ECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH10
Introduction Undergraduate students often experience poor sleep quality, which may adversely affect their physical health, cognitive functions, and academic performance. Previous research has uncovered a noteworthy association between sleep beliefs and sleep quality. Additionally, a relationship seems to exist between negative emotions and both sleep-related beliefs as well as sleep quality. However, it remains uncertain whether beliefs concerning sleep can impact sleep quality through negative emotions and the mechanisms involved. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship among sleep beliefs, negative emotions, and sleep quality in undergraduate students. Methods A simple random sampling method was utilized to distribute three questionnaires to 864 undergraduate students [males = 629 (72.8%), age = 18.81 ± 1.00 years] in China. Individual negative sleep-related beliefs, negative mood, and sleep quality were measured by the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep Scale (DBAS-16), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), respectively. The Cronbachs alpha coefficient of the DBAS-16 and PSQI are 0.91 and 0.80, respectively. The Cronbachs alpha coefficient of the DASS-21 is 0.95, and the Cronbachs alpha coefficients of the depression, anxiety, and stress subscales are 0.88, 0.82, and 0.88, respectively. With SPSS 27.0, descriptive, correlational, and regression analyses of the data were carried out. The mediation model was tested using Hayes PROCESS v3.5 application. The bias-calibrated nonparametric percentile Bootstrap method was used to examine the significance levels of mediated effects. Results There were significant negative correlations among sleep beliefs, negative emotions, and sleep quality for each pair of variables. Each of the three sub-dimensions of negative emotions (depression, anxiety, and stress) was significantly positively correlated with sleep quality (r=0.450, p=0.01; r=0.463, p=0.01; r=0.482 p=0.01). Positive correlations exist among each pair of variables within the sub-dimensions of depression, anxiety, and stress. Notably, sleep beliefs have both direct negative predictive effects on sleep quality (β = -0.147, p< 0.001) and indirect influences through three pathways: independent mediation by depression (β = -0.186, p< 0.001), anxiety (β = -0.180, p< 0.001), and stress (β = -0.199, p< 0.001). Additionally, they operate via two chain-mediated pathways involving depression with stress (β = -0.052, p< 0.001), and anxiety with stress (β = -0.043, p< 0.001). Discussion Depression, anxiety, and stress independently mediate the association between undergraduate students sleep beliefs and sleep quality, with additional chained mediation involving depression and stress, anxiety and stress.
Read CV Peisi WangECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH10
Re-imagining self-compassion: A healthy, effective pathway to mental toughness and performance under pressure Shuge Zhang1,2*, Yutao Zho2,3, Luke Gibson1, Kirsten McEwan4 1 School of Sport & Exercise Sciences, University of Derby, UK 2 Hunan Research Centre of Excellence in Fitness, Health & Performance, China 3 College of Physical Education, Hunan University of Technology, China 4 School of Psychology, University of Derby, UK Background: Mental toughness is commonly used to describe an athlete who strives to excel and fulfil set goals despite challenges. It involves a collection of personal recourses such as self-efficacy and optimism and reflects the ability to maintain or enhance performance under high pressure. However, traditional mental toughness training has largely focused on enriching athletes’ personal resources such as mental skill use or enhancing threat detection and the ability to maintain high-level performance under pressure. Given the benefits of self-compassion in emotional regulation under difficult times in sport, in this project, we aimed to establish new evidence supporting the usefulness of a self-compassionate approach in fostering mental toughness in competitive athletes by taking a novel approach examining the interaction of athletes’ self-compassion and fears of compassion in mental toughness. Methods: Among 281 competitive athletes from 24 sports (Study 1) and 253 professional footballers from 12 teams (Study 2), we examined the interaction between athletes’ self-compassion and fears of compassion on self-report (Studies 1 and 2) and coach informant rating of athletes’ mental toughness and ability to maintain high-level performance under pressure (Study 2). Results: Multilevel (clustered) moderation analysis demonstrated a positive link between self-compassion and mental toughness (regardless of self-report or coach rating), of which the relationship was stronger when fears of compassion in sport were low, not high. The negative influence of low self-compassion on mental toughness levels was amplified greater when fear of self-compassion (compared to when fear of receiving compassion from others) was low. Such results were consistent in the multisport sample (Study 1) and the professional football sample (Study 2). Conclusion: The findings provide the first quantitative evidence of the facilitative role of interaction between self-compassion and fears of compassion in athletes’ mental toughness. Incorporating self-compassion is not only a way to realise better mental well-being and enhanced morality in sport but also an effective strategy for performance enhancement. Sport organisations, coaches, and practitioners should consider incorporating a self-compassionate approach to developing athletes’ mental toughness.
Read CV Shuge ZhangECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH10
Introduction Green exercise has been widely shown to provide synergistic benefits than those from exposure to other environments or from engaging in physical activity alone or being in a natural environment alone. Much of the literature has emphasized the importance of the positive effects of exposure to nature, which are affected by high connectedness to nature (CNT). Yet few studies have explored the effect of CNT on the benefits of green exercise. This study examined whether the differences of CNT in individuals play a role on exercise benefits, which is helpful to choose the suitable environment for recovery and exercise. Methods 100 healthy college students were recruited through an advertisement at the university campus to answer a Connectedness to Nature Scale (Mayer & Frantz, 2004). Participants scoring in the top 27% were invited as the high-CNT group (14 females and 11 males), whereas participants scoring in the bottom 27% were invited as the low-CNT group (12 females and 11 males). Participants engaged in incremental cycling exercise at a moderate intensity while viewing images of nature or urban environments. Before and after cycling (test time), Chinese versions of the Profile of Mood States scale and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and a two-choice oddball task were completed respectively. Results Significant interactions for environment × test time indicated that lower post-test scores in total mood disturbance, tension, fatigue subscales and higher score in vigor subscale in the natural environment condition than in the urban environment condition. An interaction for group × environment × test time showed that the high-CNT group has a significantly increased self-esteem scale scores after cycling in the natural environment, but not in the built environment, while the low-CNT group has a significantly increased self-esteem scale scores in both environments. The significant interactions for group × environment showed that the high-CNT group reports more Being Away and Fascination and Compatibility than the low-CNT group in the natural environment, and less Extent than the low-CNT group in the urban environment. Discussion Our results suggest that green exercise improves mood, self-esteem, and restorative experiences. Furthermore, individuals with high-CNT receive more exercise benefits in natural environments. This result might be attributed to feelings toward the natural environment. Individuals with high-CNT are closer to nature and have more positive feelings towards the natural environment, which can lead to more exercise benefits. On the other hand, individuals with high-CNT are less attracted to the urban environment and even report more negative feelings, which might impact the exercise benefits in the urban environment.
Read CV Danxuan ZhangECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH10