Coping and coping effectiveness in relation to a competitive sport event: Pubertal status, chronological age, and gender among adolescent athletes

Adam Nicholls*, Remco Polman, David Morley, Natalie J. Taylor

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An aim of this paper was to discover whether athletes of different pubertal status, chronological age, and gender reported distinct coping strategies in response to stress during a competitive event in their sport. A secondary aim was to examine pubertal status group, chronological age, and gender differences in coping effectiveness. Participants were adolescent athletes (n = 527), classified as beginning-pubertal (n = 59), midpubertal (n = 189), advanced-pubertal (n = 237), and postpubertal (n = 22). Findings revealed that there were small, but significant differences in how athletes of different pubertal status and chronological age coped. There were also significant differences between how athletes of different pubertal status perceived the effectiveness of their coping strategies. Interestingly, our results suggested that the relationship between pubertal status and coping and coping effectiveness is different from the relationship between chronological age and coping and coping effectiveness.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)299-317
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of Sport and Exercise Psychology
Volume31
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2009
Externally publishedYes

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