Abstract
Although psychometric measures have been successfully used to monitor athletes undergoing intensive training, the ability to predict those athletes most likely to respond negatively to training has not been demonstrated. Some research indicates that the psychological trait of hardiness can differentiate between athletes who exhibit large elevations in mood disturbance during overtraining, and may be at risk of developing staleness (Goss, 1994). To address this issue 76 (F = 45, M = 31) adolescent distance runners (M = 15.3yrs. SD = 1.3) completed the Cognitive-Hardiness Scale (CHS), Profile of Mood States (POMS) and a questionnaire on training practices and staleness adopted from previous work (Morgan, et al, 1988). Of the total sample, 26% reported at least one past incidence of staleness, which is similar to the lifetime prevalence rate found in other research with young athletes (Raglin et al., 2000). No differences (P < 0.05) were found in training mileage between previously stale (M = 33.8; SD = 12.6) and never stale (M = 40.0; SD = 14.7) runners. Using established procedures (Goss, 1994) athletes were categorized into high and low hardiness groupings. It has been purported that athletes with low levels of hardiness will show higher prevalence rates of staleness. However, based on this criterion only 25% of the respondents indicating previous staleness fell into the low hardiness group, while 15% were identified as high hardiness. Using the identical criterion, athletes were grouped by individual POMS scores. In this instance, only 20% of previously stale runners exhibited POMS scores in the lower tertile (M = 56.2; SD = 15.1) while 35% possessed POMS scores in the upper tertile range (M = 45.7; SD = 19.5). Hence, past staleness was not accurately predicted by either psychological variable. In summary, baseline measures of hardiness and mood state appear to be ineffective in identifying young athletes with a past history of staleness.
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