DIE ONTWIKKELING VAN 'N SPORT-SPESIFIEKE IRRASIONELE KOGNISIE-SKAAL

Abstract

Literature concedes a scarcity of theories specific to the sub - discipline of sport psychology. Inevitably constructs, derived from the general discipline of psychology, have been assimilated without sufficient concern for their applicability. Rational-emotive theory may be regarded as relevant within the sport psychological context due, firstly, to its stress on cognition as the mediator of behavior, and;secondly, to its applicability to psychological educational programmes aspects in accordance with the consensual role of the sport psychologist. It is concluded that the development of sport psychological measures of irrational beliefs may facilitate the development of a theory specific to sport psychology, as well as providing a context-relevant assessment procedure. The explicit goal of this study was the development of a sport specific questionnaire, The Irrational Belief Scale for Athletes (IBS-A), which is intended to assess irrational beliefs among track and field athletes. For the purpose of this study, irrationality was conceptualized in accordance with Ellis' formulation of twelve core irrationalities. Item selection commenced with the goal of maximizing internal homogeneity consistent with the primary aim of variable description and assessment, rather than prediction. More specifically, an item's correlation to the subtest from which it was derived, was decisive in its inclusion within the final format. An alpha coefficient ranging between 0.54 - 0.88 on the 12 subscales, together with a total scale value of 0.86 may, if compared to the scores attained on related measures of irrationality, reflect a satisfactory level of internal reliability. The attempt to represent a multidimensional conceptualization of athletic-related irrationality, as depicted within Ellis' core irrationalities, was negated by the identification of an undesirable commonality within the intercorrelation data, that is, the majority of items and subscales reflect a significant correlation with each of the other scales (p < 0.05). It may be concluded that the IBS-A should primarily be regarded as a global, rather than multidimensional, assessment of irrational. The descriptive statistics indicated an adequate variance on the majority of subscales (with the exception of Subscales 1, 3 and 8), and on the total scale. This reflects an adequate ability to discriminate amongst differing degrees of irrationality. A positive indication of construct validity is reflected by a significant correlation between the IBS-A and a measure of a theoretically similar construct (the Belief Scale of Schutte and Malouff, 1986). Excluding Subscale 9, gender differences were non-significant. Despite limitations of the IBS-A, and the controversies surrounding theories of irrationality, measurement, and sport, specific recommendations have nevertheless been formulated. It is suggested that the indices of temporal stability and discriminant validity be computed, as must the correlation between athletic performance and irrationality. Finally, it is suggested that further item selection methods which increase subscale heterogeneity ( e.g. a factor analysis) could be employed in order to extract purer dimensions of athletics-related irrational beliefs.