Stress and Coping Among Female Athletes

The Elite Female Athlete: Putting Evidence into Practice

Katherine Tamminen, PhD

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)

• 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)

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)

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)

(Holt & Hogg, 2002)

Women’s National Soccer Players

Differences between men and women?

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

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?

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

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

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)

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)

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)

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.

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?”

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

Thank you!

Katherine Tamminen, PhDtamminen@ualberta.ca