Achievement goals and emotions in golf: The mediating and moderating role of perceived performance

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Abstract

Objectives

This study sought to examine whether achievement goals predict positive and negative emotions in golf and whether perceived performance mediates and moderates this relationship.

Design

A retrospective cross-sectional design was employed in this study.

Method

Two hundred male golfers completed a multi-section questionnaire measuring achievement goals, perceived performance, and a range of emotions, after playing a competitive round of golf.

Results

Task involvement positively predicted happiness (β = .29, p < .001) and excitement (β = .18, p = .023), and negatively predicted dejection (β = −.21, p = .007). Perceived performance partially mediated the relationship between task involvement and happiness (z = 3.18, p = .001), excitement (z = 3.12, p = .002), and dejection (z = −2.71, p = .028); that is, task involvement positively predicted perceived performance, which in turn positively predicted happiness and excitement and negatively predicted dejection. Perceived performance moderated the relationship between ego involvement and happiness, dejection, and anxiety: ego involvement predicted happiness negatively and dejection and anxiety positively when athletes perceived that they performed poorly, but was unrelated to these emotions when they thought that they performed well.

Conclusions

Perceived performance should be examined when trying to understand the relationship between achievement goals and emotions in golf.

Highlights

► Task involvement predicted happiness, excitement, and dejection. ► Perceived performance partially mediated the above relationship. ► Perceived performance moderated ego involvement and happiness, dejection, and anxiety.

Section snippets

Achievement goals and affective outcomes

The two achievement goals reflect differences in the subjective experience of the task (Nicholls, 1984). Specifically, in task involvement, the goal is to improve or master skills. A sense of competence is achieved when individuals accomplish or learn; thus, learning or mastery is an end in itself, and the activity is more intrinsically satisfying (Nicholls, 1989). In contrast, in ego involvement, the goal is to demonstrate superior ability relative to others; thus, task mastery or learning is

Perceived performance as a moderator

A potential moderating variable that could help clarify the relationship between ego involvement and emotions is perceived performance, which refers to one’s own evaluations of how he or she has performed and is informed by actual performance. Two individuals may have identical objective performance but differ on their perceived performance. Thus, perceived performance is related but not equivalent to objective performance (see Graham et al., 2002, McAuley and Tammen, 1989). Although it differs

Perceived performance as a mediator

Although the relationship between task orientation and affective outcomes in sport is well established, to date no study has investigated the mechanism through which task involvement affects emotions. This relationship may, at least in part, be mediated by perceived performance, which may be affected by task involvement, in two ways. First, task-involved individuals may be more likely to perceive that they have performed well because of the criteria of success they employ. Evaluating success

The present study

The aim of this study was to examine whether perceived performance mediates and moderates the relationship between achievement goals and emotions during a competitive round of golf. Research has shown that happiness, excitement, dejection, anger, and anxiety are important emotions experienced during participation in sport (Graham et al., 2002, Hall and Kerr, 1997, Kerr et al., 2005, Uphill and Jones, 2007). Therefore, we will examine these emotions. We focused on emotions, which have been

Participants

Two hundred male golfers with a mean age of 48.28 years (SD = 12.04) participated in the study. At the time of data collection, participants had a mean membership at their club of 12.23 years (SD = 9.88), and a mean handicap of 13.37 (SD = 5.89). Handicap can range from 0 to 28 for men, with lower values indicating higher golf ability.

Procedure

After ethical approval was granted, 14 golf clubs were contacted in order to establish if they were willing to participate in the research. The primary investigator

Preliminary analyses

Data were examined to investigate missing values and evaluate assumptions of multivariate analysis. Missing data accounted for less than 5% of data points, so any method to replace missing data was appropriate (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001). We replaced missing values with the mean for that variable. Examination of histograms, q–q plots, and values of skewness and kurtosis revealed no violations of homoscedasticity or normality. No outliers were detected when data were checked using Mahalanobis

Discussion

Previous research has examined the relationship between achievement goals and affective outcomes in sport (e.g., Biddle et al., 2003). However, to date no study has investigated whether perceived performance mediates and moderates the relationship between achievement goals and emotions experienced during a sport competition. We sought to address this gap in the literature and examined achievement goals, perceived performance, happiness, excitement, dejection, and anxiety experienced during a

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