Sport Emotions, Anxiety, Task and Ego Orientation in Pakistani Adolescents: Mediating Role of Coaching Athlete Purpose

1. Introduction

Sports psychology is an important aspect of psychological sciences. However, the importance of sports psychological constructs is under-researched in Pakistan. Prior studies have been conducted on specific sports and games. Studies have focused on cricket [1], football [2], [3], handball [4,5], and hockey [6]. However, there are no studies that include modern pentathlon sports of fencing (one-touch épée), swimming, equestrian jumping, laser run, obstacle racing and sport running as per the Olympic program standards governed under the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne in Pakistan.

The role of coaching is integral to the promotion of sports at the individual, group, and organizational levels. The CAP is operationally defined as the stable intention of a coach to achieve targeted goals [1]. This construct focuses on athletic outcomes to assess coaching effectiveness. It builds on the innate qualities of competence, confidence, connection, and character [7]. The Horn’s Coaching Effectiveness model posits that the behavior of coaches depends on their beliefs about their impact on athletes’ final performance [8]. According to athlete-centered coaching, Foucauldian-based research suggests that power dynamics are essential in sport governance, namely disempowerment, discipline and docility [9].

According to Nicholl’s model of ‘Achievement Motivation’, goal achievement depends on consistency and appropriateness of behavior [10]. Task and goal orientation refer to the personal expertise of winning in sports. It covers perceptions of using aggressive tactics within interscholastic athletics. ., Task orientation is when an athlete is focused on the specific sports itself whereas ego orientation is the reliance on an athlete’s own skill set and expertise pertaining to the sport. A sample of young ice hockey players, with autonomous support from coaches can foster a task-oriented environment which is beneficial for sports-person retention. In distant sports education, task and ego orientation had a positive association with sports perception in a sample of curling athletes [11]. In a study of mega sports events in South Asian games, women were rated higher in task orientation, whereas men were rated higher in ego orientation, posing significant gender differences [12]. Regarding the use of performance-enhancement supplements, one study showed that ego orientation is related to supplement enhancement use and not task orientation. Sports persons and athletes who are more ego-oriented are more likely to use performance-enhancement supplements and believe that they are effective in the range of athletics, weightlifting, and soccer [13]. According to the incremental model of doping behavior, sports individuals are more inclined to use caffeine, creatine, and sodium bicarbonate [14] . The tendency to use sports supplements is difficult to quantify owing to the self-presentation bias [15]. Dietary supplement use has been shown to act as a gateway to banned substance use [16,17]. Further use of such behavior may be due to the preceding impact of sports anxiety.

Sports anxiety is related to somatic and cognitive traits, constant worry, and concentration disruption, among which concentration disruption is the most significant indicator of sports anxiety in basketball players at college level [18].

The somatic part relates to physiological reactions in sports, such as tremors, muscular fatigue, and digestive issues. The cognitive aspect is related to occupied thinking patterns related to coping. In a sample of collegiate judo athletes, where there is higher sports anxiety and lower psychological capital, mental skills training is advised [19]. In a study of combat sports, sportsperson ship traits (adherence to rules, opposing parties’ regard, and game planning) were negatively impacted by sport anxiety [20].

Sports anxiety is related to various types of emotions. Sports emotions relates to five basic synthesized emotions [21]. These emotions include anxiety (uneasy, tense, nervous, apprehensive, and anxious), dejection (upset, sad, unhappy, disappointed, dejected), excitement (exhilarated, excitement, enthusiasm, energy), anger (irritation, furious, annoyed, angry), and happiness (pleased, joyful, cheerful, and happy). Emotions of excitement and happiness lead to improved sports performance [22], whereas negative emotions such as anger and dejection would lead to increased worry and poor performance [23].

CAP is the consistent aim of interpersonal, intrapersonal, and professional knowledge to improve competence, confidence, connection, and character [24]. The component of competence is sport-specific tactical skills, better health and fitness, and sporting habits. Confidence is defined as an intrinsic sense of overall self-worth. The component of connection is termed positive bonds and social links with social agents inside and outside of sports

Significance of the Study, Objective and Hypotheses

This study aimed to explore how adolescent athletes feel sport-specific emotions, anxiety, task and ego orientation, and the role of coach athletes. It is integral to understanding the relationship between adolescent sports learners and their perceptions of coaching from their respective sports coaches. This will help to inculcate coaching skills in safer sports environments that will help adolescents emotionally, physically, and psychologically [25]. They can further learn to balance the surge in sports emotions to manifest focused goals. Presently, formal training interventions for coaches and athletes is under researched for the domain of pentathlon sports in Pakistan. Three hypotheses were established.

H1: There is significant association among sport emotions, sport anxiety, task and ego orientation and CAP.

H2: There is a significant effect of sport anxiety on task and ego orientation of sport adolescents

H3: There is a significant mediating effect of CAP between task and ego orientation and sport emotions of adolescents

2. Methods

2.1. Participants

This study was conducted using purposive sampling from 830 adolescents, from which 560 adolescents’ responses were collected and retained for the final study, with a response rate of 67.4%. Of the sample, 399 were males and 161 were females. The participants were engaged in one of five sports: shooting, swimming, laser run, fencing, or horse riding. Fencing was the most popular (28.2%), followed by, laser run (28.0%), swimming (22.9%), shooting (14.5%) and horse riding (6.3%). From the total sample 560 adolescents, n=191 showed a tendency to use performance enhancement sport supplements as compared to n=369 who did not. [report the sample representativeness; compared to the general adolescent population in Pakistan, our sample probably has more males].

2.2. Variables and Measures

The following tests were used in the study, The Sports Emotion Questionnaire (SEQ) is a sport specific measure that includes precompetitive emotions of anger, anxiety, excitement, dejection and happiness [24]. The scale is scored on 4-point Likert scale 0=not at all to 4=extremely. Anxiety is related to the emotions of uneasiness, tension, nervousness, apprehensiveness, and anxiety. The dejection component is a synthesis of upsetness, sadness, unhappiness, disappointment and dejection. The excitement component comprises exhilaration, excitement, enthusiasm, and energy. The anger component consists of irritation, fury, annoyance, and anger. Happiness was related to pleasure, joy, cheerfulness, and happiness. Cronbach alpha for the scale ranged from α=0 0.74 to 0.90

The Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS) is a psychometric survey that covers the three dimensions of somatic and cognitive trait anxiety, worry and concentration disruption [1]. The scale is scored on 4-point Likert scale where 1=not at all and 4=very much so. Some of the items include, “my heart pounds before competition”, “my body feels tight”, “it is hard to concentrate on the game”. Cronbach alpha for the scale is ranged from α=0.81-0.91.

Task and Ego Orientation in Sports Questionnaire (TEOSQ) in a unidimensional scale that measures successful feelings during sporting activity [26]. The scale is scored on a 5-point Likert scale 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree. Some of the items are, “the others can’t do as well as me”, “I’m the best”, “I learn a new skill and it makes me want to practice more”. The scale has high internal consistency that ranges from α=0.78-0.81.

The Coaching Athlete Purpose Scale (CAPS) is four-dimensional scale that measures between coaching and athletic-centered outcomes [27]. The four subscales included competence, confidence, connection, and character. The scale is scored on 5-point Likert scale 1=does not align to 5=aligns extremely well. Some of the items are, “teaching my athletes how to develop sport-specific technical skills”, “teaching my athletes how to develop sport-specific tactical skills”, “teaching my athletes how to develop resilience”. The scale is reported to have moderately high internal consistency with α=.70.

The purpose of coaching athletes is defined as a stable and long-sighted goal that is practiced multiple times to win a game. Coach behavior is studied in terms of passion as they are highly motivated [28]. There are various skills inclusive of confidence, health, motivation and focus that coaches holistically work towards, to transfer skills onto their athletes.

2.3. Data Analysis and Procedure

The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v.25). Correlational, regression and mediation analyses were performed. Data were obtained for descriptive and inferential statistics. The quantitative data were assessed for normality using skewness and kurtosis values that were close to normal. If the data were substantially skewed, they were adjusted using log10, and if they were minutely skewed, they were adjusted through the SQRT command. Therefore, parametric testing was performed. Reliability analysis was conducted to establish the psychometric properties of each scale and its subscales. Pearson product-moment correlation was used, followed by regression analysis. A mediation analysis was conducted using Hayes’ process.

The present study was approved under the protocol of Department of Psychology, Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan. The study also followed the protocols of Punjab Sports, which is devoted to the practice of different sports, and was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki [29]. The aims of the study were understood and explained to all participants as they provided their consent. The inclusion criteria of the study consisted only of participants who were formally schooled and educated in English.

3. Results

The data in the Table 1. Shows that the instruments have performed well in the Pakistani sport adolescent sample.

Table 2. shows the association among variables. Sports emotions show a strong correlation with somatic anxiety (r=.791,p=.05), worry(r=.784,p=.05),concentration and disruption (r=.708,p=.05), task and ego orientation (r=-.700,p=.05), coaching related to sport-general competence (r=-.784,p=.05), coaching related to confidence(r=-.664,p=.05), coaching related to connection (r=-.690,p=.05), coaching related to character (r=-.675,p=.05).

Table 3 shows multiple regression analysis to explore the effect of sport anxiety (somatic anxiety, worry, concentration and disruption on task and ego orientation. It is shown that there is significant negative effect of sport anxiety on sport and ego orientation. There is 58.9% variance in task and ego orientation while F has statistical significance at p<.001 (R² =.589, F(3,566) =265.239

Table 4. shows mediation analysis that shows that coaching athlete purpose (competence, confidence, character and connection) significantly mediates between sport emotions, task and ego orientation (β=.512, p<.001). The direct effect on task and ego orientation through coach athlete purpose of competence, confidence and character and connection) is statistically significant (β=-.204, p<.001). The indirect effect on task and ego orientation through competence (β=-.095, p<.001), confidence(β=-.082, p<.001), connection(β=-.043,p<.001), character(β=-.088, p<.001).

4. Discussion

This study aimed to evaluate sport-specific emotions, anxiety experienced by athletes, task and ego orientation and CAP. According to the first hypothesis, the findings support that there is a significant association among sport emotions, sport anxiety, task and ego orientation and CAP. Studies show that athletes are considered to be anxiogenic and hence correlated conversely with sports performance [30]. Goal orientations help to positively lower negative emotions in athletes, especially for females [31]. The second hypothesis is supported as findings show that there is a significant effect of sport anxiety on task and ego orientation of sport adolescents. It is similar to the finding that sport anxiety negatively affects goal orientation during individual sports, compared to team sports’ performance [32]. Moreover, if athletes have trained in an ego-oriented climate, they are more likely to exhibit higher levels of sport anxiety as they have greater fear of failure [33].

The third hypothesis supports that there is a significant effect of CAP in mediating the relationship between task and ego orientation and sport emotions of adolescents. The findings indicate that the role of coaching helps to resolve intra-team conflict by enhancing team cohesiveness [34]. The work of a professional sports coach comes with different responsibilities that is linked with athletes’ mental health.

The results show that the age group of 14-19 years of age are participants of pentathlon sports of laser run, swimming, horse riding, shooting and fencing. However, the expense of such sporting initiatives is exuberant and expensive around the world [35] and rarely is at the disposal of sports enthusiasts. The dichotomous question related to the use of performance-enhancement sport supplements showed that most of the adolescents would prefer not to use supplements.

The tendency to use performance-enhancement supplements is attributed to goal and ego-oriented behavior as per the Incremental Model of Doping Behavior [36]. Thus, organizations working towards anti-supplement use behavior must approach ego-oriented behaviors of sports persons and athletes. Methods to emphasize is to disseminate trainings to sports psychologists and coaches to instruct players about fair play and undermining the importance of cut-throat victories [37]. Intervention that can be novel in sports field of Pakistan, is the Rational Emotive Behavior Coaching for the regulation of perfectionism and competitive anxiety faced by athletes [38]. Furthermore, ontological cognitive behavioral team coaching can be used in combination of the former. The efficacy of these specific coaching methods and several effective trainings [40] are under-researched in sport teams within the context of developing countries [39]. The role of the coach with the athlete must lead to reduced competitive anxiety in young athletes to improve their long-term performance and to suppress their unhealthy competitive attitudes that manifests into ego orientation [40]. Different cultures have distinct coaching behaviors [41]. Chinese athletes encounter autocratic coaching, which in turn lead to increase in competitive anxiety whilst American athletes receive democratic coaching. The coaching behavioral style in Pakistani sport coaches for international games is yet under-researched [42] Moreover, task orientation is linked with motivation and mediates emotions of happiness and excitement [43] as posed in the study. In a similar study, ego-orientation is related to unpleasant emotions of anxiety, dejection and anger [44]. Club management teams must be promoted in the culture to further create job opportunities for trained coaches and sport psychologists [45]. To embed professional coaching training sessions would require the analysis of mindsets of athletes that differ globally. Athletic high growth and low fixed mindset helps to predict sport performances and coaching effectiveness. Furthermore, as per the Self-Determination Theory; emotional experiences of young athletes can be improved through supportive interventions that further promote intensive training centers.

5. Limitations

There are limitations that must be taken into account. The present study reached out to a sample of adolescents with a strict age bracket, who were only well-versed and educated in English. This study is a correlational cross-sectional study that poses a hindrance to causality inference. Thus, any generalizations must consider these limitations. Research designs for future studies can include quasi-experimental studies for coaching interventions to improve the robustness of data. The possibility of intercountry young athletes could enhance the study’s results. Moreover, it is important to take into account personality traits of sport athletes that may affect the constructs studied.