What do young athletes implicitly understand about psychological skills?

McCarthy, Paul J.; Jones, Marc V.; Harwood, Chris G.; Olivier, Steve

Abstract

One reason sport psychologists teach psychological skills is to enhance performance in sport; but the value of psychological skills for young athletes is questionable because of the qualitative and quantitative differences between children and adults in their understanding of abstract concepts such as mental skills. To teach these skills effectively to young athletes, sport psychologists need to appreciate what young athletes implicitly understand about such skills because maturational (e.g., cognitive, social) and environmental (e.g., coaches) factors can influence the progressive development of children and youth. In the present qualitative study, we explored young athletes' (aged 10–15 years) understanding of four basic psychological skills: goal setting, mental imagery, self-talk, and relaxation. Young athletes (n= 118: 75 males and 43 females) completed an open-ended questionnaire to report their understanding of these four basic psychological skills. Compared with the older youth athletes, the younger youth athletes were less able to explain the meaning of each psychological skill. Goal setting and mental imagery were better understood than self-talk and relaxation. Based on these findings, sport psychologists should consider adapting interventions and psycho-educational programs to match young athletes' age and developmental level.

Citation

MCCARTHY, P.J., JONES, M.V., HARWOOD, C.G. and OLIVIER, S. 2010. What do young athletes implicitly understand about psychological skills? Journal of clinical sport psychology [online], 4(2), pages 158-172. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.4.2.158

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 31, 2010
• Online Publication Date: Jan 31, 2010
• Publication Date: Jan 31, 2010
• Deposit Date: Jan 20, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 20, 2022
• Journal: Journal of clinical sport psychology
• Print ISSN: 1932-9261
• Electronic ISSN: 1932-927X
• Publisher: Human Kinetics
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 158-172
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.4.2.158
• Keywords: Young athletes; Psychology; Mental health; Sport psychology
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/981974