上村 明

Children born soon after the selection period’s cut-off date (early-born children) may benefit by up to a full year in physical and psychological development compared with children born just before the cut-off date (late-born children). This phenomenon is called the "relative age effect" (RAE). RAE is defined as the consequence of age differences between individuals within the same cohort, either in school or on sports teams. We examined the RAE on physical activity enjoyment, physical activity competence, attitude toward physical activities, attitude toward physical education, and frequency of participation in physical activities among Japanese elementary school children. Data were collected from 961 Japanese elementary school children (478 male, 483 female). The results showed that early-born children scored higher than late-born children did in the above-mentioned variables. This indicated that the RAE exists for psychological factors related to sports participation among Japanese elementary school children.

For competitive university athletes, success in their specialized sports is great achievement and a highlight of their life in sports however, athletes often have difficulties in performing at their best due to psychological stressors and stress responses. Thus, athletes and coaches need to learn to cope with stressors appropriately, and resilience may be a factor in their success. According to Davydov et al., resilience is defined as the successful adaptation and swift recovery after experiencing severe adversity, and has an important role in maintaining homeostasis in stressful condition. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between resilience and cognition in the context of stressors and stress responses among Japanese university athletes. We collected the data from 511 Japanese university athletes (358 male, 153 female, M = 20.0 years of age, SD = 1.5 years) who had participated in national level competitions. We collected the athletes’ demographic information (sex, age, grade, main sports event, competitive level, and role on a team). The Adolescent Resilience Scale (ARS) was used to measure resilience the Daily and Competitive Stressor Scale (DCSS) was used to measure psychological stressors the General Health Questionnaire-30 (GHQ-30) and the Self-Depression Scale (SDS) were used to measure psychological stress responses. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. We analyzed the relationships between ARS, DCSS, GHQ-30, and SDS using correlation analyses. There were significant positive correlations between the total score of the DCSS and the total score of the GHQ-30 (r = 0.46, p &lt 0.001), and the total score of the SDS (r = 0.27, p &lt 0.001). There were significant inverse correlations between the total score of the ARS and the total score of the DCSS (r = −0.20, p &lt 0.001), and the subscale scores of the ARS and the subscale scores of the DCSS. There were also significant inverse correlations between the total score of the ARS and the total score of the GHQ-30 (r = −0.35, p &lt 0.001), and the subscale scores of the ARS and the subscale scores of the GHQ-30. Moreover, there was significant inverse correlation between the total score of the ARS and the total score of the SDS (r = −0.45, p &lt 0.001). We concluded that resilience might have an impact on the stress-related cognition and stress responses among Japanese university athletes. Thus, we propose that athletes and their coaches should pay attention to an athlete’s resilience to effectively cope with psychological stressors and stress responses.