This study attempts to analyze the relationship between two key psychological variables associated with performance in sports – Self-Determined Motivation and Competitive Anxiety – through Bayesian Networks (BN) analysis. We analyzed 674 university students that are athletes from 44 universities that competed at the University Games in Mexico, with an average age of 21 years (SD = 2.07) and with a mean of 8.61 years’ (SD = 5.15) experience in sports. Methods: Regarding the data analysis, firstly, classification using the CHAID algorithm was carried out to determine the dependence links between variables; Secondly, a BN was developed to reduce the uncertainty in the relationships between the two key psychological variables. The validation of the BN revealed AUC values ranging from 0.5 to 0.92. Subsequently, various instantiations were performed with hypothetical values applied to the “bottom” variables. Results showed two probability trees that have extrinsic motivation and amotivation at the top, while the anxiety/activation due to worries about performance was at the bottom of the probabilities. The instantiations carried out support the existence of these probabilistic relationships, demonstrating their scarce influence on anxiety about competition generated by the intrinsic motivation, and the complex probabilistic effect of introjected and identified regulation regarding the appearance of anxiety due to worry about performance.

In team sports, athletes' goals may focus on the task (enhancing performance, developing better skills, etc.) or on ego (being better than the others, achieving superiority, etc.). This study investigated the relationships between athletes' goal orientation and their tendency to cooperate with teammates and coaches. 158 professional men ( M age = 24.1 yr., SD = 4.6) who played on various sport teams participated in this study. Goal orientation was measured with the Portuguese version of the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire, and cooperation was measured with the Questionário de Cooperação Desportiva. Cooperation was positively correlated with task orientation, and negatively correlated with ego orientation. Overall, the findings support that in sports, directing the players' focus on task may promote prosocial behavior.

ResumenEl propósito del presente estudio fue descubrir las rela­ciones entre los comportamientos del entrenador percibi­dos por los deportistas durante el entrenamiento y la competición y la cooperación a través de la red baye­siana. Los deportistas masculinos profesionales de varios deportes de equipo (N = 158) completaron la versión portuguesa de la Escala de Liderazgo para el Deporte y el Cuestionario de Cooperación Deportiva para evaluar la cooperación. Se identificaron relaciones entre los comportamientos percibidos del entrenador en entornos de entrenamiento y competición y la tendencia de los atletas a cooperar. En general, los hallazgos apoyan que, en el deporte, los comportamientos del entrenador con­gruentes con las necesidades individuales de los atletas y adaptados a las demandas situacionales pueden promo­ver el comportamiento prosocial. AbstractThe purpose of the present study was to discover the relationships between athletes’ perceived coach behaviors during training and competition, and cooperation via Bayesian network (BN). Professional male atheletes from several team sports (N = 158) completed the Portuguese version of the Leadership Scale for Sport and the Questionário de Cooperação Desportiva to assess cooperation. Relationships were identified between perceived coach behaviors in training and competition environments and with athletes tendency to cooperate. Overall, the findings support that in sports, coaching behaviours congruent with the athletes’ individual needs and adapted to the situational demands may promote prosocial behaviour.

The clear decline in the practice of physical activity (PA) in contemporary society has well-documented problematic consequences in public health. It has led to a clear investment of research efforts in the attempt to identify the psychological constructs associated with health behaviors such as PA, in particular, the motivation that leads people to adopt these behaviors. In this context, the objective of the present study is to present a suggestion of a Portuguese version of the Physical Activity and Leisure Motivation Scale (PALMS), denominated PALMS-p. This instrument evaluates the reasons for the practice of PA. The psychometric qualities of the instrument were evaluated in a sample of 234 participants (86 males, 148 females) who practiced different PA in a recreational context. Confirmatory factorial analysis confirmed the factorial robustness of the PALMS-p (χ²/df = 2.010 comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.950, goodness of fit index (GFI) = 0.855, Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.939 root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.021, P(RMSEA ≤ 0.05) < 0.001), and the results show that this version presents good internal consistency. The present study corroborates the fidelity and validity of PALMS-p as a motivation measure for the practice of PA in the Portuguese population.

Review question / Objective: A systematic review carried out intends to carefully analyze the literature on the relationship between demographic and psychosocial determinants and the conciliation of studies with sports life. It aims to analyse, synthesize and update existing research on career management and development, namely, the dual careers of high-performance sports athletes who, at the same time, attend secondary education, starting from the research question - What is the profile of European students-athletes who simultaneously practice high performance sport and study in secondary education?. Condition being studied: The educational experience facilitates sports development and the skills trained in a sports context are transferable to the world of education and work. Being an elite athlete becomes more and more demanding as the number of training hours increases (20-30h/week) and the frequency of competitions, which has immediate implications for lifestyle and time management, requiring greater effort and commitment to fulfill your role as a student and athlete. Succeeding in both careers is highly demanding and challenging.