Associate Professor Christopher Mesagno
FedUni Associate
Dr Christopher Mesagno is a Senior Lecturer in exercise and sport psychology with expertise in stress and anxiety in sport and exercise. With over 20 years of research expertise in anxiety, coping, attention and concentration skills, Dr Mesagno has worked with numerous athletes within a range of team and individual sports to enhance mental skills for better performance outcomes.
Christopher has successfully developed theory-matched interventions to improve performance for highly anxious and “choking-susceptible” athletes. He also investigates how physical activity/exercise can improve the health and wellbeing of people in highly stressful occupations and how they affect the mental and physical health of older adults.
Christopher maintains a strong academic research profile where he has more than 50 research articles and has given numerous presentations at national and international conferences. This international research profile has been recognised with awards and keynote presentations within sport and exercise psychology conferences.
Examining Single Session Peer-Teaching Instructional Approaches on Pre-Service Physical Education Teachers’ Throwing Techniques
Temporal samples of visual information guides skilled interception
The role of trait mindfulness in shaping the perception of stress, including its role as a moderator or mediator of the effects of personality
Disordered Social Media Use during COVID-19 Predicts Perceived Stress and Depression through Indirect Effects via Fear of COVID-19
Exploring the experiences of frontline nurses during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic: An integrated literature review
Understanding Fear after an Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis Using the Common-Sense Model
An Investigation of the Nature of Fear within ACL-Injured Subjects When Exposed to Provocative Videos: A Concurrent Qualitative and Quantitative Study
Buffering the Fear of COVID-19: Social Connectedness Mediates the Relationship between Fear of COVID-19 and Psychological Wellbeing
Burnout, stress and resilience of an Australian regional hospital during COVID-19: a longitudinal study
Performance under pressure in self-paced motor tasks
Aerobic, resistance, and mind-body exercise are equivalent to mitigate symptoms of depression in older adults: A systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials [version 2; peer review: 3 approved]
How can stress resilience be monitored? A systematic review of measurement in humans
Stress resilience studies focus on resilience operationalised within the context of stressors....
Imagery training for reactive agility: Performance improvements for decision time but not overall reactive agility
This study investigated the effects of imagery training on reactive agility and whether reacting...
Irrational beliefs and choking under pressure: A preliminary investigation
Researchers who examine existing models of choking under pressure are beginning to explore the...
Aerobic, resistance, and mind-body exercise are equivalent to mitigate symptoms of depression in older adults: A systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Background: Exercise has been identified as an allied health strategy that can support the...
Comparative effectiveness of three exercise types to treat clinical depression in older adults: A systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Background: Few studies have directly compared the effects of different exercise therapies on...
Examining group differences in emotion regulation strategies and the state and trait anxiety of lifeguards and non-lifeguards in a real-world precompetitive situation
The purpose of this study was to investigate differences, between swimmer-lifeguards and...
Forced retirement transition: A narrative case study of an elite Australian Rules football player
Investigating cumulative effects of preperformance routine interventions in beach volleyball serving
Pre-performance routines (PPRs) can be used in certain sports to minimize the effects of choking...
An Investigation Into Handedness and Choking Under Pressure in Sport
When athletes fail to perform at an expected level during an important moment, it is implied the...
Choking interventions in sports: A systematic review
Choking under pressure describes suboptimal sport performance in stressful situations, which has...
Exercise and depressive symptoms in older adults: An investigation into psychosocial factors
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Exercise, mood, self-efficacy, and social support as predictors of depressive symptoms in older adults: Direct and interaction effects
Background: Depression is a chronic condition that affects up to 15% of older adults. The...
Primed to perform: Comparing different pre-performance routine interventions to improve accuracy in closed, self-paced motor tasks
Objectives: Two experimental studies were conducted to test and compare whether different...
The Many Threats of Self-Consciousness: Embodied Approaches to Choking under Pressure in Sensorimotor Skills
When you watch your team fall apart - coaches' and sport psychologists' perceptions on causes of collective sport team collapse
Collective team collapse occurs when multiple players of a sport team experience a sudden and...
Exploration of the perceptual-cognitive processes that contribute to in-game decision-making of Australian football umpires
Decision-making is fundamental to officiating in all sports. It is well established in...
Video-based training to improve perceptual-cognitive decision-making performance of Australian football umpires
Decision-making is a central component of the in-game performance of Australian football umpires;...
When suddenly nothing works anymore within a team - Causes of collective sport team collapse
Collective team collapse occurs when multiple players of a sport team experience a sudden and...
Choking under pressure: theoretical models and interventions
In sport, choking under pressure is a major concern for athletes, coaches and sport psychologists...
Facebook use and its relationship with sport anxiety
Social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) use has increased considerably since its inception;...
Personality and performance in real-world competitions: Testing trait activation of fear of negative evaluation, dispositional reinvestment, and athletic identity in the field
Objectives Based on the trait activation principle, researchers have tested whether personality...
Social anxiety mediates the relationship between social connectedness and test anxiety: An exploratory investigation
This preliminary study explored the relationships and mediation structure among social anxiety,...
A comparative investigation of test anxiety, coping strategies and perfectionism between Australian and United States students
The purpose of this study was to ascertain if cross-cultural differences in test anxiety and...
Choking under pressure in sport and music: Exploring the benefits of theory transfer across domains
The environments in which musicians, singers, dancers, and athletes perform have some obvious...
Igniting the Pressure Acclimitization Training Debate: Contradictory Pilot-Study Evidence from Australian Football
In Australian Football, set shot goal kicking is when a player has a shot at goal after...
An evaluation of video-based training programs for perceptual-cognitive skill development? A systematic review of current sport-based knowledge
In this review we identified sport-based perceptual-cognitive training literature to...
Choking under pressure: A review of current debates, literature, and interventions
Examining the accuracy and in-game performance effects between pre- and post-performance routines: A mixed methods study
Objectives: Researchers have identified that pre-performance routines improve performance under...
Nonautomated Pre-Performance Routine in Tennis: An Intervention Study
The effect of a nonautomated pre-performance routine (PPR) on performance in a high-pressure...
Assessment of decision-making performance and in-game physical exertion of Australian football umpires
The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of in-game physical exertion on...
Development of a valid and reliable video-based decision-making test for Australian football umpires
Objectives: To develop a valid and reliable video-based decision-making test to examine and...
Personality traits and exercise dependence: Exploring the role of narcissism and perfectionism
There are currently limited investigations that have examined the relationship between...
Activation of Self-Focus and Self-Presentation Traits Under Private, Mixed, and Public Pressure
Trait activation theorists suggest that situational demands activate traits in (pressure)...
Characteristics of Polar Opposites: An Exploratory Investigation of Choking-Resistant and Choking-Susceptible Athletes
The current research provides an assessment of performance under pressure by deliberately...
Choking under pressure debate: Is there chaos in the brickyard?
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Definition of choking in sport: Re-conceptualization and debate
In sport, choking under pressure is a negative athletic experience that may have psychologically...
Performing under pressure in private: Activation of self-focus traits
Self-focus and self-presentation traits have been found to predict performance under pressure....
Choking under pressure: The role of fear of negative evaluation
Objective: Conceptual models and predictors of choking under pressure (i.e., choking) have been...
Distribution of Practice Trials in the Learning and Retention of an Applied Sport Skill
Testing an interactionist perspective on the relationship between personality traits and performance under public pressure
Objectives: The interactionist principle of trait activation [Tett & Gutermann (2000). Situation...
Self-Presentation Origins of Choking: Evidence From Separate Pressure Manipulations
Whether self-presentation is involved in the choking process remains unknown. The purpose of the...
A comparison of different pre-performance routines as possible choking interventions
The purpose of the current study was to ascertain which aspect of a pre-performance routine (PPR)...
Alleviating choking: The sounds of distraction
"Choking" is defined as a critical deterioration in the execution of habitual processes as a...
A pre-performance routine to alleviate choking in "choking- susceptible" athletes
"I did not 'Choke'!": Introducing a Preliminary Self -Presentation Model of "Choking" in Sport.
Using psychological inventories to predict athletes "choking-susceptiblity": Useful suggestions for the applied practitioner
The beneficial effects of using music for performance under pressure: Alleviating choking in "choking-susceptible" athletes
Using music to alleviate choking under pressure in "choking-susceptible" athletes
Using a pre-performance routine to diminish choking effects
Choking under pressure: Inoculation using a pre-shot routine