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Stress and Coping Among Female Athletes
The Elite Female Athlete: Putting Evidence into Practice
Katherine Tamminen, PhD
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Why stress and coping?
• Coping in sport is important for:
–Goal attainment & positive affect (Gaudreau, Blondin, & Lapierre, 2002)
–Elite performance environments (e.g., Holt & Dunn, 2004; Nicholls et al., 2005)
–Injury rehabilitation (Smith, Smoll, & Ptacek, 1990)
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• Stressors are perceptions about demands that are “taxing or exceeding one’s resources”
• Coping is a process–cognitive and behavioural efforts to
manage appraised stressors(Lazarus, 1999)
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Types of Stressors in Sport• Chronic stressors • Acute stressors• Interpersonal stressors
(coaches, teammates)
• Competitive Stressors (referees, opponents)
• Organizational stressors (scheduling, travel, financial costs of competition)
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Female collegiate volleyball playersTeam Performance Concerns
Previous performancesPoor team practices
Personal Performance Concerns
Making mistakesNot ‘letting go’ of mistakesServing at critical timesReferees’ calls
Fear of Failure Expectations-pressureBeing down in a game/losingLosing control (helplessness)
Championship Demands CrowdRoutine changes
(Holt, Berg, & Tamminen, 2007)
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(Holt & Hogg, 2002)
Women’s National Soccer Players
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Differences between men and women?
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Differences in stressors?
• More stress associated with interpersonal relationships (peers, parents, coaches?)
• Greater personal investment in interpersonal success
• High levels of worry and distress over peer relationships
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Men• Venting emotions• Active coping• Avoidance • Problem-focused coping?
Women• Social support, help-seeking• Increased effort• Emotion-focused coping• Problem-focused coping?
Differences in coping?
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Socialization Hypothesis
Men• Deny problem or avoid it
to conceal emotions• Solve problems,
confrontation
Women• Express emotions• Seek support from others
(Hoar, Crocker, Holt & Tamminen, 2010; Hoar, Kowalski, Gaudreau, Crocker, 2006; Ptacek, Smith, & Zanas, 1992)
Men and women are socialized to deal with stress in different ways
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Structural Hypothesis
• Men and women cope differently because they perceive different stressors (which require different coping strategies)
• If men and women reported the same stressors, then gender differences in coping should disappear
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Research findings: More similarities than differences?
• No difference in the ‘amount’ of coping
• Gender differences for some coping strategies when dealing with specific stressors:– Women used more seeking social support to deal with
coach or own behaviour as stressor)
• NO differences found for using social support to deal with coaches, peers, referees, or family.
“Gender differences are not robust across sources of interpersonal stress”
(Hoar, Crocker, Holt, & Tamminen, 2010)
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Research findings
• All athletes use coping strategies which include:– increasing effort– suppressing competing activities– active coping– self-blame
• Women used more seeking social support for emotional reasons & more increased effort
• Men did not use more problem-focused coping
(Crocker & Graham, 1995)
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Research findings
• Coping among female collegiate volleyball players: – Stressors were hard to predict– Effective coping = using a combination of coping
strategies(Holt, Berg, & Tamminen, 2007)
“To reach high competitive levels, athletes must use a repertoire of problem-focused coping strategies to actively change or manage a demanding environment to achieve success.”
(Crocker & Graham, 1995, p.332)
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Suggestions for Coaches
• Be aware that female athletes may appraise more interpersonal stressors (and you might be one of them!)
• You play a role in exposing athletes to stressors (e.g., expected vs. unexpected stressors)
• Sharing your experiences about coping with stressors can be helpful for your athletes.
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Helping Athletes Think About Coping
• Identify stressors
• What are you currently doing to cope with stress? – Are these strategies effective? Adaptive?
• Explore options for coping with athletes:– Encourage them to reflect on their past experiences– “What have you done in the past to deal with this
kind of situation?”
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Adaptive Coping
Problem focused:• Approach strategies• Situation control
(figure out what the problem is)
• Positive self-statements
Emotion focused:• Minimization
(e.g., “it’s not that bad”)• Short-term avoidance
(distraction/recreation)• Cognitive restructuring• Seeking support
Maladaptive Coping
• Avoidance• Disengagement/
withdrawal• Rumination• Resignation (giving up)• Aggression