Coping In Sport

1
Coping In Sport

• Ailsa Anderson
• 3 November 2005

2

Individual differences e.g., Trait anxiety e.g.,
coping style

• Response
• Arousal ?
• Behaviour
• Emotions (incl Anxiety)

Cognitive Appraisal Primary Appraisal Is this
important Secondary appraisal Can I cope

• Situation
• (e.g., World cup qualifier)
• Demands

Coping
The Stress Process (from Lazarus Folkman, 1984)
3
Completing the WOCS

• What do your results tell you about you?
• Could you change the stressful situation?
• How did this influence your coping behaviour?
• What are strengths weaknesses of the WOCS

4
Do we have a coping style?

• An alternative approach to viewing coping
• a preferred set of coping strategies that remain
  relatively fixed across time and circumstances
  (Carver, et al., 1989 p. 270)
• Viewed as a disposition and links with
  personality traits

5
A coping style dichotomy

• Avoidance
• Consists of turning away from the stressor
  physically or psychologically
• E.G., Ignoring/ discounting/ distancing
• (Roth Cohen, 1986)

• Approach
• Initiate direct action or increase ones efforts
  to resolve the problem
• E.G., Arguing/ seeking information

6
Problem Focused Coping

• Involves efforts to alter or manage the problem
  that is causing the stress for the individual
  involved
• If you can do something about the stressor then
  do it!

7
Emotion-Focused Coping

• Involves regulating the emotional responses that
  result from the problem that causes the stress
  for the individual without changing the realities
  of the situation
• If cant do anything about the stressor then seek
  to reduce the symptoms

8
N.B.,

• Others have distinguished between emotion focused
  and appraisal-focused coping (Cox Ferguson,
  1991)
• Evident in Poczwardowski Conroy (2002) paper

9
How do athletes cope with stress?

• E.G., Poczwardowski Conroy (2002) qualitative
  study with elite athletes and performing artists
• Identified 4 categories of coping

10
3. Appraisal-focused coping

• Looking into the future
• Moving on
• Keep things in perspective
• Know how to handle criticism and failure

11
Application

• Control the controllables!
• If you can do something about it then ACT
• If you cant do anything about it then dont bang
  your head against a brick wall just REACT
  appropriately
• ACTION or REACTION?

12
Summary

• Importance of coping
• How coping fits with Lazarus and Folkman (1984)
• Types of coping
• Coping strategies used by athletes
• Role of SP