Family cohesion, children’s thoughts, and children’s cognitive assessments: Mediating role of sport anxiety
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33910/2686-9527-2024-6-4-462-471Keywords:
family cohesion, children’s thoughts, children’s cognitive assessment, sports anxiety, PakistanAbstract
Introduction. The aim of this quantitative cross-sectional correlational study is to explore the relationship between family cohesion and children’s cognitive assessments. Today, against the backdrop of digitalization, it is crucial to emphasize the importance of sports to ensure people have more physical activity. From the perspectives of sports psychology and education, understanding the role of parental involvement, family bonding, and boundaries is essential for exploring their impact on children’s sports performance.
Materials and Methods. A purposive sampling technique was employed, selecting 200 sports education students and trainees. Informed written consent was obtained from all participants prior to data collection. Following formal consent procedures, valid and reliable instruments were used. Data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Version 25, employing both descriptive and inferential statistics. Statistical methods included Pearson’s correlation, logistic regression, the Hayes’ PROCESS Macro, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The Family Cohesion Scale (FACES II; Olson et al. 1983), the Children’s Thoughts Questionnaire (CTQ; (Marien et al. 2007)), the Children’s Cognitive Assessment Questionnaire (CCAQ; Zatz, Chassin 1985) and the Sport Anxiety Scale (Smith et al. 2007) were the primary instruments used.
Results. Data normalization was performed, adjusting for normality using Shapiro-Wilk tests, skewness, and kurtosis values. Parametric tests were applied, and Pearson’s product-moment correlation revealed significant associations. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that both family cohesion and children’s thoughts positively influenced children’s cognitive assessments. Hayes’ PROCESS Macro further demonstrated that sport anxiety has a significant mediating effect between thoughts and cognitive outcomes, including negative self-evaluations, off-task evaluations, positive self-evaluations, and on-task thoughts.
Conclusions. Proactive family involvement in children’s sports education is crucial. Families serve as valuable resources that support progress in training and sports performance. They also influence children’s cognitive responses, particularly in terms of self-evaluations (both positive and negative), off- and on-task thoughts.
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