Sports Psychology: Annotated Bibliography Brunette,

Sports Psychology: Annotated Bibliography

Brunette, Michelle K., Michel Lariviere, Robert J. Schinke, Xiaoyan Xing, Pat Pickard. (2011).

Fit to belong: activity and acculturation of Chinese students. Journal of Sport Behavior.

FindArticles.com. Retrieved September 4, 2011 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6401/is_3_34/ai_n58009367/

This study hypothesized that physical activity could increase the potential for an easy cross-cultural transition of students into a new culture by enhancing the student's physical, mental, and social health. An interpretative (hermeneutic) phenomenological framework was used, mainly through interviewing and 'coding' the interviews to understand of how physical activity could ease student's cross-cultural transition. Fourteen Chinese students from a mid-size university in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, participated in the study. The participants were interviewed and over the course of the study participated in basketball and soccer with Chinese and Canadian teammates; other students tried 'Canadian' outdoor activities including skiing, snowboarding, skating, and hockey. Interviews in Chinese were taped, translated and then 'coded' into specific issues to allow for comparative study between the participant's reactions. Students reported enhanced communication skills and a greater sense of belonging: sports aided them in learning how to speak English, make friends, eased psychological distress and anxiety, and made them feel more at home in Canada.

Downs, Andrew & Jennifer Ashton. (2011). Vigorous physical activity, sports participation, and athletic identity: implications for mental and physical health in college students. Journal of Sport Behavior. Retrieved September 4, 2011 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6401/is_3_34/ai_n58009368/

There has been a strong increase in college students with mental health issues and students who manifest unhealthy behaviors like binge drinking. Vigorous exercise is often prescribed as a possible solution to mental health issues because of the ability of exercise to increase the release of 'feel good' neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and serotonin that also mitigate the body's reaction to stress. But college students are often less physically active than when they were in high school. Continued participation in physical activity was hypothesized to lead to more healthy behaviors and also lower rates of depression in college students. The participants for this experimental study included 395 undergraduate college students (286 female and 109 male). The participants completed self-report instruments that assessed their levels of depression, sports participation history, athletic identity, and psychological and overall behavioral functioning. Students who were continuously active showed higher levels of mental health, and also manifested healthier behaviors. They had lower usage rates of electronics and ate more healthy foods, although their tendency to binge drink and eat 'junk food' remained equal to their physically inactive counterparts.

Modrono, Cristian & Felix Guillen. (2011). Anxiety characteristics of competitive windsurfers:

relationships with age, gender, and performance outcomes. Journal of Sport Behavior. Retrieved September 4, 2011 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6401/is_3_34/ai_n58009371/

This article attempts to understand performance anxiety around what the authors of the article consider to be an 'extreme' sport. Windsurfing is considered a typical extreme sport because of its unconventional nature and the fact that it tends to take place outside of conventional competitive venues like gyms and enclosed sports venues. Rather than experiencing intense anxiety, windsurfers tended to show less performance anxiety, perhaps because they also rated higher in extroversion and emotional resiliency than athletes in more conventional sports. The descriptive study involved seventy-nine participants: 35 were male and 19 were female; 25 were regional-level competitors and all male. The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) was used to assess athlete anxiety and self-confidence levels along with the Sport Competition Anxiety Test. Findings indicated moderate stress anxiety, and the older participants had lower levels of stress anxiety. In contrast to other sports such as gymnastics, there was no difference between male and female windsurfer pre-competitive stress levels.

Sturm, Jennifer E. (2011). A comparison of athlete and student identity for Division I and Division III athletes. Journal of Sport Behavior. FindArticles.com. 04 Sep, 2011. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6401/is_3_34/ai_n58009372/