Recent research suggests that groups of athletes which differ in terms of perfectionism and perceptions of achievement climate can be identified. Moreover, these groups also differ in terms of ...burnout symptoms. The purpose of the current study was to extend this research by examining whether discernible groups can be identified based on scores of perfectionism and perceptions of parent‐initiated climate and, then, whether these groups differ in terms of burnout. Two‐hundred and thirty‐seven Swedish junior athletes (124 males and 113 females aged 16–19) from a variety of sports completed measures of athlete burnout, multidimensional perfectionism, and parent‐initiated motivational climate. Latent profile analysis identified four groups: non‐perfectionistic athletes in a task‐involving climate, moderately perfectionistic athletes in a task‐involving climate, highly perfectionistic athletes in a task‐involving climate, and highly perfectionistic athletes in a mixed climate. The latter two groups reported higher levels of burnout in comparison to other groups. The findings suggest that junior athletes high in perfectionism may be at comparatively greater risk to burnout and that this may especially be the case when they perceive their parents to emphasize concerns about failure and winning without trying one's best.
Aim
This study examined the prevalence of tobacco habits and the influence of the social environment among Swedish female athletes representing both individual and team sports in Sweden.
Material and ...method
A self‐reported cross‐sectional survey was performed with 791 female athletes 15–24 years old representing ten of the most common sports in Sweden. The questions related to the participants' involvement in sports and their tobacco habits.
Results
Findings revealed that a large proportion of the female athletes had never smoked (65%) or used snus (74%). However, a considerable portion of the participants had tried smoking (27%) or using snus (20%), especially those involved in team sports. Results also showed statistically significant associations between female athletes' smoking habits and those of both their mothers and their peers, but not with the tobacco habits of their coaches, indicating that coaches do not influence the female athletes' use of tobacco.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this study indicated that the vast majority of female athletes did not use tobacco. A significant portion had sometimes tried tobacco, especially members of team sports, but this behaviour did not seem to be influenced by the tobacco habits of their coaches.
Sweden has an extensive culture of community club sports for children and youths, based on voluntary leadership. Being a voluntary coach can be stressful and can affect coaches’ well-being. Since ...voluntary coaching is closely connected to and conditioned by family life and civil occupation, coaches need support for practical issues as well as for developing their coaching assignment in relation to the constantly changing conditions within sports for children and youths. The aim of this paper was to conceptualize and problematize the supportive structures in everyday activities, in order to promote learning and well-being and to prevent mental health issues. This paper is conceptual and based on a paradigm case. The starting point is communities of practice (CoP) and how CoPs can contribute to the development of supportive structures for coaches in youth sports. In conclusion, a CoP is dependent on negotiation within the coaching team as well as on facilitating factors that can add knowledge, perspectives, and experiences to the CoP. The facilitating factors mean that a CoP has the potential to be health-promoting for both coaches and players. Hence, it is important to create conditions, structures, and support—such as policies, practice-based education, mentorship, and facilitators.
In this study we examined the relationship between trait hope and burnout in elite junior soccer players and whether stress and positive and negative affect mediated this relationship.
Participants ...were 238 Swedish soccer players (166 males, 71 females; one did not indicate gender) aged 15–19 years who completed questionnaires measuring trait hope, perceived stress, positive and negative affect, and athlete burnout (i.e., emotional/physical exhaustion, a reduced sense of accomplishment, and sport devaluation).
Bivariate correlations were consistent with hope theory contentions indicating significant negative relationships between hope and all three burnout dimensions. The relationship between hope and emotional/physical exhaustion was fully mediated by stress and positive affect. For sport devaluation and reduced sense of accomplishment, stress and positive affect partially mediated the relationship with hope. In contrast, negative affect did not mediate the relationship between hope and any of the burnout dimensions.
The results support earlier findings that hope is negatively related to athlete burnout. Support was also found for the hypothesis that high hope individuals would experience less stress and therefore less burnout. Promoting hope may be relevant in reducing the likelihood of this detrimental syndrome.
•We examined the link between hope and burnout in elite junior soccer players.•This relationship was mediated by stress and positive affect.•In contrast, negative affect did not act as a mediator.•Promoting hope might be important for reducing the likelihood of burnout.
There is a widespread belief that organized sport can be used as a tool for positive youth development. However, phenomena such as parental pressure, binge drinking, doping, bullying and ...marginalization are also present within the sport milieu, with potential risks for negative outcomes to occur. The aim of the present study was to examine the longitudinal effects of organized sport involvement on indicators of youth psychosocial development over 24 months. Surveys assessing reported sport involvement and psychosocial development indicators were carried out at baseline (T1), 12 months (T2), and 24 months (T3). The results, based on self-reports of 920 youth, ages 10-18 years from Sweden, showed strong evidence of an association between baseline sports involvement and end line selfesteem (SE) (r=.15; p<.001), perceived physical competence (PPC) (r=.47; p<.001), and social competence (PSC) (r=.21; p<.001), reported grades (GRAD) (r=.13; p<.001) and alcohol use (ALC) (r=.10; p=.016). After adjusting for selection effects (i.e. dropping out of sport) and prior level outcomes, the effects of sport involvement on indicators of youths’ psychosocial development used in this study, were in general negligible (SE=.05, p=.20;PSC=.05, p=.20;GRAD=.04, p=.60;ALC=.03, p=.49) except for PPC (PPC=.14, p<.001). The results of this study highlight the importance of using longitudinal studies that account for variances explained by prior level outcomes, sociodemographic variables and dropouts from sports.
This article examines the reception and dissemination of 'malign information influence' (MII) in a liberal democracy; information sponsored by authoritarian regimes or other hostile actors and ...projected through international broadcasting outlets across borders. The study contributes to the scarce research on the reception of narratives transmitted by the Russian state-supported media platforms RT and Sputnik, exposing characteristics, political attitudes, and sharing behaviors of RT/Sputnik consumers. A nationwide, representative survey (n: 3033) from November 2020 revealed a surprisingly high number of Swedish RT/Sputnik consumers (7%), with an overrepresentation of young, men and supports of non-parliamentarian parties and the right wing, nationalist Sweden Democratic Party. These consumers are somewhat more willing than non-consumers to disseminate news on social media and in real life despite being distrustful of the sources. The findings strengthen previous research in demonstrating the attractiveness of identity grievance narratives among alternative media consumers, yet the results show that RT/Sputnik consumers also aligned with narratives that contrasts with national security policy. They state less trust in politicians, institutions, the media, news, and journalism, yet are comparatively prone to share unreliable or untrue news content on social media and in real life. The analysis thus identified a section of media consumers who can function as vehicles for the dissemination of MII. The article contributes to the under-researched problem of the potential of MII to take root and provides a basis for future qualitative research that can refine and provide nuance to the knowledge of reception of MII.
On February 27 2022, the EU announced that it would ban the Russian state-sponsored platforms RT and Sputnik from the European media space. The controversial reaction demonstrates that European ...politicians take the destructiveness of authoritarian states' international broadcasting seriously. This article addresses the nature of the threat, conceptualised as 'malign information influence' (MII): information sponsored by authoritarian regimes or other hostile actors and projected through international broadcasting outlets across borders. The article explores reactions to Russian information influence and outlines key problems that it can cause, above all polarisation and the undermining of trust, media and democracy. It exemplifies Russian information influence towards the Ukraine and a number of other states and exposes different channels, strategies and techniques. Effects are briefly discussed. The article's key argument is that information influence should not be reduced to a problem of sudden 'campaigns' or 'operations'. It is an enduring, long term, threat.
Scholars, states and organisations have warned that authoritarian regimes and other hostile actors are projecting information to inflict harm upon others. Yet, there is little agreement on the nature ...of this threat. This is mirrored in the plethora of labels in use, ranging from "disinformation" to "sharp power" and "information warfare". In order to investigate this menace further, we turn our focus to ordinary people's anxieties, since a better understanding of threat perceptions will also provide a better understanding of the problem. We conducted a comprehensive case study comprising focus group discussions (n: 97) and an extensive survey (n: 2046) among Swedish citizens. We asked: To what extent do people worry about information influence and why? What can this tell us about the nature of this problem or threat? The empirical results suggest that respondents were first and foremost worried about societal cohesion and democracy. They also identified a risk that information influence can undermine trust in societal institutions and the EU. Based on our findings, we suggest that "malign information influence" is an appropriate label to be used in future research. Finally, we propose directions for future systematic research on how malign information infuence is received and processed in different national contexts.
Scholars have characterized the EU as a normative power whose greatest asset is to be able to shape conceptions of what is ‘normal’ in international affairs. Scholars have argued that a normative ...power has to meet certain discursive standards; representing others in a non‐antagonistic, humble way. We question whether the EU can live up to this ideal when defending itself against Russian strategic communication. The empirical enquiry establishes that while the EU High Commissioner communicates in line with the stipulated standards, the newly established East Stratcom Taskforce and its publication ‘Disinformation Digest’ diverges from this ideal. The establishment of the Taskforce has led to the EU losing reflexivity and normative power. The article concludes that while Diez’ and Manners’ standards are utopian in the contemporary communicative climate, they remain useful as guiding rules that can help normative powers ‘watch their language’ and avoid doing unnecessary harm.
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