The relationship between mindfulness, psychological competitive abilities and mood states were investigated among Japanese university athletes.

Athletes (N=233, 169 men and 64 women, mean age 18.51 years, SD=1.16) responded to a questionnaire package comprising the Athletes Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Diagnostic Inventory of Psychological Competitive Ability for Athletes 3 (DIPCA. 3), and the Japanese version of the Profile of Moods States short version (POMS).

Results indicated that athletes with high compared to low mindfulness scores had higher scores for self-control, ability to relax, concentration, confidence, decision, judgment, as well as higher total DIPCA. 3, and lower score for total POMS scores. Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated direct and indirect associations between mindfulness and total mood disturbance through self-control and ability to relax skills of the DIPCA. 3.

These results suggest that mindfulness is one predictor of psychological aspects of performance and mental health of athletes.

View full abstract

The purpose of our study was (1) to clarify the elements and mechanisms of loss of spirit (LOS), and the ways to prevent LOS during competition, and (2) to identify the factors that prevent LOS. We interviewed 18 athletes and analyzed their interview transcripts by creating tags and categories. We divided the text of each transcript into text segments (tags) containing information about LOS or ways to prevent LOS. We then gathered tags with similar meanings and labeled the cluster of tags (categories) to briefly indicate the topic (Côté et al., 1993). Results revealed that the phenomenon of LOS had the following three phases: (1) cause of LOS (e.g., game situations, negative emotions), (2) condition of LOS (e.g., poor concentration, losing the will to fight, negative game situations), and (3) response after the game (e.g., undesirable result). The phenomenon of preventing LOS had the following five phases: (1) cause of nearly experiencing LOS (e.g., game situations, negative emotions), (2) condition of nearly experiencing LOS (e.g., decrease of concentration, losing the will to fight), (3) opportunity to prevent LOS (e.g., positive words and actions of others, heightening the fight), (4) condition after preventing LOS (e.g., improvement of performance, emergence of positive emotions), and (5) response after the game (e.g., evaluation of the game). Furthermore, a comparison of these phenomena revealed that LOS may be prevented by high levels of motivation before the game, positive words and actions of others, keeping the fight, reframing one’s thoughts, improving the game situations, and preserving stamina.

View full abstract

In free-climbing competitions, an observation of the wall is made before the actual climbing by the competitor, that is indispensable for the later action performance. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the functional characteristics of the climber’s memory needed to prepare for the later climb. In Experiment 1, the effects of the visual presentation (i.e., real wall and monitor wall conditions) and the route type (i.e., easy, difficult, and impossible conditions) of the climbing route were examined. In Experiment 2, using a real wall, the effects of action (i.e., “with” actual moves usually used to climb and “without” moves during a given observation time) and the route type (i.e., possible and impossible) of the climbing route were examined. In those experiments, participants were asked to subtract numbers as a distraction task just after the observation of the route. They were then asked to recall the route by reporting the holds they memorized. The results showed an effect for the route type, that is, the participants showed a higher score in the easy route than in the difficult and impossible routes, particularly for the real wall condition (Experiment 1). The recall performance for the real climbing route appeared to be independent from the action ( “with” and “without”), but the recall was modulated by the route type, namely a higher score was shown in the possible route than in the impossible route (Experiment 2). These findings imply that participants might maintain a certain representation of a given route in their memory, such as the route difficulty or the possibility to move, particularly if they observed a real wall.

View full abstract