An Assessment Of Australian Judo Practitioners’ Perceptions Of Motivational Climate, Mindfulness, Aggression, And Social Skills

Abstract

PURPOSE: The current study employed the Achievement Goal Perspective Theory (AGPT), Caring Framework (CF), and Mindfulness (MF). The purpose of this study was to examine interrelationships among perceived motivational climate, mindfulness, aggression, and social skills with a sample of Australian judo practitioners. METHODS: Australian judo practitioners (N=30) volunteered to complete the survey consists of motivational climate (caring: CC; task-involving: TIC; ego-involving climate: EIC), mindfulness (MF), aggression (AG), and social skills (SS). This study obtained the permission from the Human Ethics Committee of Konan University. RESULTS: Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients were satisfactory for each construct ranged from .75 to .86. Descriptive statistics provided means of composite scores (M) and standard deviations (SD): M=4.43, SD=.48 (CC); M=4.04, SD=.58 (TIC); M=2.68, SD=.70 (EIC); M=2.76, SD=.43 (MF); M=2.08, SD=.71 (AG); M=3.88, SD=.43 (SS). Pearson correlation analyses revealed significant associations (p<.05, 2-tailed) between: 1. CC and TIC (.46). 2. CC and EIC (-.54). 3. EIC and AG (.46). 4. MF and SS (.50). 5. AG and SS (-.38). Finally, three significant liner regression models were highlighted: 1. Judo practitioners’ perceptions of EIC were significant positive predictor for their AG (Beta=.47; R square= .21; p<.05). 2. Judo practitioners’ self-evaluated SS were significant negative predictor for their AG (Beta=-.63; R square= .14; p<.05). 3. Judo practitioners’ MF was significant positive predictor for their SS (Beta=.49; R square= .25; p<.01). CONCLUSIONS: Results showed three key points: 1. Judo practitioners who perceived high EIC on their dojo (team) were more likely to report high in AG. 2. Those who self-evaluated high in SS were inclined to report low in AG. 3. Those who reported high in MF were apt to report high in SS. These summaries were discussed with the perspectives of AGPT, CF, MF, and the original philosophy/purpose of judo. Future research should consider a larger sample size and longitudinal approach for further examination.