Emotion profiles among adolescent female athletes: Associations with flourishing

Many girls who participate in sport struggle to negotiate the complex relationship between their desired appearance and maintaining a physique that facilitates performance. As a result, these athletes experi-ence a range of emotions about their bodies that impact their psychological well-being. We examined appearance-and fitness-related emotions using latent profile analysis among 507 adolescent girls involved in organized sport and examined differences in flourishing across the resulting profiles. Four emotion profiles were identified: (i) Frequent Pride, (ii) Occasional Fitness Pride, (iii) Occasional Pride, Rare Guilt/Shame, and (iv) Occasional Emotions. Participants in the Occasional Emotions profile reported the lowest flourishing scores compared to every other profile while those in the Frequent Pride pro -file reported the highest levels of flourishing. There were no differences in flourishing between those in the Occasional Fitness Pride profile and those in the Occasional Pride, Rare Guilt/Shame profile. Our results demonstrate how subsets of athletes may characteristically experience distinct combinations of emotions that are differentially associated with flourishing. Increasing experiences of body-related pride while mitigating experiences of guilt and shame appear to be important contributors to flourishing. How-ever, experiences of pride may do little to buffer against reductions in flourishing when guilt and shame are experienced. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.