PsychTech & Health Journal

Scientific indexing and article submission attraction: The case of PsychTech & Health Journal

Melo Melo — 2025-03-31

Scientific indexing databases play a crucial role in the visibility and impact of scientific output. Specifically, these databases enable academic journals to reach a wider audience for their published articles, thereby increasing the number of citations and, consequently, enhancing the scientific impact of both the articles and their authors. Among the leading multidisciplinary scientific databases, notable examples include Scopus, commonly used for calculating the h-index; the Web of Science, which references the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) impact factor; and the DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), which indexes open-access journals that adhere to best editorial practices.

Success factors in the training of elite coaches in high-performance swimming: Analysis from a focus group

António Vasconcelos Raposo — 2025-03-31

This study aimed to identify the factors elite coaches consider most important in enhancing coach swimmers’ professional education and efficiency. A focus group was conducted with four Portuguese coaches recognized by the Portuguese Swimming Federation as “elite coaches” for having qualified swimmers for finals in the European Championships, World Championships, and Olympic Games. The focus group leader used a prepared set of semi-structured questions to guide the 90-minute sessions. Sessions were tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by a set procedure for qualitative analysis to identify the coaches’ perspectives on the factors that enhance coach swimmers’ professional efficiency. The coach’s personal and professional characteristics and beliefs about coach education, capacity for continuous updating, and teamwork play a determining role. The results showed that coaches value and recognize the benefits of their academic and informal training, the positive experiences as swimmers, and the importance of science in sports. Multidisciplinary support involving professionals from areas such as medicine, biomechanics, physiotherapy, nutrition, psychology, and rigorous management of the training and competition process complement the determining factors for success in high-performance swimming. In conclusion, the multifactorial nature of success in this sport has highlighted the central role of promoting eclectic training for coaches, considering the challenges of elite sports.

The role of achievement goals and motivational climates in understanding youth athlete emotions: A study with youth team players

Jéssica Azevedo — 2025-03-31

Youth sports can enhance adolescents’ well-being, but their impact depends on factors such as achievement goals and perceived motivational climate. This study examined the relationship between achievement goals (task/ego) and perceived motivational climate (task, performance, mistakes) with the emotional states of fear of failure and anxiety. Six hundred eighty-five male adolescent team sport players, aged between 10 and 16, completed questionnaires assessing the targeted variables. Correlational, canonical, and regression analyses revealed that task orientation and a perceived task-involvement climate were generally associated with lower levels of fear of failure and anxiety. Conversely, ego orientation and a perceived ego-oriented climate (performance - or mistakes-focused) were linked to higher levels of these emotional states. The findings highlight the importance of considering motivational climates and achievement goals in youth sports to understand better how participation influences young athletes’ emotional well-being.

Reality is in the eye of the beholder: From young players’ interpretations of their parents to how they perceive their own competence and the value of sport

Filipa Rocha — 2025-03-31

The expectancy-value theory posits that expectations of success and the value placed on a task are critical determinants of motivation and learning. This study explored the relationships between perceptions of the parental motivational climate, perceptions of competence (self-perceptions and parental reflected appraisals), and the value attributed to sport. 643 male athletes (aged 10-16) from various team sports completed a questionnaire assessing these variables. Correlational analyses, including Pearson and canonical correlations, indicated that both parents’ reflected appraisals and a motivational climate emphasizing learning and enjoyment were positively associated with higher perceived competence and greater value attributed to sport. Hierarchical regression analyses further revealed that higher reflected appraisals (from both parents) and a less mistakes-focused climate from fathers - but a more error-focused climate from mothers - predicted greater perceived competence. Similarly, fathers’ emphasis on learning and enjoyment and high levels of reflected appraisals from both parents predicted the value attributed to sport. These findings underscore the impact of perceived parental behaviors, suggesting that reflected appraisals and specific parental motivational approaches significantly shape young athletes’ perceived competence and the value they attribute to the sport.

Bullying and self-esteem in adolescents

Carla M. Teixeira — 2025-03-31

This study analyzed the influence of bullying behaviors on adolescents’ self-esteem, considering sex and educational level variables. The research employed a quantitative and cross-sectional methodology, with a sample of 303 adolescents (158 females and 144 males) aged between 12 and 20 years (M = 14.54; SD = 1.86) from a secondary school in northern Portugal. Three instruments were used: a Sociodemographic Questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Physical and Psychological Bullying Questionnaire. Aggressive behaviors, more prevalent in males, were associated with high self-esteem, challenging the ‘Aggression Compensation Model’ theory. The study also highlighted different bullying patterns between sexes, with boys tending more towards physical aggression and girls towards relational forms of bullying. These results contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics between bullying and self-esteem in adolescence, suggesting the need for sex-specific interventions and the importance of considering high levels of self-esteem as a possible risk factor for aggressive behaviors.