This study aimed to develop a scale to measure junior high school students’ failure experiences in physical education (PE) classes, identify the types of failure appraisals students reported, and examine differences by grade and gender. A questionnaire survey was administered to 1,247 students from six public junior high schools in Tokyo, Japan; valid responses were obtained from 1,226 students. To develop the scale, the sample was split into two groups (n = 613 each). An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted in Group A to estimate the factor structure, followed by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in Group B to test the structure. The EFA yielded a four-factor, 16-item Physical Education Failure Experience Scale comprising deviation from the code of conduct, experience of embarrassment, burden, and inadequate performance. The CFA indicated acceptable model fit, and all standardized factor loadings were significant and ≥ .40. The subscales showed adequate reliability. Construct validity was examined using two-way ANOVAs with students’ evaluations of PE and self-evaluated motor competence, and the results showed subscale-specific patterns consistent with the multidimensional structure of the scale. Regarding group differences, third-year students scored higher than second-year students on burden and inadequate performance, and girls scored higher than boys on embarrassment, burden, and inadequate performance. These results suggest that students’ failure experiences in PE reflect both competence-related and socially situated appraisals. The scale may be useful for assessing students’ failure experiences in Japanese junior high school PE and for informing instructional approaches that reduce avoidable social comparison and support psychologically safe learning environments.

An examination of international research findings on sport and well-being (WB) was conducted to identify trends and issues for future empirical research. To this end, we adopted three review methods: 1) a quantitative review, 2) a review of "review articles", and 3) a scoping review of empirical studies. The results are summarized as follows.

1) Counting of keywords in the review articles revealed that words related to sport, such as "exercise" and "physical activity", were used more frequently than those associated with WB, such as "quality of life". In connection with sports, many studies used the terms "well-being", "play", and "leisure". In relation to WB, many studies used the term "quality of life", "exercise", "physical activity", and "fitness".

2) Through collection of review articles and collation of their contents, we identified (1) medical clients, (2) children, (3) older adults, (4) adults, (5) athletes and coaches, and (6) families as target categories. In addition, we characterized each category on the basis of indicators and research methods used for assessment of exercise/sports.

3) It was suggested that empirical studies of sports and WB still need to organize the definition and theoretical framework of WB and the methods used for measuring and analyzing sports activities. For example, "time", "content", and "orientation" were used to varying extents for measurement of sports concepts.

Empirical research on sports and WB must focus on the quality of the measured sports activity and the context of life in which it takes place. There is a need for typology and taxonomy of sports that reflect the lives of individuals practicing them. It is also necessary to continue exploring the impact of such sports throughout an individual’s lifetime.

Background: This study investigates the impact of emotion regulation and related strategies on emotional state and performance during free-throws in basketball, a closed skill, with respect to both successful and unsuccessful outcomes.

Methods: A total of 32 university basketball team players were selected with approximately 10.41 ± 2.77 years of competitive experience. Participants performed free-throws under four conditions: distraction, positive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and a control condition. Free-throw scores and emotional states (i.e., pleasantness, relaxation, and anxiety) were measured.

Results: The results revealed that the performance scores under the expressive suppression condition were significantly higher. Pleasantness was significantly higher in the distraction and positive reappraisal conditions than in the expressive suppression and control conditions, and relaxation was significantly higher in the distraction condition than in the expressive suppression and control conditions. No significant differences among conditions were observed for anxiety. Regarding subsequent performance following successful and unsuccessful trials, the main effect of condition was significant; however, neither the main effect of preceding trial outcome nor the interaction between condition and preceding trial outcome reached significance.

Discussion: These findings suggest that expressive suppression may facilitate free-throw performance in a self-paced, precision-based motor task, despite being associated with lower pleasantness and relaxation compared to distraction. In contrast, strategies that were associated with more favorable emotional states did not necessarily lead to better performance. No clear evidence was found that the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies differed depending on whether the preceding trial was a success or a failure.

Conclusion: The present findings suggest that emotion regulation strategies influence basketball free-throw performance primarily at the overall condition level rather than in a clearly situation-specific manner. These findings extend research on emotion regulation in sport by indicating that such strategies may influence performance in a self-paced motor task. However, further research is needed to clarify whether these effects vary across success and failure situations.

This study attempted to evaluate the approaches of college athletes to their own athletics, or varsity sports, and to examine the influence of those approaches on their initial job search.

A web-based survey (opt-out method) was administered to college athletes (March 2023 graduates) who participated in career events exclusively for college athletes, and responses were obtained from 15,643. The 3,327 undergraduate students who reported some kinds of job offer were divided into 2 groups: group Y 2,662 (males 1,673; females 989), who could not be identified as having received any job offer from the top 300 most popular companies, and group Z 665 (males 410; females 255), who were identified as having received a job offer from the top 300 most popular companies, which were treated as objective variables. The student athletes were classified into 5 types according to their approaches to athletics by (1) setting 19 arbitrary items (4-point scale) from the Sports Version Self-regulated Learning Scale and the Life Skills Scale, (2) obtaining factor scores for 7 factors through factor analysis of the response trends, and (3) conducting hierarchical cluster analysis using the obtained factor scores. Cross-tabulations and binary logistic regression analysis using other explanatory variables were conducted to examine the relationship between the 5 types and the distribution of groups Y and Z.

The main results were as follows: Most importantly, (a) college athletes’ approaches to their own athletics affected the rate of receiving job offers from popular companies even after controlling for other variables, (b) the rate of receiving job offers from popular companies was reduced simply by being female, (c) university prestige rank had a dominant effect on the rate of receiving job offers from popular companies for both males and females, (d) sports-based enrollment decreased the rate of receiving job offers from popular companies in comparison to student athletes enrolled through other admission portals, (e) GPA improved the job offer rate from popular companies, (f) the “results” of athletic efforts, i.e., the highest athletic performance and intramural competitiveness, had little relationship with the job offer rate from popular companies, and (g) being a member of a “team sport” team/club increased the job offer rate from popular companies, and this tendency was more significant for males.

From a career development perspective, for college athletics, it is not important to belong simply to a varsity team, but it is more important to be intensively involved in the activities of a team and to strive to achieve results.