The applicability of self-regulation theories in sport: Goal adjustment capacities, stress appraisals, coping, and well-being among athletes

By A. Nicholls, Andrew R. Levy, F. Carson, Mark A. Thompson, J. Perry. 2016

97 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Objectives We examined a model, informed by self-regulation theories from the health psychology literature, which included goal adjustment capacities, appraisals of challenge and threat, coping, and well-being. Design Prospective. Methods Two-hundred and twelve athletes from the United Kingdom ( n = 147) or Australia ( n  = 65), who played team ( n  = 135) or individual sports ( n  = 77), and competed at international ( n  = 7), national ( n  = 11), county ( n  = 67), club ( n  = 84), or beginner ( n  = 43) levels participated in this study. Participants completed measures of goal adjustment capacities and stress appraisals two days before competing. Athletes also completed coping and well-being questionnaires within 3 h of their competition ending. Results The way an athlete responded to an unattainable goal was associated with his or her well-being in the period leading up to and including the competition. Goal reengagement positively predicted well-being, whereas goal disengagement negatively predicted well-being. Further, goal reengagement was positively associated with challenge appraisals, which in turn was linked to task-oriented coping, and task-oriented coping positively associated with well-being. Conclusion When highly-valued goals become unattainable, consultants and coaches could encourage athletes to generate alternative approaches to achieve the same goal or help them develop a completely new goal in order to promote well-being among athletes.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4d743a00195368288dee8beef45810aef1de6245