Date of Graduation

2001

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Involvement in physical activity and sports in the senior population has been shown within the literature to provide these athletes with improved health status and psychological benefits (McPherson, 1984). To date, few studies have examined psychological factors, such as motivation and psychological skills, in relation to senior athletes' participation in competitive sports. The sport psychology literature does include the measurement of the constructs of motivation and psychological skills via the use of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory - 28 (ACSI-28) (Smith, Schultz, Smoll, & Ptacek, 1995) and the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) (Pelletier, Fortier, Vallerand, Tuson, Briere, & Blais, 1995) within the collegiate and professional athletic arena. While these instruments have been shown to be reliable and valid in measuring psychological skills and type of motivation in younger populations, it was not known whether these instruments would be accurate in assessing these same constructs within the senior athletic population. Therefore, the general purpose of this two phase investigation was to evaluate the psychometric properties of both the ACSI-28 and the SMS in assessing psychological skills and motivation in independent samples of senior athletes competing in the West Virginia Senior Sports Classic held from June 15–18, 2000 in Charleston, West Virginia and the Florida Senior State Championships held in Kissimmee, FL from November 28–December 3, 2000. Results of the data analyses revealed significant differences across age groups for amotivation as well as differences in psychological skills across gender and qualification status. Results of psychometric testing on the ACSI-28 and the SMS did not support the construct validity of these instruments in assessing psychological skills and motivational type in the senior athletic population. Information gleaned from this study serves as a baseline for future studies, which can build upon examining the constructs of motivation and psychological skill among senior athletes. Information may be used to educate future senior game participants who compete on a variety of levels on how to incorporate psychological skill, recognize and improve motivational strategies, in order to increase the likelihood of achieving successful performances.

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