the analysis of early maladaptive schemas which...

Sport Science Review, vol. XXIV, No. 3-4, August 2015

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The Analysis of Early Maladaptive Schemaswhich Facilitate High Performance

in Women Handball and Rugby Players

Alina-Isabela GHERGHIŞAN1

Starting with the assumption of the interdependence between psyche and soma and considering the idea that performance is rooted in the history of each athlete as a unique individual, but also in the collective history of the team to which the athlete belongs, the present study aims to identify those elements in terms of early maladaptive schemas, part of each player’s personal history that stimulates a “repair and healing game” at group level, with reference to the specific sport practiced, leading to high-level athletic performance. In order to meet the objectives of the study we used the psychological instrument YSQ (Young’s Schemas Questionnaire) as individual assessment tool. Existing data were obtained from the components of two national teams, women, senior level, the national rugby 7s team, and the national handball team. There were tested two hypotheses, specifically: (1) There is a common spectrum of early maladaptive schemas for the rugby and handball players considering the similarities between the two sports; (2) There are significant differences in which it concerns early maladaptive schemas between the rugby players and the handball players, considering the specific of each sport. Both hypotheses of the study confirm, the results outlining an interesting dynamic in both sports considered.

Keywords: early maladaptive schemas, handball, rugby, psychological drives

1 Department of Sport Psychology, National Institute for Sport Research, Bucharest, Romania

Sport Science Review, vol. XXIV, no. 3-4, 2015, 145 - 170DOI: 10.1515/ssr-2015-0013

ISSN: (print) 2066-8732/(online) 2069-7244© 2015 • National Institute for Sport Research • Bucharest, Romania

Early Maladaptive Schemas and High Performance

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Introduction

Background and Significance

Rugby and handball are two team sports with a beautiful and interesting dynamic from the sport psychology point of view. “Regarded as masculine sports

- handball” (Jarvis, 2006, p. 43) and rugby, researchers centered their attention mainly on the male athletes practicing these two sports games, considering that women’s performance is in a developmental stage with no clear identity to focus on. “As women compete at higher levels, they often become similar to men, in the way they embrace the sport ethic and use it to frame their identities as athletes” (Coakley, 2009, p. 208). Nowadays there is no much difference between the degree of involvement and sacrifice between men and women athletes.

Today, as women become increasingly immersed in the social world of elite power and performance sports, they become more tolerant of rule violations and aggressive actions on the playing field, but this pattern is still less clear among women than men. (Coakley, 2009, p. 207)

Both rugby and handball have similar characteristics, as it follows:

Both sports have origins in soccer. Handball is a relatively young sport if com-paring to other sports games; it was born by transforming some popular games and by the influence of some sports games, mainly soccer. (Sufaru, p. 11). The origins of rugby are also in soccer (Manoilanu, 1982, p. 16) and in its profound sense is a “tough school for educating the will, the character, self-control, and the disciplined and creative fantasy; all these put together for the condition, sometimes at the edge, of fighting for victory and direct contact, … ,with the opponent.” (Manoilanu, 1982, p. 238). Therefore, both sports involve ball (ob-ject) manipulation.

Both are intermittent games. According to Thomas et al. (2007) “team handball is a complex intermittent game”. (Thomas, Ravindran, & Abraham, 2007, p. 74) and Cunniffe et al. (2009) “rugby is a dynamic intermittent game with many gait changes during game phases” (Cunniffe, Proctor, Baker, & Davies, 2009, p. 1195)

And they are open-skill games. Due largely to the dynamic and unpredictable environment, rugby (Wolstencroft, 2002, p. 44) and handball are open-skill sports (Lage, et al., 2011, p. 721)


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In both sports game, body contact is allowed. Handball is a team game, which takes place in running, sometimes in the high speed, where body contact is allowed (Ghermanescu, Gogaltan, Jianu, & Negulescu, 1983, pg. 8-10). According to International Rugby Board, rugby is a contact team sport where the contest for possession of the ball is one of the key features. These contests occur throughout the game and in a number of different forms: in contact, in general play, when play is re-started at scrums, lineouts and kick-offs (IRB, 2014).

Aggressiveness is a core psychological drive in practicing handball and rugby. Recent studies showed that acts of aggression are incorporated both in rugby and handball play. (Baird, 2010)

In handball, rugby and in other sports that involve opposition-collaboration, there are potentially dangerous that game situations occur in the course of a game or training sessions (Abeza, Bravo, & Olmedilla, 2006, p. 110). Therefore, there are specific common behavioral trends like: extroversion, cooperation, ascending, and toughness. (Bota, 1984, p. 69)

There are probably much more similarities between the two sports, but we consider the above to be enough of an argument to put together athletes practicing handball and rugby.

Therefore, the aim of this paper is to emphasize, in a more profound sense, the main factors which facilitate high performance in women handball and rugby players, considering the premises that there are certain psychological elements that drive one towards choosing to practice handball and/or rugby in a study centering on the key features that determine a functional psychological balance.

The pleasures of practicing a certain sport, as well as the pleasure induced by the rules and the specific of these sports have probably a more profound background and it might be directly influenced by some frustrated needs from childhood which are maintained, developed or satisfied by the practiced sport.

The specific characteristics of a team

“Team functioning in sport has been considered predominantly from a social perspective” (Eccles & Tenenbaum, 2007, p. 265), but a sports game is an area in which the personality, the characteristics and the personal experiences and history of each member of the team interfere in a common space towards achieving a typical and mutual goal. The dynamics in a team is a very fascinating element, and a very delicate one, at least from a psychological point of view.


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Some of the most important factors in which it concerns the team dynamics are the following: homogeneity (especially emotional homogeneity) (Dragnea, 2006, p. 29) cohesion; proximity; and similarity, referring to attitude, aspirations, involvement, interests, and personal engagement. Similarity is therefore a key word for the present paper, considering the fact that through the present paper we aim to examine the relationship between common maladaptive schemas and the sport practiced in two quite similar sports games: rugby 7s and handball, both women.

Cognitive and emotional processes in a team according to Fleurance (1998) are: “…the production of a sports group that does not depend on individual accomplishments; model also results from ensemble of factors such as:

• The composition of the group (the quantity, the degree of heterogeneity and complementarity of its resources)

• The environment (situational conditions, physical, climatic and / or geographical)

• Structure (status and roles within the group, group norms)• Its cohesion (social and operational)• The communication process that implements in the group

In team sports, the psychological preparation can make the economy of the group level; it must articulate the individual and the collective.” (Fleurance, 1998, p. 290)

But before considering the productivity and the economy of the group, we consider important to emphasize which are the common resources or characteristics that bond the components of a team.

This, we consider being important from the following perspectives:

• When the coach confronts with a crisis at team level, he must know the factors that can depressurize the level of tension.

• Also, when it comes to activating a team level, it’s important to know the common triggers for the members of the team.

• The identification of the common resources can shape another perspective in which it concerns the group dynamics.

• The sport psychologist must have a clear perspective about the functional equilibrium of the team which directly depends on the common psychological factors and the processes that take place in the psyche of the team.


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“The regular presence of a sport psychologist in a sport team amplifies and extends the possibility of intervention by the classical procedures of evaluation and behavior modification, he can provide stability and consistency because he serves closer to the situations lived, he can respond to contingent requests with his immediate availability, innovate specific responses by his knowledge and he may also, and this is his main vocation, engage a multitude of relational interventions, by entering an increased finesse through the individual requests.” (Leveque, 1993, p. 46)

The connection between maladaptive schemas and performance in sports games

Athletic performance depends on a range of factors that interact constantly and continuously and where patterns and behavioral templates develop and accentuate under the pressure of the environment. There are constant characteristics which push towards achieving performance and others that might negatively interact with behavioral self-regulation in the high performance process. Gardner and Moore (2006) talk about the interacting variables affecting athletic performance and they define them as it follows:

• “Instrumental competencies: physical and sensorimotor skills and abilities;

• Environmental stimuli and performance demands: competitive, inter-personal, situational and organizational circumstances, issues and chal-lenges that the athlete experiences;

• Dispositional characteristics: intrapersonal variables such as coping styles and cognitive-affective schemas that are the psychological tem-plates by which athletes perceive, interpret and respond to explicit and implicit performance stimuli and demands;

• Behavioral self-regulation: cognitive, affective, physiological and behavioral processes that are the foundation of goal-directed behavior (such as performance).” (Gardner & Moore, 2006, p. 13)

The manner in which the 4 variables interact is graphically represented in the figure below:


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Figure 1. Interacting variables affecting athletic performance (Gardner & Moore, 2006, p. 13)

In this context, it is important to understand and investigate the dispositional characteristics (mainly the schemas, the psychological patterns) which facilitate behavioral self-regulation in an environment dominated by performance demands that can be answered firstly through the native abilities and resources.

Young et al. (2003) has developed inventories aiming to assess the presence of maladaptive schemas. In his instrument – Young Schema Inventory Short Form 3 (YSQ-S3) -, Young identifies 18 different maladaptive schemas, reduced to 5 main domains as it follows:

- Disconnection and rejection: Abandonment/Instability (AB); Mistrust/Abuse (MA); Emotional deprivation (ED); Defectiveness/Shame (DS); Social isolation (SI).

- Impaired limits: Entitlement/Grandiosity (ET); Insufficient self-


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control/self-discipline (IS).- Impaired autonomy and performance: Dependence/Incompetence

(DI); Vulnerability to harm and illness (VH); Enmeshment/Underdeveloped Self (EM); Failure (FA)

- Other-directedness: Subjugation (SB); Self-sacrifice (SS); Approval-seeking/Recognition seeking (AS).

- Over-vigilance and inhibition: Negativism/Passivity (NP); Emotional Inhibition (EI); Unrealistic standards/Hypercriticism (US); Punishment (PU).

Figure 2. Interacting variables affecting athletic performance (Gardner, Frank & Moore, Zella, 2006, p. 20)

The self-regulatory process functions through the schemas activated by highly-pressure events (competitions, selections, trials – depending on the preparation period and on the level of performance). These schemas, as cognition, affects and behavior patterns, generate the general arousal, adaptation and functional regulation for performance.

“EMS consisted of unconditional cognitive content and cognitive processes. The activated schema will maintain cognitive content through behavioral, affective and somatic manifestation” (Collum, 2009, p. 16). Also, early maladaptive schemas are “regarded as an important component of personality functioning, as schemas are thought to influence cognitive, emotional and interpersonal processing (Gallangher & Gardner, 2007, p. 51).

The process of understanding the performance drives involves functional (specific and detailed) knowledge of both personal and sport issues and history. Sports events involve great psychological pressure and function as a trigger for activating patterns and emotional, cognitive and behavioral templates.


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The early maladaptive schemas have been approached only from a clinical and psychotherapy point of view, and in sports they are approached only in association injuries (Gallangher & Gardner, 2007). The “actors” in high-level performance cannot be described in the same terms like non-athletes because performance means going beyond your own limits and beyond your comfort zone without the domination of the self-preservation needs, but with the pleasure given by masochism and perfectionism (Grand & Goldberg, 2011) and with a significant amount of anxieties and fears that are annihilated aiming to give “oneself ” to the world with the price of one’s own destruction. Thus it can be assumed that there are maladaptive psychological elements that drives one towards performance with the help of which one overcompensates and that determine a functional psychological balance for performance.

In elite-sport, the self-preservation instinct plays a minor role; dedication, faith without complaint and instincts are crucial. In high-level performance,

“The Ego abandons itself to the self-destructive impulses” (Sechehaye, 2010, p. 95), because the need to be, to become, to develop and to perfect oneself through performance is much stronger than the defensive energy dynamics of self-preservation.

Protecting the ball, in both sports, is both with the price of self-destructiveness and with the price of the “destruction” of the opponent, aiming to achieve the common goal of the team. Own needs are no longer a priority and team goals become central.

Without self-destructive tendencies, without self-abandonment, in the absence of taking the risks with the price of own annihilation, there is no performance; because performance is to leave traces beyond your own limits and own self.

Also, considering the fact that performance environment is involves by requests that sometimes go against the individual, as a complex self-preserved and his state of well-being. This is the reason that sports psychology from a more profound perspective is psychology of the abnormal individual, in the sense of supra-normal.

Therefore, the importance of this paper in the fact that by identifying the early maladaptive schemas which facilitate high performance, we put “another brick” in the construction of a more clear perspective in which it concerns the psychology of the performer.


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The importance of this paper also resides in the fact that the study focuses on elite sportswomen who are less approached in the research literature although “like men, they are willing to dedicate themselves to the game, take risks, pay the price, continue playing despite pain, and injury, and overcome barriers” (Coakley, 2009, p. 207). From this perspective, we consider to be interesting to understand and then emphasize which are the frustrated needs which drive a girl (and then a woman) towards embracing performance in a team game characterized by aggressiveness and ball manipulation.

Method

Sample and participants. All the participants in the study were members in the national teams, being the most representative samples in the sport practiced from the perspective of high-performance. 18 of the participants in the study are rugby players and 27 are handball players.

Procedure. In order to identify the main childhood frustrated needs for the players from the two teams, we used the YSQ-S3 questionnaire. “As we have been able to observe, general tests and questionnaires specific to sport are the assessment procedures most utilized in Sport Psychology and Physical Education.” (Gonzales Fernandez, 2010, p. 6), because they provide a quantitative and objective measure of whatever it can be observed or assessed with qualitative means.

Figure 3. Levels of cognition adapted from (Collum, 2009, p. 16)


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Instruments. Young Schema Inventory Short 3 (YSQ-S3) is a 114-item questionnaire that assesses 18 core beliefs. Each item is rated using a 6-point Likert scale. The 18 early maladaptive schemas are organized in five domains which correspond to the frustration of 5 basic psychological needs in childhood: secure attachment, autonomy, realistic limits, self-directedness and playfulness (Rafaeli, Bernstein, & Young, 2011, p. 184). Early maladaptive schemas (EMS) associate both with emotional patterns, but also with behavior tendencies which are relatively constant.

“Early schemas relate to the basic emotional needs of a child. When these needs are not met in childhood, schemas develop that lead to unhealthy patterns. Each of the 18 schemas represents specific emotional needs that are not adequately met in childhood and adolescence” (Young , Klosko, & Weishaar, 2003).

According to Young (2012) the 18 core beliefs can be resumed as it follows:

1. Abandonment/Instability (AB). This EMS refers to the feeling of abandonment, lack of emotional roots and landmarks. These feelings reflect as perceived unreliability of the significant persons for support, connection and stability. This early maladaptive schema associates also with the sense that the others aren’t or will not be able to continue providing strength of protection because they are emotionally unstable, unpredictable, unreliable or erratically present; because they will die imminently or because they will abandon him/her in favor of someone better. This EMS does not necessarily associate with an actual abandonment or death in the personal history of the athlete; it rather matters the perceived presence of the significant others (the perceived absence can paradoxically rise even from an “excess of presence” situation, thus not perceived as so).

2. Mistrust/Abuse (MA). This EMS associates with the belief or expectation that others will hurt, abuse, humiliate, cheat, lie, manipulate or take advantage; therefore, most people don’t deserve to be invested with trust. It’s usually associated with unhealed trauma in the personal history of the athlete. Most of the time, people that have the MA early dysfunctional schema have the perception that the harm is intentional or the result of unjustified and extreme negligence, and they will end up being cheated and abused once again.

3. Emotional Deprivation (ED). Emotional support is a key emotional factor in anybody’s well-being. The deprivation of Nurturance, meaning absence of attention, affection, warmth, or companionship; Deprivation of Empathy: Absence of understanding, listening, self-disclosure, or mutual sharing of


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feelings from others; and Deprivation of Protection: Absence of strength, direction, or guidance from others – can determine the accentuate need for guidance, empathy and protection.

4. Defectiveness/Shame (DS). It is associated with a profound sense of inferiority (even a complex of inferiority), or embarrassment sometimes manifested as hypersensitivity to criticism, rejection, and blame; self-consciousness, comparisons, and insecurity around others. The feeling that he/she is no valuable enough and unworthy can determine profound tensions and might appear through defensive mechanisms.

5. Dependence/Incompetence (DI). Often presented as helpless, and resent as incapability, the belief that one is unable to handle one’s everyday responsibilities in a competent manner, without considerable help from others drives one towards dependence.

6. Vulnerability to Harm or Illness (VH). The exaggerated fear of the imminence of some catastrophic or dramatic events, the negative built scenarios shape the VH early maladaptive schema. Sometimes it can manifest through psychosomatic dispositions.

7. Enmeshment/Undeveloped Self (EM). A feeling of emptiness and floundering is associated with the belief of the constant need for support from the others, especially significant others (parents, sibling, coaches); remaining underdeveloped from a social and emotional view. The individual identity in not fully developed.

8. Failure (FA). This EMS associates with the feeling of being inadequate in areas of achievement and with one’s perceived incapability of succeeding and self-realization. Often involves beliefs that one is stupid, inept, untalented, ignorant, lower in status, less successful than others, etc.

9. Entitlement/Grandiosity (ET). The belief that one is superior to other people; entitled to special rights and privileges; or not bound by the rules of reciprocity that guide normal social interaction. Often involves insistence that one should be able to do or have whatever one wants, regardless of what is realistic, what others consider reasonable, or the cost to others; OR an exaggerated focus on superiority (e.g., being among the most successful, famous, wealthy) -- in order to achieve power or control (not primarily for attention or approval). Sometimes includes excessive competitiveness toward, or domination of, others: asserting one’s power, forcing one’s point of view, or controlling the behavior of others in line with one’s own desires -without empathy or concern for others’ needs or feelings.


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10. Insufficient Self-Control/Self-Discipline (IS). Pervasive difficulty or refusal to exercise sufficient self-control and frustration tolerance to achieve one’s personal goals, or to restrain the excessive expression of one’s emotions and impulses. In its milder form, patient presents with an exaggerated emphasis on discomfort-avoidance: avoiding pain, conflict, confrontation, responsibility, or overexertion - at the expense of personal fulfillment, commitment, or integrity.

11. Subjugation (SB). Excessive surrendering of control to others because one feels coerced - usually to avoid anger, retaliation, or abandonment. The two major forms of subjugation are: A. Subjugation of Needs: Suppression of one’s preferences, decisions, and desires. B. Subjugation of Emotions: Suppression of emotional expression, especially anger. Usually involves the perception that one’s own desires, opinions, and feelings are not valid or important to others. Frequently presents as excessive compliance, combined with hypersensitivity to feeling trapped.

12. Self-Sacrifice (SS). Excessive focus on voluntarily meeting the needs of others in daily situations, at the expense of one’s own gratification. The most common reasons are: to prevent causing pain to others; to avoid guilt from feeling selfish; or to maintain the connection with others perceived as needy. Often results from an acute sensitivity to the pain of others. Sometimes leads to a sense that one’s own needs are not being adequately met and to resentment of those who are taken care of. (Overlaps with concept of codependency).

13. Approval-Seeking/Recognition-Seeking (AS). Excessive emphasis on gaining approval, recognition, or attention from other people, or fitting in, at the expense of developing a secure and true sense of self. One’s sense of esteem is dependent primarily on the reactions of others rather than on one’s own natural inclinations. Sometimes includes an overemphasis on status, appearance, social acceptance, money, or achievement - as means of gaining approval, admiration, or attention (not primarily for power or control). Frequently results in major life decisions that are inauthentic or unsatisfying; or in hypersensitivity to rejection.

14. Negativity/Pessimism (NP). This EMS associates with catastrophic perception of events and dramatic exaggerated expectations. Usually involves an inordinate fear of making mistakes that might lead to: financial collapse, loss, humiliation, or being trapped in a bad situation. Because potential negative outcomes are exaggerated, these patients are frequently characterized by chronic worry, vigilance, complaining, or indecision.

15. Emotional Inhibition (EI). Considering an accentuated fear of disapproval and rejection this by others, this early maladaptive schema associates with


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inhibition of actions, feelings (over-rationalizing emotions, blocking anger and aggression or positive impulses) and communication.

16. Unrelenting Standards/Hypercriticalness (US). This early maladaptive schema is associated with highly interiorized standards of behavior and performance. Unrelenting standards typically present as: (a) perfectionism, inordinate attention to detail, or an underestimate of how good one’s own performance is relative to the norm; (b) rigid rules and “musts” in many areas of life, including unrealistically high moral, ethical, cultural, or religious precepts; or (c) preoccupation with time and efficiency, so that more can be accomplished.

17. Punitiveness (PU). EMS associates with intolerance for making mistakes (including oneself) and with the belief that mistakes and errors must be punished. Also, this early maladaptive schema associates with the lack of empathy and intolerance to imperfections. Anyone who doesn’t meet expectations or standards shouldn’t be forgiven. It’s usually associated with guilt.

Data Analysis

Data were stored and analyzed using the statistical application SPSS.

Hypothesis 1: There are common early maladaptive schemas for women play-ers of rugby and handball, considering the similarities between the two sports.

Considering the fact that rugby and handball are two similar team sports, it can be assumed that the players are characterized by congruent particularities, considering the fact that they are members of a team, each of the two sports involve body contact and aggressiveness, and also object manipulation, respectively the ball.

From this perspective, we assume that taking into consideration the criterion of team play, the participants are characterized by the self-sacrifice maladaptive schema. We assume the existence of this schema by the fact that in choosing to practice a team sport stands a profound need of focusing on the desires of the others in order to gain their love and approval.

Hypothesis 2: There are significant differences in which it concerns the dynamics of the early maladaptive schemas between the rugby players and the handball players.

We assume that in choosing to practice a certain sport stands more profound needs that though that certain sport can be satisfied and each sport can satisfy a certain range and combination of needs which are specific. Despite


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of the personal history of each actor in the team, there is a common history or there are certain particularities which join the individuals into a cohesive team that seeks performance. In the light of these facts, we assume that there are significant differences in which it concerns the early maladaptive schemas between the rugby players and the handball players.

Results

The results of the statistical analysis are presented in this section. Descriptive statistics, meaning data screening and the characteristics of the participants, are reported first. This is followed by the results of the analyses that address the two hypotheses presented earlier. The T-test for emphasizing the differences between the two samples of athletes and the multidimensional scaling for identifying the main groups of EMSs that might push or pull the athlete to or from the high-performance environment.

Descriptive statistics (Table 1) provide information on the incidence of early dysfunctional schemas in the case of rugby 7s players and also in the case of handball players. Thus, it is noted that rugby players are delimitated by the existence of a large number of early maladaptive schemas:

- At an individual level – an average of 5 EMSs per rugby 7s player;- And a wide variety of EMS (17 EMSs out of 18 EMSs assessed using

the YSQ Questionnaire).

In this sense, we can affirm that in the case of rugby players there is a stronger emotional distress.

Regarding the handball players it can be noticed a much smaller number of EMSs; on average, each player reporting an average of 2-3 EMS at individual level and a smaller range of them (12 out of 18 EMSs).


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Table 1

Descriptive statistics

Self-sacrifice (SS) and Unrealistic standards (US) are common for an overwhelming majority of the athletes evaluated (average of 80,55% for SS and 81,5% for US) fact which can be interpreted as common drivers towards embracing performance in a team game.

We consider SS to be a main drive towards embracing a team-sport, but further studies should be conducted. Without considering primordially the common goals and the common strategy of the team, without being able to

Early maladaptive schemasRugbyN18

HandballN27

RugbyN18

HandballN27

% Cases

Emotional deprivation (ED) 16,7 0 3 0

Abandonment/Instability (AB) 16,7 0 3 0

Mistrust/Abuse (MA) 38,9 7,4 7 2

Social Isolation (SI) 0 3,7 0 1

Defect/Shame (DS) 5,6 0 1 0

Failure (FA) 16,7 0 3 0

Dependence/Incompetence (DI) 22,2 0 4 0

Vulnerability to harm and illness (VH) 5,6 0 1 0

Enmeshment/Underdeveloped Self (EM) 11,1 3,7 2 1

Subjugation (SB) 5,6 3,7 1 1

Self-sacrifice (SS) 83,3 77,8 15 21

Emotional Inhibition (EI) 16,7 14,8 3 4

Unrealistic standards/Hypercriticism (US) 77,8 85,2 14 23

Entitlement/Grandiosity (ET) 50 37 9 10

Insufficient self-control/self-discipline (IS) 11,1 3,7 2 1

Approval-seeking (AS) 50 3,7 9 1

Negativism/Passivity (NP) 16,7 3,7 3 1

Punishment (PU) 55,6 14,8 10 4


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sacrifice one’s state of comfort and self-achievement for the sake of the team, one cannot be integrated as a valuable team member.

Also, we consider US to be a main drive towards considering embracing performance of any type. In the absence of wanting to achieve more, more than average, more than possible it can’t be any performance. Perfectionism, going beyond one’s limits, setting standards and goals that seem almost impossible and unrealistic is the foundation of high-performance. In this sense, the maladaptive schema of unrelenting standards becomes the mark of “adaptive perfectionism” (Ivanovic, Milosavljevic, & Ivanovic, 2015, p. 35) in the high-performance environment.

Table 2

T-test for independent samples

Early Maladaptive Schema

T test

t df

Sig.

(2-ta

iled)

Mean difference

Std.

Err

or

Diff

eren

ce

95% Confidence Interval of the Difference

Low

er

Upp

er

Emotional deprivation (ED) 2.27 43 .028 .167 .073 .019 .31

Abandonment/Instability (AB) 2.27 43 .028 .167 .073 .019 .31

Mistrust/Abuse (MA) 2.74 43 .009 .314 .114 .083 .55

Social Isolation (SI) -.81 43 .420 -.037 .046 -.129 .06

Defect/Shame (DS) 1.23 43 .225 .056 .045 -.035 .147

Failure (FA) 2.27 43 .028 .167 .073 .019 .315

Dependence/Incompetence (DI) 2.72 43 .010 .222 .082 .057 .387

Vulnerability to harm and illness (VH) 1.23 43 .225 .056 .045 -.035 .147

Enmeshment/Underdeveloped Self (EM) .96 43 .340 .074 .077 -.081 .229

Subjugation (SB) .28 43 .783 .019 .067 -.118 .155

Self-sacrifice (SS) .45 43 .657 .056 .124 -.195 .306

Emotional Inhibition (EI) .16 43 .872 .019 .114 -.213 .250

Unrealistic standards/Hypercriticism (US) -.60 43 .550 -.074 .123 -.324 .175

Entitlement/Grandiosity (ET) .85 43 .400 .130 .152 -.178 .437

Insufficient self-control/self-discipline (IS) .96 43 .340 .074 .077 -.081 .229

Approval-seeking (AS) 4.27 43 .000 .463 .108 .244 .682

Negativism/Passivity (NP) 1.50 43 .141 .130 .086 -.045 .304

Punishment (PU) 3.13 43 .003 .407 .130 .145 .670


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There are differences in which it concerns early maladaptive schemas be-tween the rugby female players and the handball female players as it can be observed in Table 2.

In light of the differences between the averages reported for the players of rugby and handball in early maladaptive schemas, we notice the following differ-ences which are statistically significant:

- Emotional Deprivation: Rugby- Abandonment/Instability: Rugby- Mistrust/Abuse: Rugby- Failure: Rugby- Dependence/Incompetence: Rugby- Search Approval/Recognition: Rugby- Penalty: Rugby

Female rugby players are more emotionally dependent than the handball players and they have a lower self-esteem considering the lack of perceived care and emotional support and their accentuated need for it. In other words, we can identify a higher “symptomatic distress” (Friedman, Thase, & Wright, 2008, p. 1940).

As mentioned before, it is noted that in the case of both groups (rugby players and handball players) the existence of 2 early maladaptive schemas, as it follows: Unrealistic Standards/Hyper-criticism and Self-sacrifice. Considering these results, we can launch the conclusion that the two schemas facilitate performance in sport, by the following facts:

- Both sports (handball and rugby) satisfy the need of maintaining close relationships with the members of the team, and the players’ love and approval towards the others is conditioned by achieving the common goals and by the construction tactics through certain inter-dependence.

- The presence of Unrelenting Standards EMS stands for the perfectionism and the need for performance driven by the masochism and the self-destructive tendencies so they can abandon themselves to the world and to performance.

Considering these facts, we can conclude that schemas have a positive side through performance and no matter the maladaptive features in the non-athletic environment; these schemas appear to have an adaptive effect in the performance environment.


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Multidimensional analysis

According to Culic (2004), multidimensional scaling produces a perceptual map of the relative location of the objects, meaning a geometrical configuration of points according to some subjective dimensions. The more the objects are similar in preference in the assessments of the subjects, the smaller will be the distance between them on the map and the more different they are in terms of similarity or preferences, the more their positions on the map will be wider or removed. (Culic, 2004, p. 165)

For the construction of the perceptual map of a set of objects, the technique uses as a starting point the proximity between the objects. The proximity of the two objects functions as the distance between objects and it is a value indicating how similar the objects are in a subjective perception (Culic, 2004, p. 166).

The interpretation of the results in the multidimensional scaling consists in interpreting the configuration of points obtained. The important thing here is to describe the dimensions of subjective and their association with objective attributes of objects. (Culic, 2004, p. 178)

Figure 4. The multidimensional scaling of early maladaptive schemas for the players of rugby 7s


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Figure 5. The multidimensional scaling of early maladaptive schemasfor the handball players

The multidimensional scaling can be interpreted as it follows:

- Frame no. 1: groups the main drives for embracing high-performance in team sports

- Frame no. 2: groups the particularities that develop and accentuate through practicing a specific sports games – rugby and handball, in our case.

- Frame no. 3: groups the personal history of frustrated needs that do not relate to sports performance or that are absent and non-accentuated in the personality and behavior of the players

- Frame no. 4: groups the personal history of frustrated needs that might drive one towards practicing a certain sport or that are compensated at an individual level through practicing either rugby or handball.

We consider EMSs to be drives considering the fact that they depend, develop themselves by “the individual biological predisposition and early learning experiences with significant caretakers” (Gallangher & Gardner, 2007, p. 51).

We interpret frame no. 1 considering that the characteristics grouped are common to almost all the elite-athletes questioned. This fact can be perceived


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either like a characteristic developed by the high-performance environment or like a particularity which drives the person towards involving in activities that request high-level performance.

Let’s take the US early maladaptive schema, for example, which associates with unrealistic standards and expectations. In the absence of this characteristics no one would be driven towards overcoming one’s limits, going beyond his/hers comfort zone or beyond “an average” performance. In order to achieve the exceptional, the excellence, there must be the belief that you can achieve the impossible. Any true success, any real high-level performance is built on a redundant excess of something…one cannot avoid mediocrity without having at least, one trait, one passion, one belief, in excess (Paler, 2010, p. 122).

Unrealistic beliefs and standards are sometimes the only way to fulfill a destiny dedicated to high performance. “Excesses meaning the “madness” to wish “without measure”, to believe “without measure”, to dream “without measure” (Paler, 2010, p. 118) is the key to high-level performance. Therefore, the existence of unrealistic standards – as an early maladaptive schema – can be a useful predictor for high-level performance.

The athlete who has this early maladaptive schema is the relentless striving to meet extremely high expectations of one at all costs.

The SS (Self-Sacrifice) early maladaptive schema which is also common for the two national teams can be interpreted on multiple directions:

- In order to involve in high-level performance activities, one must have a certain capacity of self-abandonment.

- The voluntary (when meeting a common goal) and the involuntary (unconscious drive) sacrifice of one’s needs to satisfy the other’s needs is a must in order to meet the common goals.

- In team sports, a certain focus on meeting the needs of others at the expense of one’s needs, desires, goals and well-being is a must. Therefore, probably, self-sacrifice early maladaptive schema is a key-feature for team sports in order to achieve performance, self-sacrifice as a fundamental element for group dynamics and cohesion providing the additional essence for the power of the group.

In this light, team spirit and self-sacrifice tendency is much stronger in rugby. Either the drive towards embracing a team sport where engaging as a group especially in fixed moments is part of the spirit of the game or the need to push together towards performance drives one towards practicing rugby.

As elements of differentiation between the two sports, we can note the following:


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• As it can be observed in figure no.1, rugby players are more driven to win external approval by their performance, considering that US (Unrelenting standards) and AS (Approval seeking) group in the same frame than the handball players that rather not alter their expectations and behaviors based on the reactions of the others (the association of Unrelenting Standards US with the Approval-Seeking AS early maladaptive schemas in the same frame).

• Another difference consists in the fact that the EMSs that drive handball players towards performance are more in the limits and standards domain (unrelenting standards; entitlement)., considering impaired limits and standards, in contrast with the rugby players that are driven more by emotional unsatisfied needs that generate over-vigilance and fear of rejection.

The unrelenting standards and the self-sacrifice EMSs structure the core beliefs as a nucleus of the athletic identity in team-sports, as fundamental, inflexible and absolute beliefs on which the athletes function. Around them, the performance identity is elaborated throughout the athletic career lifetime.

Discussion

“In situations relevant to an early maladaptive schema, an individual experiences strong emotions” (Thimm, 2013, p. 113) In high performance, any competitive situation may be a trigger for activating EMSs considering the fact that competitions engage a large amount of emotions, sensations and bring back past experiences with all their emotional charge.

In the sports environment, the athlete overcompensates for his and her schemas through performance. For example, Abandonment EMS in high-performance is overcompensated by trying to gain own support, connection and strength and by trying to be resent, visible for the others so they can perceive them and gain their love and support. They will always try to overcome their condition so they can build a safe and stable environment. They will try to earn too much so that from the ”not enough” or lack of anything to have more than enough. However, it’s possible to develop a kind of dependency from the coach, the team and the sport, and to identify themselves with performance or with the game practiced. A lack of love and emotional support is filled with performance so that they are able to live.

The combination of findings and limitations of the current study suggest that additional research is required to further emphasize the relationships be-tween maladaptive schema domains and the prevalence for performance and, also, between the EMS and the specificity of certain sports, in our case – team sports.

Considering that sports psychology and understanding the specific psychic dynamics of top-athletes relates rather to distinctive type of psychology, where


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the functional psychic equilibrium doesn’t associate with an emotional and cognitive state well-being known for the non-athletes.

The assessment of the EMSs provide an overall perspective in which it concerns the functional psychological equilibrium of athletes considering that high-performance is a game of compensation and overcompensation in which the excess always wins. In this sense, some early maladaptive schemas (especially US or SS, but also ET in the case of handball players) enhance performance skills and involvement and improve sport and professional functioning. Perfectionistic beliefs, high standards and the need of self-abandonment and self-sacrifice result in high levels of performance and success, in the case of elite athletes practicing team-games.

We believe that the findings of the study can be successfully used, especially by the fact that they can constitute as elements of understanding and knowledge of the psychological dynamics of athletes and they provide valuable information about the triggers that can be used for psychological regulation in situations of crisis and conflict.

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Alina GHERGHIŞAN (Anghel), PhD., is a Sports Psychologist and a Research Scientist within the National Institute for Sport Research in Bucharest, Romania since 2006. She has published over 35 scientific papers regarding sports psychology, mostly concerning the psychology of rugby players and the psychological etiology of traumas and medical conditions and she is the co-author of a book approaching the traumatology in rugby from a medical and psychological point of view.

Corresponding address:Alina Gherghişan (Anghel)Department of Sport PsychologyNational Institute for Sport Research41A Basarabia Bvd., district 2Bucharest, RomaniaEmail: [email protected]

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