AbstractThere has been a scarcity of research regarding the unique mental health risk factors that adolescent athletes face. The recently proposed Rational Emotive Self Determination Scale for Adolescents (RESD-A) has been suggested to understand some of the antecedent and associative factors of adolescent athlete mental health. The principal aim of this study is to examine the structural and criterion validity of the RESD-A in an athlete sample for the first time. To achieve this aim, two hundred and forty-two club level soccer athletes participated in the study. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the validity of the RESD-A's factor structure. Partial correlation analyses with the subscales of RESD-A, emotional intelligence, and mental health scores were used to examine criterion validity. Initial results for the structural and criterion validity of the RESD-A with an athlete population are promising. The potential importance, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.
AbstractThis paper reports the development and initial validation of the Persian language Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (iPBI-Persian). The original iPBI was developed to provide a validated measure of the four core irrational beliefs of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) within performance-based samples, such as athletes. Data retrieved from 334 athletes (169 men, 165 women, Mage = 21.52 ± 4.00 years) were analyses using SPSS and LISREL software packages. After the linguistic and cross-cultural adaptation processes, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) results showed that six items did not have acceptable factor loadings. After removal of problem items, a 22-item version was developed (CFI = 0.96). The iPBI-Persian demonstrated excellent levels of reliability, with internal consistency and test–retest reliability, as well as construct validity. This paper indicates that the 22-item iPBI-Persian can be used as a self-assessment instrument to evaluate irrational performance beliefs in Iranian athlete samples.
AbstractAccording to Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), humans have a strong biological tendency to adopt self-defeating irrational beliefs which are subsequently driven by the socio-cultural environment one lives in Ellis (J Individ Psychol 32:145–168, 1976). Sport of all levels presents a unique environment which may serve to explain sport-related irrationalities harboured by athletes given that sport seems to endorse irrationality evident by the language used by key personnel and outlets (e.g., coaches and the media; (Turner in Front Psychol 7(9):1–16, 2016. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01423). An athlete's beliefs and philosophies are shaped by a myriad of people within and outside of sport with whom they look to for guidance, such as coaches, medical professionals, parents, and the media. These key social agents within an athlete's micro- and macro-environment harbour and model irrationality through their behaviour, language and processes. These irrationalities may then be internalized, giving rise to the development and maintenance of irrational beliefs in athletes. Research has consistently demonstrated the association between irrational beliefs and deleterious mental health outcomes in athletes, such as psychological distress (e.g., Turner in Bernard and Dryden (eds.) REBT: advances in theory, research, prevention, promotion, Springer Press, pp. 307–335, 2019). Therefore, the aim of our commentary is twofold: (1) to critically explore how key stakeholders within an athlete's micro- and macro- environment contribute to the development, maintenance, and strengthening of irrational beliefs in athletes and, (2) to provide guidance to key stakeholders on weakening irrational beliefs and strengthening rational beliefs, thereby promoting a healthy and successful sport environment and positive mental health outcomes in athletes.
AbstractThe reported usage of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) in high performance sport is becoming more common in research literature. This research indicates that REBT is a useful and effective approach to performance psychology. However, applied professional practice reflections and insights remain sparse. The current paper brings together REBT practitioners who work predominantly in performance settings (i.e., sport) to answer three questions pertaining to their application of REBT. Practitioners were asked to respond to the following questions: (1) What do you consider to be among the main irrational beliefs that interfere with performance? (2) In your experience, which irrational beliefs impair one's ability to recover from a significant injury or major setback? (3) Can you describe the role of cognitive restructuring/change/reappraisal/disputation in applied work as it relates to performance? In the present paper, the practitioners' responses are collected and presented, following which common themes are drawn from the responses to form guidance for practitioners wishing to apply REBT in performance settings. It is hoped that the experiences of the included practitioners will be useful for those wishing to take an REBT approach to their performance psychology consultancy.