05] y) across the island of Ireland participated. Participants completed a previously validated electronic questionnaire while supervised in a classroom setting, which investigated their (1) levels of PA; (2) screen time; (3) community sport participation; and (4) social support (friend, family, and teacher) to be physically active/partake in sport.

RESULTS

There were significant differences, with medium and large effect sizes, for social support from friends and family across types of sports participation. Specifically, girls who participated in the most popular team sports, when compared with the most popular individual sports, reported higher social support scores for friends and family structures.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings from this study confirm the contributing influence of friends and family as sport and PA support networks for girls. Interventions should consider the importance of culturally relevant team sports for PA engagement in female youth.

A Season-Long Examination of Team Structure and Its Implications for Subgroups in Individual Sport

The authors explored how sport structure predisposed a team to subgroup formation and influenced athlete interactions and team functioning. A season-long qualitative case study was undertaken with a nationally ranked Canadian track and field team. Semistructured interviews were conducted with coaches (n = 4) and athletes (n = 11) from different event groups (e.g., sprinters, jumpers) at the beginning and at the end of the season. The results highlighted constraints that directly impacted athlete interactions and predisposed the group to subgroup formation (e.g., sport/event type, facility/schedule limitations, team size/change over time). The constraints led to structural divides that impacted interactions but could be overcome through team building, engaging with leaders, and prioritizing communication. These findings underline how structure imposed by the design of sports impacts teammate interactions and how practitioners, coaches, and athletes can manage groups when facing such constraints. The authors describe theoretical and practical implications while also proposing potential future directions.

Group structure and entitativity in group fitness: considering groupness at within- and between-group levels

OBJECTIVE

How can we distinguish between a collection of individuals exercising alongside one another from group that is exercising 'together'? This question is central to research on the extent that individuals perceive their fitness settings to entail core features of groups. To advance understanding of the nature of groupness and its implications in exercise, the current study (a) evaluated a brief measure of groupness and (b) examined the extent that groupness predicted perceptions of exertion and affect.

DESIGN

Participants included 633 exercisers (M_age = 33.92, SD = 11.05, 74% female) who completed surveys after group fitness classes (k = 34).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Groupness, affect, exertion, and group cohesion.

RESULTS

Exploratory structural equation modelling provided support for a two-factor solution reflecting entitativity and group structure as subdimensions of groupness. The groupness factors were differentially associated with theoretically relevant aspects of classes (e.g. synchronised movement), the individual (e.g. number of members interacted with), as well as group cohesion. Groupness also predicted perceived exertion and affect.

CONCLUSION

Our research provides support for a brief measure of groupness, advances theory related to how individuals perceive exercise groups, and provides evidence regarding how broader experiences during exercise may relate to exercisers' perceptions of groupness.

The influence of social identity on self-worth, commitment, and effort in school-based youth sport

​​​The current study examined the influence of social identity for individual perceptions of self-worth, commitment, and effort in school-based youth athletes. Using a prospective research design, 303 athletes (M_age = 14.89, SD = 1.77; 133 female) from 27 sport teams completed questionnaires at 2 time points (T1 - demographics, social identity; T2 - self-worth, commitment, effort) during an athletic season. Multilevel analyses indicated that at the individual level, the social identity dimension of in-group ties (IGT) predicted commitment (b = 0.12, P = .006) and perceived effort (b = 0.14, P = .008), whereas in-group affect (IGA) predicted commitment (b = 0.25, P = .001) and self-worth (b = 2.62, P = .006). At the team level, means for IGT predicted commitment (b = 0.31, P < .001) and self-worth (b = 4.76, P = .024). Overall, social identity accounted for variance at both levels, ranging from 4% (self-worth) to 15% (commitment). Identifying with a group to a greater extent was found to predict athlete perceptions of self-worth, commitment, and effort. More specifically, at the individual level, IGT predicted commitment and effort, and IGA predicted commitment and self-worth. At the team level, IGT predicted commitment and self-worth.

Exploring Team Passing Networks and Player Movement Dynamics in Youth Association Football

Understanding how youth football players base their game interactions may constitute a solid criterion for fine-tuning the training process and, ultimately, to achieve better individual and team performances during competition. The present study aims to explore how passing networks and positioning variables can be linked to the match outcome in youth elite association football. The participants included 44 male elite players from under-15 and under-17 age groups. A passing network approach within positioning-derived variables was computed to identify the contributions of individual players for the overall team behaviour outcome during a simulated match. Results suggested that lower team passing dependency for a given player (expressed by lower betweenness network centrality scores) and high intra-team well-connected passing relations (expressed by higher closeness network centrality scores) were related to better outcomes. The correlation between the dyads’ positioning regularity and the passing density showed a most likely higher correlation in under-15 (moderate effect), indicating a possible more dependence of the ball position rather than in the under-17 teams (small/unclear effects). Overall, this study emphasizes the potential of coupling notational analyses with spatial-temporal relations to produce a more functional and holistic understanding of teams’ sports performance. Also, the social network analysis allowed to reveal novel key determinants of collective performance.

Comparison of Athletes' Proneness to Depressive Symptoms in Individual and Team Sports: Research on Psychological Mediators in Junior Elite Athletes

Depression among elite athletes is a topic of increasing interest and public awareness. Currently, empirical data on elite athletes’ depressive symptoms are rare. Recent results indicate sport-related mechanisms and effects on depression prevalence in elite athlete samples; specific factors associated with depression include overtraining, injury, and failure in competition. One such effect is that athletes competing in individual sports were found to be more prone to depressive symptoms than athletes competing in team sports. The present study examined this effect by testing three possible, psychological mediators based on theoretical and empirical assumptions: namely, cohesion in team or training groups; perception of perfectionistic expectations from others; and negative attribution after failure. In a cross-sectional study, 199 German junior elite athletes (M_age = 14.96; SD = 1.56) participated and completed questionnaires on perfectionism, cohesion, attribution after failure, and depressive symptoms. Mediation analysis using path analysis with bootstrapping was used for data analysis. As expected, athletes in individual sports showed higher scores in depression than athletes in team sports [t(197) = 2.05; p < 0.05; d = 0.30]. Furthermore, negative attribution after failure was associated with individual sports (β = 0.27; p < 0.001), as well as with the dependent variable depression (β = 0.26; p < 0.01). Mediation hypothesis was supported by a significant indirect effect (β = 0.07; p < 0.05). Negative attribution after failure mediated the relationship between individual sports and depression scores. Neither cohesion nor perfectionism met essential criteria to serve as mediators: cohesion was not elevated in either team or individual sports, and perfectionism was positively related to team sports. The results support the assumption of previous findings on sport-specific mechanisms (here the effect between individual and team sports) contributing to depressive symptoms among elite athletes. Additionally, attribution after failure seems to play an important role in this regard and could be considered in further research and practitioners in the field of sport psychology.