Normative values for the profile of mood states for use with athletic samples

Abstract

The Profile of Mood States (POMS) has been used extensively for the assessment of mood in the sport and exercise environments. The purpose of the study was to develop tables of normative values based on athletic samples. Participants (N = 2,086), comprising athletes at the international (n = 622), club (n = 628), and recreational (n = 836) levels, completed the POMS in one of three situations: precompetition/exercise, post-competition/exercise, and away from the athletic environment. Differences between the athletic sample and existing norms were found for all mood subscales. Main effects of level of competition and situation were identified. The results support the proposition that the use of the original tables of normative values in sport and exercise environments is inappropriate.

The profile of mood states and athletic performance: Two meta-analyses

“…Terry (1995a) proposed that individual differences in skill and conditioning make it "entirely unreasonable" (p.310) to expect mood to predict athletic achievement and Renger (1993) went as far as calling for researchers to "abandon the POMS" (p.83) in research on successful and unsuccessful athletes. However, given that some findings are supportive of the differentiation of athletic achievement from mood scores (e.g., Morgan, Brown, Raglin, O'Connor, & Ellickson, 1987;Terry & Hall, 1996;Trafton, Meyers, & Skelly, 1998), it appears that this research question has yet to be answered fully.The suggestion that POMS scores are predictive of performance among athletes of homogeneous ability is perhaps the most intuitively reliable association, yet a definitive answer to this research question has also proved elusive. It has been proposed by Terry (1995a) that the prediction of performance from mood is maximized when situational variables which potentially moderate the mood-performance link are considered.…”

“…In respect of the first research question, qualitative reviews of the extant literature by LeUnes, Haywood, and Daiss (1988), Renger (1993), and Vanden Auweele, De Cuyper, Van Mele, and Rzewnicki (1993) demonstrate clearly that athletes typically report iceberg profiles, which by definition vary from population norms derived largely from nonathletes. Further, recently published normative data based on the mood responses of 2,086 POMS Meta-analysis 5 participants in sport and exercise (see Terry & Hall, 1996) confirmed that an iceberg profile is "normal" for athletes, thereby supporting Morgan's mental health model.In respect of the second research question, reliable conclusions have been far more elusive. Terry (1995a) proposed that individual differences in skill and conditioning make it "entirely unreasonable" (p.310) to expect mood to predict athletic achievement and Renger (1993) went as far as calling for researchers to "abandon the POMS" (p.83) in research on successful and unsuccessful athletes.…”

“…post event self rating, percentage of personal best). Terry proposed that the latter may be more sensitive to the impact of pre-competition mood as self-referenced measures account for situations where athletes produce their best performance but do not win or are not selected for a team for reasons beyond their controlGender was not included as a coding variable for three reasons: First, because many researchers investigated groups of mixed-gender participants; second, because there is evidence that mood responses are consistent across male and female athletes (e.g., Terry & Hall, 1996); and third, because there is no suggestion in the literature that mood-performance relationships are gender-dependent. …”

An Overview of Mood and Emotions in Sport

“…The emotional responses that underlie mood change are initiated by our interaction with other individuals and environmental forces that we encounter as we move from situation to situation. Few studies have investigated the effects of situational factors on mood, particularly in athletic environments, although in a cross-sectional study of the mood responses of more than 2000 athletes assessed either before competition, after competition or away from the competition environment, Terry and Lane (2000) found that athletes reported higher tension, depression, anger and confusion prior to competition than at the post-competition stage. Away from the competition environment, such feelings were at levels midway between the pre-and postcompetition situations.…”

“…Further, normative mood data for athletes published by Terry and Lane (2000) showed that, when plotted against the psychiatric outpatient or student norms (see McNair et al, 1971) that were used as the point of reference by almost all previous studies, an iceberg profile is typical of athletes regardless of their level of competition. Collectively, the more recent evidence does not mean that previous emphasis on the desirability of the iceberg profile was misplaced but, given the normality of such a profile among athletes, perhaps its importance was overstated.…”