Corroborative Psychobiological Indices Explaining Young Adolescent Emotionality

Abstract

Purpose of this present study was to identify the intricate nature of disruptive emotionality observed in young adolescent athletes of Malaysia. Twenty six male young competitive athletes volunteered as participants, who were subjected to evaluation of self report indices of subjective experiences of transient mood states; inner psychobiological status (autonomic orienting response habituation) and projective analyses of emotionality (in the form of evaluation indices of resilience, constriction rigidity). Findings indicated corroborative relationships between differential psychobiological and mood states measures in predicting inner core emotionality. Dispositional emotional characteristics such as - excitability, resilience and constriction as well as tonic and phasic components of skin conductance activity were found aptly predicted by differential extents of transient facilitative, inhibitive, positive as well as negative mood state measures and faster orienting latency, which have provided us with a framework of corroborative emotional make –up. Attempts were made to identify the deep-rooted affective motivational and perceptual-cognitive as well as cognitive-emotional aspects related to perceived sense of competence as well as the subjective feelings of apprehension of loosing observed in the young athletes. Corroborative psychophysiological markers for innate psychological make-up was attempted to be established. Multiple linear and polynomial regression analyses were done which however suggested differential possibilities of direct, inverse and supportive relationships between decomposition of autonomic orienting activity components related to cognitive-affective and affective- motivational aspects of sports behaviour.