Junior athletes' behavioral self-regulation styles within the dimensions of psychological safety in the learning and training environment

Abstract

This study analyzes the prominence of dominant behavioral self-regulation styles among junior athletes within the context of psychological safety in their learning and training environment. Methods. The randomly selected sample was representative of the general population and consisted only of junior athletes attending Olympic Reserve sports schools for children and youth, totaling 89 participants. These junior athletes, aged 14– 19, were educated and trained full-time at sports institutions in Ukraine. Participants included athletes from team sports (handball and football) as well as individual sports (rhythmic gymnastics, freestyle wrestling, artistic gymnastics, and weightlifting). The research participants were prize-winners and winners of regional, national, and European championships and regularly competed in Ukrainian and international tournaments. The parameters of the main variables (self-regulation styles and psychological safety of the learning and training environments) and the additional variable (internality in sports activities) were determined using valid, representative, and reliable methodologies. Results. Fifteen direct correlations between the studied variables were established. It was empirically proved that the self-regulation style, “modeling”, and the parameter of psychological safety, “comfort”, are the most dependent and loaded parameters. It was substantiated that creating behavioral models in the constructive and safe learning and training space is an effective way for junior athletes’ professional growth. It was found that the three self-regulation styles (planning, modeling, and programing), in combination with pronounced independence and high levels of comfort and social-psychological safety, constitute a latent resource of the optimal learning and training environment. It was established that a high level of comfort in the learning and training environment contributes to developing the self-regulation styles – “programming” and “modeling”. Discussion and conclusions. It was substantiated that the research into junior athletes’ behavioral self-regulation styles in the dimensions of psychological safety of the learning and training environment means determining the levels of self-regulatory readiness for relevant activities under the influence of safety factors combined in the continuum “satisfaction–harmony–comfort”. It was explained that the dominant styles of junior athletes’ self-regulation reflect juniors’ managerial ability to regulate their psychoemotional states, exerting influence on themselves through self-discipline, self-hypnosis, imaginary images, auto-training technologies, muscle tone management, and breathing techniques. The established psychological correlations and the identified significant differences in the levels of the studied parameters possess scientific novelty. They can be implemented in the learning and training process at sports educational institutions.