The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Aggressive Behavior in Boxers: The Mediating Role of Self-Control

Clarifying the relationship between trait aggression and self-control using random item slope regression

OBJECTIVE

Myriad psychological research evinces a negative association between self-control and aggression with some arguing for self-control failure as a cause of aggression. Recent literature suggests that the relationship between aggression and self-control is likely more complex and even positive in some cases. One source of such conflict in the literature could be the presence of unaccounted for random item slopes in commonly used measures of self-control which may inflate the likelihood of Type I errors. This study (N = 1386) tested the hypothesis that self-control would share random item slopes with the facets of trait aggression using random item slope regression.

METHOD

We measured trait aggression and self-control via two common self-reports: the Buss-Perry Questionnaire and the Brief Self-Control Scale.

RESULTS

Our analyses revealed that the facets of trait aggression shared significant random item slopes with self-control and that many of these slopes were positive, rather than negative. We also found that Type I error inflation was evident in models that did not account for these random slopes.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings may in part explain some of the conflicting results in the literature and that researchers interested in studying self-control and aggression should test for random item slopes.

Modulatory role of sport factors on amateur and competitive athletes' aggressive and antisocial behaviors

Aggressiveness and unethical behaviors are an important problem in sports today. Understanding how to properly measure and manage an athlete's aggressive tendency is a crucial lesson to be learned within the rulesets of a sporting environment. This study aims at validating the Italian version of the Competitive Aggressiveness and Anger Scale (CAAS), specifically developed to measure aggressiveness and anger in athletes. The second aim is to investigate how aggressive and antisocial behaviors are modulated by sex, competitive level (i.e., amateur and competitive), sport contact (i.e., contact and no-contact), and sport type (i.e., team and individual). Two hundred and ninety-six athletes (mean age = 22.42 years, SD = 2.86) were asked to fill out a survey about sociodemographic variables, sport specific data, attitudes to moral decisions, past cheating behavior, and aggression. The Italian version of the CAAS presented a good fit of the data, adequate internal consistency and its construct validity was supported via convergent and discriminant validity. Both aggressiveness and anger dimensions of CAAS positively related with acceptance of cheating and gamesmanship, and past cheating behavior, while only the aggressiveness dimension of the CAAS negatively related with prosocial attitude. Competitive male athletes practicing contact sport showed the highest levels of aggressiveness, while competitive athletes practicing team sport showed the highest level of anger. This study represents the first empirical construct validity evidence of CAAS among Italian athletes and provides a deeper understanding of how athletes' aggressive tendencies and antisocial behavior differ across athlete populations.

Relationship between behavioral inhibition/activation system and Internet addiction among Chinese college students: The mediating effects of intolerance of uncertainty and self-control and gender differences

Background

Internet addiction is a global public health issue among college students that is associated with a range of negative outcomes. Especially the COVID-19 pandemic has forced them to shift most of their studies and life activities from offline to online, leading to a growing problem of Internet dependence and even Internet addiction. Although previous studies have indicated that the Behavioral Inhibition/Activation System (BIS/BAS) have important effects on college students' Internet addiction, the mechanisms underlying these associations and gender differences are still unclear.

Aims

The present study investigated the mediating roles of intolerance of uncertainty and self-control in the association between BIS/BAS and Internet addiction following the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model. Gender differences in such associations between variables were also tested.

Method

A total of 747 Chinese college students were surveyed by using Young's Diagnostic Questionnaire for Internet Addiction, BIS/BAS Scales, the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale and the Brief Self-Control Scale.

Results

The results from the structural equation modeling analysis showed that BIS was positively related to Internet addiction and that BAS had a negative association with Internet addiction. Moreover, intolerance of uncertainty and self-control mediated the relationships between BIS/BAS and Internet addiction. Multi-group analysis further revealed that the associations between BAS and Internet addiction and between intolerance of uncertainty and Internet addiction were stronger among the male students than among female students. The relationship between self-control and Internet addiction was greater in the female sample than in the male sample.

Conclusions

These findings extend our understanding of how BIS/BAS influence Internet addiction among college students and suggest that not only should training approaches based on intolerance of uncertainty and self-control be fully considered, but different intervention programs should be focused on gender sensitivity to maximize the intervention effect.

Chronic stress, behavioral tendencies, and determinants of health behaviors in nurses: a mixed-methods approach

BACKGROUND

Nurses experience high, and often chronic, levels of occupational stress. As high-quality care requires a healthy workforce, individualized stress-alleviating interventions for nurses are needed. This study explored barriers and resources associated with health behaviors in nurses with different stress levels and work-related behavioral tendencies and identified health behavior determinants based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model.

METHODS

Applying a mixed methods transformative triangulation design, n = 43 nurses filled out chronic stress (SSCS) and work-related behavior and experience patterns (German acronym AVEM) questionnaires, and participated in semi-structured interviews. With content analysis, categories of health behavior-related barriers and resources emerged. Behavior determinants (self-efficacy, outcome expectancies), health behavior, and barriers and resources were quantified via frequency and magnitude coding and interrelated with SSCS and AVEM scores to link level of health behavior with potential influencing factors. Nonparametric tests explored differences in quantified variables for SSCS and AVEM scores and 4-step-hierarchical regression analysis identified predictors for health behavior.

RESULTS

Eighty-four percent of the nurses were chronically stressed while 49% exhibited unhealthy behavioral tendencies at the workplace. 16 personal and organizational themes (six resources, ten barriers) influenced health behaviors. Stress was associated with resource frequency (p = .027) and current health behaviors (p = .07). Self-efficacy significantly explained variance in health behaviors (p = .003).

CONCLUSION

Health promotion related barriers and resources should be considered in designing nurse health promotion campaigns. Practitioners need to individualize and tailor interventions toward stress and behavioral experiences for sustainable effects on adherence and health.

Aggressiveness in Judokas and Team Athletes: Predictive Value of Personality Traits, Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy

Combat sports and martial arts are often associated with aggressiveness among the general public, although data on judo and/or martial arts and aggressiveness seem to be unclear. This research aims to compare athletes who have trained judo for a prolonged time (minimum 5 years) and athletes from various team sports, primarily regarding the manifestation of aggression, but also regarding personality traits, emotional intelligence, and self-efficacy. Also, the potential predictive value of personality traits, emotional intelligence, and self-efficacy for aggression within subsamples of judokas and team athletes was tested. The research findings showed that professional judo athletes are characterized by a low degree of aggression, especially low indirect and physical manifestations of aggression. In addition, the personality traits Honesty-Humility and Openness to experience are well expressed, contrary to Emotionality and Extraversion, which are less pronounced. They are also characterized by moderate general self-efficacy. On the other hand, members of team sports produced the opposite results, as they are characterized by increased aggression, pronounced traits of Emotionality and Extraversion, somewhat less pronounced traits of Honesty-Humility, Openness to new experience, and less pronounced general self-efficacy. The percentage of explained variability of aggression is slightly higher in the subsample of team sports and constitutes 49.9% of the variability, while in the subsample of judokas it constitutes 47.8% of the variability of the criteria. Practical implications, limitations, and future research directions were discussed.

Why Not All the Powerful Abuse? The Competitive Effects of Psychological Distance and Self-Control

Building on the social distance theory of power, this study proposed the positive and negative mechanisms of power and their impacts on abusive supervision from the competitive perspectives of psychological distance and self-control. The boundary effects of independent self-construal were also analyzed. The hypotheses of this study were tested through questionnaires and an experimental study design. The Study 1 data were collected from 422 supervisors and subordinates from five private enterprises and one state-owned enterprise in Eastern China. Study 2, on the other hand, was conducted through a scenario-based experiment in which 180 part-time master of business administration (MBA) students from a university in Eastern China participated. All data were tested using polynomial regression analysis and a bootstrapping appraisal. The results revealed that (1) the relationship between power and abusive supervision is not significant; (2) psychological distance mediates the relationship between power and abusive supervision, with high power leading to higher psychological distance, which, in turn, strengthens abusive supervision; (3) self-control mediates the relationship between power and abusive supervision, with high power leading to higher self-control, which, in turn, weakens abusive supervision; (4) the mediating effect of psychological distance is stronger, and the mediating effect of self-control is weaker when independent self-construal is high rather than low. At the end of this study, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Motivation Interview Effectiveness and Optimism Efficiency on the Quality of Life of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

AIM: This study aims to analyze the quality of life of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) through the intervention of motivational interview and efficacy of optimism. METHODS: The type of research is Quasi Experimental - Non-Randomized Control Group Pretest Posttest Design. The sample was T2DM patients, while the treatment was carried out on 50 respondents. Interventions were given in motivational interviews and the effectiveness of optimism. The statistical test used is the two-dependent difference test and two independent mean difference test. RESULTS: The statistical test of the difference between the two independent means showed the sig. value (two tailed) of 0.006. It pointed to a significant difference in post-test between DM patients’ quality of life in the intervention and control groups. Based on the two dependent difference test, the mean showed that the value of sig. (two tailed) 0.000 means a significant difference between DM patients’ quality of life in the intervention and control groups after the post-test. CONCLUSION: There was a substantial relationship between motivational interviewing and optimism efficacy on the quality of diabetes mellitus patients.

The Mediating Roles of Core Self-Evaluation and Career Exploration in the Association Between Proactive Personality and Job Search Clarity

In recent years, university students’ employment has become an increasingly prominent problem worldwide. Improving the job search clarity of students is a great way to boost job-hunting success. Proactive personality may predict job search clarity through the mediating effects of core self-evaluation and career exploration. However, few studies have explored this relationship and the mediating roles of core self-evaluation and career exploration. To identify the relationship between a proactive personality and job search clarity and the mediating roles of core self-evaluation and career exploration, a cross-sectional survey was conducted. A total of 495 students majoring in nursing completed the questionnaire which consisted of the proactive personality scale, core self-evaluation scale, career exploration survey, and job search clarity scale. Correlation analyses and mediation analyses were conducted using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 24.0 respectively. This study showed that students higher on the proactive personality scale were more likely to perform better on job search clarity. Core self-evaluation and career exploration have fully mediating effects on the relationship between a proactive personality and job search clarity. Therefore, interventions concentrated on cultivating proactive personality, improving core self-evaluation, and strengthening career exploration would be necessary for increasing job search clarity.

Academic Self-Efficacy and Postgraduate Procrastination: A Moderated Mediation Model

Studies in recent years have shown that academic procrastination in postgraduates is very common and has a negative impact on their mental health. Therefore, we conducted this study to explore the influencing mechanism of postgraduate academic procrastination. In this study, based on the Temporal Decision Model (TDM) of procrastination and the strength model of self-control, we administered a questionnaire survey to 577 full-time postgraduates (351 females, 226 males) to explore the influence mechanisms and gender differences of motivational and volitional factors on academic procrastination. Our results indicated significant differences in academic self-efficacy between females and males. Academic self-efficacy was positively correlated with academic self-control and negatively correlated with academic procrastination; academic self-control was negatively correlated with academic procrastination. Academic self-control had a completely mediating effect in the influence of academic self-efficacy on academic procrastination. Gender variables moderated the influence of academic self-efficacy on academic self-control and thus significantly moderated the mediating effect of academic self-control. Specifically, academic self-control had a stronger mediating effect between academic self-efficacy and academic procrastination for female postgraduates. Our findings may provide guidance for postgraduates who exhibit academic procrastination and extend the theory of academic procrastination.

Self-Efficacy and Depression in Boxers: A Mediation Model

BACKGROUND

Depression has become one of the most common problems faced by athletes. In many mental health problems, its production and development mechanisms and influencing factors have received full attention from researchers, whereas boxers' depression has received limited attention. This study explored the relationship between boxers' self-efficacy and depression, as well as the effect of self-control as a mediating factor.

METHODS

This study used the athlete self-efficacy scale (ASES), the self-control scale (SCS), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies depression scale (CES-D). Using a large number of randomly selected samples, a total of N=231 boxers (age: M =20.28, SD = 2.60, ages around 18 to 32; the total number of years of exercise: M = 6.07 years, SD = 2.90, years around 1 to 15; 144 male) of Chinese national athletes participated the study.

RESULTS

Self-efficacy and self-control were negatively correlated with depression; self-efficacy was positively correlated with self-control. In addition, self-control played a partial mediation role between self-efficacy and depression among boxers.

CONCLUSION

Above all, an important way to improve and prevent the depression of Chinese boxers maybe enhance their level of self-efficacy and self-control.