The purpose of this paper was to determine whether there is a difference in the readiness to accept Western standards of beauty in which thinness is an ideal of beauty and attractiveness, as well in body and appearance satisfaction between Muslim adolescent girls attending madrassa and dressing in accordance with tradition, that is to say wearing hijab, and Muslim adolescent girls who do not wear hijab and who follow contemporary Western-influenced fashion trends. Both of these groups were also compared to a non-Muslim group of adolescent girls. The sample consisted of 75 Muslim adolescent girls with hijab, 75 Muslim adolescent girls without hijab and 75 Orthodox adolescent girls. The following instruments were used: the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-3) and the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS). The highest level of body satisfaction (despite this group having the highest body weight in the sample) was evident among Muslim adolescent girls attending madrassa and wearing hijab. They also showed significantly less pressure to attain the Western thin-ideal standards of beauty than adolescent girls who accept Western way of dressing. Research results indicate a significant role of socio-cultural factors in one's attitude towards the body image, but also opens the question of the role of religion as a protective factor when it comes to the body and appearance attitude among Muslim women who wear hijab.

Purpose: Research has suggested that in female athletes from aesthetic sports the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes is higher than in female athletes from other sports, mainly due to sport related factors like extreme training and practicing sports associated with high pressure and the idea that “being thin leads to success”. The study was conducted to examine the prevalence of disturbed eating attitudes and their relationship with body image concerns in aesthetic and non-aesthetic female athletes. Methods: 54 female athletes from aesthetic sports (synchronized swimming, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, and dance), as well as 66 female athletes from non-aesthetic sports (volleyball, track and field, and soccer), completed the Eating Attitudes Test, the Body Shape Questionnaire, and the Figure Rating Scale (a visual scale used to assess body image dissatisfaction and body image dissatisfaction in relation to sport). Results: The results indicated that aesthetic athletes scored significantly higher than those involved in non-aesthetic sports in Dieting, and in Body Image Dissatisfaction. Moreover, aesthetic athletes demonstrated significantly lower BMI mean scores. Significant correlations were found between Body Mass Index and Oral Control, Body Image Dissatisfaction and Body Image Dissatisfaction in relation to Sport, and between Eating Attitudes Test and the Body Shape Questionnaire results in aesthetic athletes. Furthermore, significant associations were found between Body Mass Index and Body Shape Questionnaire, Body Image Dissatisfaction and Body Image Dissatisfaction in relation to Sport, and Eating Attitudes Test and Body Shape Questionnaire in non-aesthetic athletes. Conclusion: The study confirmed the relationship between body image concerns and pathological eating attitudes among female aesthetic sport athletes.

The aim of this paper is to point out the importance of motivation in sport achievement and to describe the psychological aspect of motivation, as one of the most important psychological factors for success. Motivation theories give definitions of terms and previous knowledge of different authors, and the second part of this paper gives the most commonly used techniques: Goal settings, cognitive restructuring, and imagination, and how to apply them. When it comes to motivation in sports, some important concepts and some of the most important interventions for motivating athletes presented in this paper can be analyzed in the psychological training of athletes. Special attention given to the importance and the role of trainers in the process of motivating athletes emphasizes psychology as a key factor in sport achievement.

The influence of anxiety and self-confidence of an athlete with an emphasis on self-efficacy has been the subject of numerous research in the sport, but their relationship is not fully understood. In our research, we try to explain that competitive anxiety influences sports achievement only through the level of General Self-Efficacy. A lower level of General Self-Efficacy leads to lower sports achievement. In order to explore the relationship between General Self-Efficacy and anxiety on sports achievement, we examined 76 active athletes in collective sports, as well as their trainers. The following instruments were applied: Competitive Sports Anxiety Inventory, Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, and Questionnaire of sports achievement (ad hoc made instrument). The results show that cognitive anxiety negatively correlates with sports achievement (r = -.38, p≤ .01), as opposed to somatic anxiety that does not show a significant association with achievement. However, the highest relationship is a positive correlation between General Self-Efficacy and sports achievement  (r = .51, p≤ .01). In Regression analysis, however, a significant predictor of sports achievement is only General Self-Efficacy (β = .389; p≤ .01) while the significance of cognitive anxiety is lost (β = -178; p = .339). Additional Bootstrapping analyses were conducted to examine the potential mediating effect of General Self-Efficacy in the relationship between competitive anxiety and sports achievement. We found a significant indirect effect of cognitive anxiety on achievement only through General Self-Efficacy (b= -.30, CI /-.73, -.07/), while the direct effect is not significant once the mediator is introduced. In the reversed analyses, with competitive anxiety as a mediator, the mediation was not significant, which means that high anxiety reduces sports achievement only through undermining self-efficacy, and not directly. The obtained result suggests that self-efficacy has the primary role in sports achievement. Consequently, for improving sports achievement, psychological intervention should primarily focus on increasing self-efficacy.

The study sought to examine the possible indirect trauma indica- tors among refugee children’s drawings. We have analyzed draw- ings of refugee children and non-refugee children as controls (5 - 9 years old). The content and Pickard’s expressive strategies for mood depiction were analyzed on 464 drawings. The content analysis revealed different content-specific categories across groups, with the category of Violence/War appearing significantly more in the drawings of the refugee group. and being used as one of the trauma indicators. The analysis revealed that negative mood was depicted by more complex and detailed drawings in both groups. An expressive strategy, namely the literal strategy, appeared to be specific to the refugee group only (e.g., absence of facial characteristics), while different patterns of non-literal ex- pressive strategies were observed in conveying mood between the two groups. Our findings suggest that the drawings can be used as a triage tool to assess the emotional status of refugee children.