Do psychological factors play a crucial role in sport performance?: research on personality and psychological variables of athletes in Hungary

Contemporary research aims to investigate background factors that contribute to successful sport performance. Of these factors the psychological well-being and mental health status should be underlined that have gained a significant role, particularly in the frames of sport psychological counseling. The aim of the present study is to seek for interrelations of psychological variables and sport performance of young athletes, and to reveal what advantages might be utilized in younger ages to strengthen sport performance. No gender differences were found in sport performance; while age showed significant difference. The findings indicated differences of the investigated psychological variables by age and gender. Regression analyses were employed to test how psychological factors predict successful sport performance. The analyses strengthened the role of age and gender specific factors that should be considered during sport psychological counseling. The benefits should be highlighted in young age in order to ensure more successful performance in adulthood.

Women's disengagement from legal proceedings for intimate partner violence: sociodemographic and psychological variables

The aim of this study is to shed light on what makes women decide whether or not to continue with legal proceedings for intimate partner violence once they have commenced. Legal professionals, members of the police force, and women in Spain were interviewed to help draft a questionnaire that was applied to a sample of 345 women who had undertaken legal proceedings against their (ex)partners. Socio-demographic, emotional, and psychological variables were considered as possible predictor variables and included in a logistic regression analysis. Results show that the best equation for predicting disengagement from legal procedures includes the level of support received by the victim, contact with the aggressor, thoughts about going back with the aggressor, and a feeling of guilt. The essential role of the psychological support during the legal process is emphasized in conclusions.

An explanatory model of underwater adaptation

The underwater environment is an extreme environment that requires a process of human adaptation with specific psychophysiological demands to ensure survival and productive activity. From the standpoint of existing models of intelligence, personality and performance, in this explanatory study we have analyzed the contribution of individual differences in explaining the adaptation of military personnel in a stressful environment. Structural equation analysis was employed to verify a model representing the direct effects of psychological variables on individual adaptation to an adverse environment, and we have been able to confirm, during basic military diving courses, the structural relationships among these variables and their ability to predict a third of the variance of a criterion that has been studied very little to date. In this way, we have confirmed in a sample of professionals (N = 575) the direct relationship of emotional adjustment, conscientiousness and general mental ability with underwater adaptation, as well as the inverse relationship of emotional reactivity. These constructs are the psychological basis for working under water, contributing to an improved adaptation to this environment and promoting risk prevention and safety in diving activities.