Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Kaetlyn Cordingley
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Director of Career Development Davidson Honors College
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Student-Athlete Well-Being at the University of Montana
Psychology
At the University of Montana, there are very few resources and outlets for student-athletes to talk about the challenges that come with high-pressure situations in competition and during everyday life. There is also a large stigma in athletics about addressing the many issues and struggles that student-athletes face. My goal is to give the athletic program at the University of Montana a different perspective on the student-athlete lifestyle. This research project will focus on creating a social media profile and website for student-athletes at the University of Montana concentrating resources to support positive and healthy performance. In addition, a conducted study will explore whether self-compassion is related to student-athlete psychological well-being and sports performance. University of Montana athletes from a variety of sports will complete measures of self-compassion and perceived sports performance.
Self-compassion has been proposed as a tool or resource for student-athletes during challenging times in sports programs (Reis et al., 2015). Self-compassion creates a kind and clear-sited self-attitude, therefore causing a more balanced perspective without becoming overwhelmed or consumed by a specific event (Neff, 2003a). This experiment will use the self-compassion scale to measure student-athlete well-being because it covers very similar values a student-athlete needs to have a healthy lifestyle during competition and training. Using Neff’s self-compassion scale (2003a) will validate the well-being of athletes at the University of Montana because of the focus on exploring stress management, individuals’ emotional regulation, and goal-blocking versus goal setting. Research using Neff’s Self-Compassion scale with college students has suggested it is a strong, unique predictor of well-being. It is negatively related to academic failure and positively related to greater life satisfaction (Neff 2003a, b). The effects of self-compassion and psychological well-being on sports performance will be assessed through a Likert-style questionnaire on six subscale items that are computed into a total self-compassion score, including self-kindness, self-judgment, common humanity, isolation, mindfulness, and over-identification items.
It is expected that the results of the self-compassion survey and sports performance level will be moderated by gender, age, and year-in school with younger athletes being more negatively scored for self-compassion, and those who are older are more likely to score higher in self-compassion and have a higher sports performance level. It is also expected that the results of the self-compassion survey and sports performance level will be moderated by gender, age, and year-in school with younger athletes being more negatively scored for self-compassion, and those who are older are more likely to score higher in self-compassion and have a higher sports performance level. The results from this study will continue to increase knowledge for the student-athlete well-being website, and a new viewpoint on positive performance with this platform will allow student-athletes to be the most successful they can be on campus.
Category
Social Sciences
Student-Athlete Well-Being at the University of Montana
UC 332
Student-Athlete Well-Being at the University of Montana
Psychology
At the University of Montana, there are very few resources and outlets for student-athletes to talk about the challenges that come with high-pressure situations in competition and during everyday life. There is also a large stigma in athletics about addressing the many issues and struggles that student-athletes face. My goal is to give the athletic program at the University of Montana a different perspective on the student-athlete lifestyle. This research project will focus on creating a social media profile and website for student-athletes at the University of Montana concentrating resources to support positive and healthy performance. In addition, a conducted study will explore whether self-compassion is related to student-athlete psychological well-being and sports performance. University of Montana athletes from a variety of sports will complete measures of self-compassion and perceived sports performance.
Self-compassion has been proposed as a tool or resource for student-athletes during challenging times in sports programs (Reis et al., 2015). Self-compassion creates a kind and clear-sited self-attitude, therefore causing a more balanced perspective without becoming overwhelmed or consumed by a specific event (Neff, 2003a). This experiment will use the self-compassion scale to measure student-athlete well-being because it covers very similar values a student-athlete needs to have a healthy lifestyle during competition and training. Using Neff’s self-compassion scale (2003a) will validate the well-being of athletes at the University of Montana because of the focus on exploring stress management, individuals’ emotional regulation, and goal-blocking versus goal setting. Research using Neff’s Self-Compassion scale with college students has suggested it is a strong, unique predictor of well-being. It is negatively related to academic failure and positively related to greater life satisfaction (Neff 2003a, b). The effects of self-compassion and psychological well-being on sports performance will be assessed through a Likert-style questionnaire on six subscale items that are computed into a total self-compassion score, including self-kindness, self-judgment, common humanity, isolation, mindfulness, and over-identification items.
It is expected that the results of the self-compassion survey and sports performance level will be moderated by gender, age, and year-in school with younger athletes being more negatively scored for self-compassion, and those who are older are more likely to score higher in self-compassion and have a higher sports performance level. It is also expected that the results of the self-compassion survey and sports performance level will be moderated by gender, age, and year-in school with younger athletes being more negatively scored for self-compassion, and those who are older are more likely to score higher in self-compassion and have a higher sports performance level. The results from this study will continue to increase knowledge for the student-athlete well-being website, and a new viewpoint on positive performance with this platform will allow student-athletes to be the most successful they can be on campus.