Motivational profiles in table tennis players: Relations with performance anxiety and subjective vitality
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Alan Chu, Associate Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: Research has suggested the need to use a person-centred approach to examine multidimensionality of motivation. Guided by self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), the primary aim of the present study was to examine the motivational profiles in table tennis players and their composition by gender, country, training status, and competition levels (from recreational to international). The secondary aim was to examine the differences in performance anxiety and subjective vitality across the motivational profiles. Participants were 281 table tennis players from multiple countries, mostly the U.S. and China. Hierarchical and nonhierarchical cluster analyses were conducted and showed three motivational profiles with distinct quantity and quality: “low”, “controlled”, and “self-determined”. Chi-square tests of independence demonstrated significant differences in their cluster membership by country, formal training with a coach, and competition levels, but not gender. MANCOVA results indicated differences in performance anxiety and subjective vitality across the motivational profiles, in which the controlled profile had the greatest anxiety symptoms. These differences are attributed to the quality over quantity of motivation, which have meaningful implications for table tennis coaches and sport psychology consultants to diagnose and intervene with players in order to reduce their performance anxiety and improve their well-being.
Motivational profiles in table tennis players: Relations with performance anxiety and subjective vitality
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Created on 9/27/2023
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Journal of Sports Sciences, 36(23)
- Language: English
- Date: 2018
- Keywords
- self-determination theory, anxiety, subjective vitality, table tennis, cluster analysis