Motivation, Self-Concept and Discipline in Young Adolescents Who Practice Rhythmic Gymnastics. An Intervention

This study aims to develop an intervention based on TARGET strategies in young people practicing rhythmic gymnastics, with the aim of observing whether motivation, discipline, self-concept and flexibility are improved. This research is a longitudinal study of a quasi-experimental nature. A total of 104 young adolescents between the ages of 11 and 12 years (11.66 ± 0.47) participated in the study, of which 60 belong to the control group and 44 to the experimental group. The intervention programme lasted two months (17 sessions). TARGET strategies were applied to the experimental group during training. While the experimental group continued with its routine training. To measure the psychological variables, the instrument used were the Youth Physical Self-Concept Scale (C-PSQ), Reason Scale for Discipline (RSD) and Success Perception Questionnaire (SPQ), and for flexibility, the tests were applied to the Sit and Reach and Deep trunk flexion test. The results showed that those teenagers who participated in the intervention, obtained an increased climate task, which entails an enjoyment by the practice of physical activity itself, more optimal levels of physical self-concept and discipline, subsequently, obtaining better results of flexibility. While in the control group gymnasts the ego climate and demotivation increased. TARGET strategies applied to young adolescents have positive effects, improve motivation towards physical activity, self-concept and discipline. This results in greater performance in flexibility. This will encourage young adolescents to continue to engage in physical activity in the future.


Introduction
The school has a fundamental role in the integral development of the student, whose priority is to help the student in his academic, social and personal learning [1,2]. Young adolescents spend most of their time outside this institution, and attention needs to be paid to what they do during those hours [3]. Authors such as Coulangeon [4] and Haghighat et al. [5], showed that this free time should be occupied by extracurricular activities, which are beneficial for increasing social skills, self-concept, responsibility, decreasing negative behaviours and developing healthy habits in adolescents [6][7][8][9].
In order for extracurricular activities engender adherence to physical activity and provide expected benefits to adolescents, all participants must feel empowered to carry out the activities in a satisfactory way in order to improve responsibilities [10,11]. These skills are essential so that in later stages, young adolescents can maintain an organised lifestyle [12]. Among the extracurricular activities, rhythmic gymnastics is a very popular sport among girls [13]. This sport requires a high intensity of Therefore, in view of this problem in relation to psychosocial factors, the aim of this study is to determine whether the application of TARGET strategies promotes an increase in psychosocial variables and, thus, the physical condition of young adolescents who practice rhythmic gymnastics as an extracurricular activity.

Sample and Study Design
This is a quasi-experimental longitudinal study with control and experimental group. A total of 126 subjects were selected who participated in extracurricular activities of rhythmic gymnastics in different schools in Granada (Spain). The inclusion criteria considered were those participants who performed rhythmic gymnastics as an extracurricular activity, excluding those who belonged to federated clubs and those who did not complete all the intervention process. Finally, 104 girls between 11 and 12 years old (11.66 ± 0.47) participated in this research, as 8 competed semi-professionally and 14 did not complete all the sessions of the intervention programme. A simple random sampling was done to assign participants to the different groups, where 44 girls (42.3%) were in the experimental group and 60 (57.7%) in the control group.

Instruments
Validated instruments were used to assess young people's physical self-concept, motivational orientation and reasons for discipline in rhythmic gymnastics. Additionally, a deep trunk flexion test and sit and reach tests were used to evaluate the flexibility of the participants.
"Sociodemographic Questionnaire". This instrument was used to measure age, sex and type of physical-sports activity (federated or not federated), according to the categorisation proposed by González-Valero [42].
"Reason Scale for Discipline (RSD)". This instrument was created by Papaioannou [45] and was validated into Spanish by Moreno et al. [46]. This scale has 26 items, in which the answers were indicated on a Likert scale of 11 points set at a strong disagreement (0) and a strong agreement (100), in order to facilitate the students' response. Through this questionnaire the reasons for responsibility can be measured (items 1,5,10,12,14,16,17,18,21) (Example: "It is important for me to pay attention in class"), intrinsic reasons (items 7, 8, 19, 26) (Example: "I enjoy classes"), reasons for intrinsic regulation (items 4, 11, 25) (Example: "I will feel bad if I am not disciplined"), reasons for concern (items 6, 13, 24) (Example: "I like to help my colleagues) and reasons for demotivation (items 3, 9, 23) (Example: "I don't understand why I should be disciplined"). The factor structure of the questionnaire shows a reliability of α = 0.86 for responsibility reasons, α = 0.76 for intrinsic reasons, α = 0.71 for intrinsic regulation, α = 0.58 for reasons of concern and α = 0.66 for demotivation.
"Success Perception Questionnaire (SPQ)". This questionnaire was elaborated by Roberts et al. [47] and validated in Spanish by Cervelló et al. [48]. Its objective is to evaluate the dispositional orientation of the achievement goals in the sports context. This instrument has 12 items measuring the dispositional goal orientation to task (items 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11) (Example: "When practicing sport I feel successful when I work hard") and dispositional goal orientation to the ego (items 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 12) (Example: "When I practice sports I feel that I am successful when I am the best"). This questionnaire uses a Likert type scale that has a response range of 0 (Totally disagreed) and 100 (Totally agreed). The internal consistency of the questionnaire was α = 0.82 for task orientation and α = 0.91 for the ego.
"Sit and reach". This test measures the flexibility of the lumbar area, knee flexor muscles and hip extensors [49,50]. During the execution, the subject is seated on the floor with legs together and extended. Additionally, the subjects will put their feet glued to the measurement box, with the arm extended and one hand resting on the other and facing forward. At the researcher's signal, the subject will bend the trunk forward, pushing the cursor with both hands until the greatest distance is achieved.
"Deep trunk flexion test". It is a test that evaluates the overall flexibility of the trunk, lower and upper limbs [51]. The barefoot subject is located within the measuring zone, positioned above the meter. The heels must be glued to the separation zone that indicates the zero point of the measurement. At the researcher's signal, the subject flexes the legs and introduces the body between them. The extended arms are directed backwards to push the meter strip as quickly as possible, not allowing the fingers to separate from the ground and maintaining balance throughout the test.
Both physical fitness tests allow flexibility to be assessed as one of the most important elements in sports performance [49]. In addition, the subjects had two attempts to perform the tests, noting the best record of the two performed.

Procedure
The collaboration of the educational centres was requested through a sports company of extracurricular activities in Granada (Spain), exposing the objective of the study and requesting the cooperation of the company through an informative letter elaborated from the Area of Corporal Expression of the University of Granada. In addition, an informed consent form and the approved Ethics Committee were included. After this consent, authorisation was given to the legal tutors of the young athletes, where participation was requested on a voluntary basis and the anonymity of the study subjects' data was ensured.
The data collection was carried out during the timetable of the extracurricular activities. The "PRE" phase took place during March, the intervention programme was carried out during the months of March and April and finally the "POST" data were collected at the beginning of May. The researchers informed the schoolchildren and directed the programme, being present throughout the process to ensure its correct application. The Helsinki Research Ethics Agreement was also respected, and permission was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Granada (462/CEIH/2017).
The intervention programme lasted two months and consisted of 17 sessions. There were two sessions of two hours each, one per week. The programme was distributed in three phases as shown in Table 1. The development of the programme consisted of exercises aimed to improve psychosocial considerations, including discipline, motivation and physical self-concept.
To this end, the implementation was divided into three phases, which are detailed below: In the control group, researchers were only present on the first and last day to apply the questionnaires and physical tests, where participants continued their usual training based on direct instruction for two months (warm-up based on muscle elongation and joint mobility, series of jumps, turns, and board assembly).
In the experimental group, researchers were present throughout the process. Together with the trainer, sessions were developed in which new variables were included in order to work psychosocial aspects of young athletes, as shown below.
-Phase 1: formed by a single session in which questionnaires and physical tests were applied to all participants in order to know the level of physical self-concept, discipline, motivation and flexibility.
-Phase 2 (15 sessions): In order to work on discipline, physical self-concept and subject motivation, TARGET strategies were used as a reference [23,41].
The design of tasks was modified, including tasks focused on the focus of interest of the participants. Similarly, an individualised diary was used for each subject, so that everyone would receive feedback from their trainer on a weekly basis and the objectives to be achieved would be established in the following sessions. Additionally, the diary had a section that promoted awareness of the body and the ideal weight for each depending on age, height and physical training.
In terms of authority management, transformational leadership behaviours were developed. The purpose was to stimulate the students intellectually, to encourage individual and collective communication, to inspire and motivate the participants to make an effort and carry out the proposed activities correctly.
Based on the teamwork, cooperative activities were designed to foster empathy, improve social relations and increase motivation oriented to the climate task. In addition, the subjects were encouraged to participate in the decision making and establishment of the next objectives to be achieved. Mistakes were worked on as part of the training process and not as a punishment.
For the evaluation, the subjects were made participants in it, which was focused on mastery and discipline. At the end of each week each participant was provided with a rubric in order to self-assess the level of achievement of the proposed training objectives. The coach also remarked in the individualised diary on the differences and congruencies between the opinions of young teenagers.
In terms of time management, the coach's warm-up guidelines were followed. An attempt was made to offer individualised time for feedback and to determine technical aspects of each task.
-Phase 5: consisting of a single session in which questionnaires and physical tests were re-applied to all participants (control and experimental group) in order to check the changes produced by the intervention.

Statistical Analysis
The participation rate was 82.54% with a total of 22 invalidated questionnaires, because they did not meet the established criteria or did not develop the tests correctly. The statistical study of the parameters was executed with the statistical software IBM SPSS ® 24.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA). First, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was performed to establish the normality of the data. The T-student test were used to find out the differences between groups. In the mean comparison study, data were treated using a range of one to five points.
The magnitude of differences (effect sizes) was obtained while using the standardised measure Cohen's d (d) interpreted as: null (0-0.19), low (0.20-0.49), moderate (0.50-0.79), or high (≥0.80) [52]. The negative sign in the effect size index means that there is a decrease, while the positive sign refers to an improvement in values. Confidence interval to 95% for each effect sizes was calculated. Table 2 shows the comparison of the sit and reach test and the deep flexion of the trunk before and after the execution of the intervention programme for the control and experimental group. In the control group, a light increase was observed in the score obtained in the sit and reach test (19.05 ± 3.09 vs. 19.25 ± 2.95) and the deep bending of the trunk (21.15 ± 2.72 vs. 21.50 ± 2.45), showing statistically significant differences for both cases (p = 0.027 and p = 0.010, respectively). According to Cohen [52], the control group had no effect on sit and reach (d = 0.06) and deep trunk flexion (d = 0.13). In the case of the experimental group, a significant increase in scores was noted in both cases (p = 0.000). For sit and reach (18.59 ± 3.22 vs. 20.27 ± 3.21) and deep trunk flexion (28.72 ± 3.31 vs. 30.77 ± 3.28), the programme also produced a moderate effect in both tests (d = 0.52 and d = 0.62, respectively).  Table 3 shows the comparison of the physical self-concept and its dimensions Pre-Post intervention for both groups. In the case of the control group, a decrease in the scores obtained in the General    Table 4 shows the comparison between the motivational orientation towards the task and the ego before and after the intervention programme for the control and experimental group. The control group shows statistically significant differences (p = 0.014) for the reduction of the task oriented motivational climate (4.00 ± 0.28 vs. 3.92 ± 0.30), offering, in turn, a low negative effect (d = −0.27). In the experimental group, an improvement was observed in the score obtained for the task climate (3.90 ± 0.15 vs. 4.28 ± 0.32), showing statistically significant differences (p = 0.000) and a high positive effect (d = 1.52). Finally, Table 5 shows the comparison of the reasons for the Pre-Post treatment discipline for the established groups. In the case of control group, statistically significant data were observed (p <  = 1.88). However, a high negative effect was obtained on the RD (d = −1.14).

Discussion
This study is similar in nature to others conducted in the population of young adolescents participating in extracurricular activities [53,54], where TARGET strategies are one of the most commonly used methods today to foster motivation in subjects. For this reason, the aim of this study has been to test the effects of an intervention programme on adolescent girls who practice rhythmic gymnastics, on physical self-concept, motivation, discipline and physical condition measured through flexibility [14,17,32,55].
The subjects who have not been immersed in the programme have increased the levels of flexibility of the areas that involve sit and reach and deep trunk flexion tests, although, according to Cohen [52], the intervention in this group that has continued with its routine training has a null effect. In this sense, similar data are detected in the study developed by Shiguemitsu-Suzuki et al. [56], in which, after applying the same flexibility tests, the control group obtained a minor improvement. This effect is due to the fact that these subjects, even though they did not participate in the intervention, have continued to train, through which it is hoped that they will improve this physical quality.
On the contrary, the intervention programme for the experimental group had a positive low-average effect [52], improving the values of flexibility. Likewise, the implementation carried out by Hsuan et al. [57], on a sample of young adults, showed that the simple fact of practicing these two tests three times in 72 h, caused an increase of this physical quality. However, the study carried out by Tisular et al. [58], in a population of young adolescents, observed that, after applying a physical activity intervention, no improvement was obtained for this physical capacity. These authors justified their results in the affirmation that the execution of physical exercises increases demotivation and the sedentary leisure acquires a major occupation of the time in such cases.
The athletes belonging to the control group decreased their perception of the physical self-concept and all its dimensions. In particular, the perceived competition, physical strength and self-confidence are undermined by the negative low-average effect [52] produced by the programme. Gatti et al. [59] and Kosmidou et al. [26], determined that feelings towards physical self-concept are negatively influenced by the drastic bodily changes that occur at these ages, pressure from the family and the trainer, competitions and excessive concern to stay thin [60,61]. This would agree with the data found in this study, since the approach of the championships intensifies the trainings and, with it, the pressure to which they are submitted, carrying consequences in the self-esteem, the physical appearance and the security in oneself in general [62].
The gymnasts who participated experimentally in the programme increased the values of perception of general physical self-concept, perceived competence and self-confidence. However, there was a decrease in the perception of physical attractiveness. In this sense, McGregor et al. [63], developed an intervention in preteens with the aim of improving self-concept through the practice of physical activity and positive feedback. With this intervention they managed to increase the feeling of competence and perceived self-esteem. Similar data were found by Wright et al. [64], which improved self-confidence and self-esteem in adolescents through the use of positive feedback and physical activity. Since the positive feedback from the coaches favours the creation of a pleasant classroom climate, which generates that the participants feel more confident of their skills and more motivated.
In terms of motivational orientations, in the control group participants the motivation for the task decreased. While this increased in the experimental group. For which the programme offered a medium positive effect [52]. Data similar to those obtained in the study by Álvarez et al. [32], which, after applying TARGET strategies, achieved an improvement in the orientation to the climate task, while slightly reducing the values of the climate ego. In the same line, Brustio et al. [65] intervened in a sample of young adolescents, where they achieved that the experimental group achieved higher levels of motivation towards the task and, with it, a greater adherence to the practice of healthy physical activity, while the control group highlighted ego orientation.
Around discipline, the control group improved general discipline and intrinsic regulation, although there was a low positive effect [52]. In addition, in these gymnasts, the reasons for being responsible decreased. As confirmed by González-Valero et al. [66] (2018) and Zaff et al. [67] (2003), regular physical activity helps young people begin to regulate themselves, although it does not in itself entail an increase in responsibility. This corroborates that general training contributes to improving the general discipline of gymnasts, although this does not lead to an improvement in commitment and motivation.
The gymnasts who participated in the intervention improved overall discipline, intrinsic reasons, responsibility, ability to regulate oneself intrinsically, and concern for discipline, where the programme had a medium-high positive effect [52]. Likewise, the values of demotivation after the intervention decreased. As Álvarez et al. [32] state, with the enjoyment of physical activity, motivation, discipline and responsibility increase, as well as the decrease in demotivation [68].
This study was not exempt from limitations. Although this is a novel study that includes a control and an experimental group, it would have been interesting to establish a comparison with elite gymnasts of similar ages. Thus, these results should not be generalised to the general population or to all physical or sports extracurricular activities. In addition, although flexibility has been shown to be one of the physical capacities most involved in gymnastics, other capacities, such as the strength and endurance of the muscles involved in the trunk and the extremities, should have been evaluated. Although the peculiarity of this study was to examine the effect of the TARGET programme on physical self-concept, discipline, motivation and flexibility, it would have been interesting to know the anthropometric characteristics of the gymnasts.

Conclusions
From this research, the main conclusions that have been drawn are that the implementation of TARGET strategies, improves the motivation towards the task in young adolescents. This results in better discipline and self-concept. It also has positive effects on improving flexibility and decreases demotivation. However, those participants who continued their regular training slightly increased flexibility, which is determined by the work done. Around motivation, it continued to be more ego-oriented, finding no improvement in either body perception or discipline. For future perspectives, it is proposed to carry out interventions comparing different age groups or establishing differences with elite gymnasts, including other psychosocial, variables involved in sport, and to consider anthropometric measures and physical capacities such as strength and resistance, which will allow conclusions to be drawn about the relationship with sporting competition and the self-concept of adolescents. In this way, one of the main practical applications of this study is that schools could apply this intervention methodology in different extracurricular activities, as it has been shown to improve adherence to physical and sports practice. In this way, the importance of managing programmes that contribute to adolescents' adherence to healthy physical activity is emphasised.