Lindsay Kipp, doctoral candidate in Kinesiology (sport and exercise psychology), has been recognized by the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) with the 2012 Outstanding Student Paper Award based on her work titled, “Social influences and psychological and physical well-being among female adolescent gymnasts.” The purpose of the award is to recognize meritorious research by student members of NASPSPA, with evaluation criteria that the research question is original, innovative, important, and significant. Lindsay is working on her degree under the advisement of Professor Maureen Weiss.
Lindsay’s research examined concurrent and longitudinal relationships among social influences, psychological need satisfaction, and well-being indices of self-esteem, positive affect, and disordered eating using self-determination theory as a framework. She found that gymnasts who rated coaches higher in autonomy-supportive behaviors and placing emphasis on a mastery climate, along with higher-quality friendships with teammates, reported more favorable perceptions of competence, autonomy, and relatedness with coaches and teammates and enhanced psychological and physical well-being (higher self-esteem, greater positive affect, and lower preoccupation with eating behaviors).
The selection committee conveyed that Lindsay’s paper was unanimously chosen as the top submission among a very competitive set of applications. The reviewers praised the strong study rationale and theoretical underpinning, thoughtful and sophisticated methods, and communication of both theoretical and practical implications of the research. Lindsay will present her research at the NASPSPA annual conference in Honolulu, June 7-9, 2012.