Role of Self-Efficacy, Gender and Category of Athletes in Coping with Sports Stress

Abstract

The study investigated the role of self-efficacy, gender and category of athletes in coping with sports stress among 236 athletes from secondary (high) schools in Enugu, South-east, Nigeria. They were aged 10-20 years, with a mean age of 15.46 years. Using a three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), results showed that self-efficacy is a significant variable in coping with sports stress. Athletes with high self-efficacy reported the use of more adaptive coping strategies than athletes with low self-efficacy. Also, female athletes used more adaptive coping strategies than their male counterparts. Athletes‟ category (senior versus junior) did not play any significant role in participants‟ coping strategies during sports stress. There was significant interaction effect of self-efficacy and gender on coping with sports stress. The implications of these findings in managing sports stress among young athletes were discussed.

Keywords: Self-efficacy, Gender, Category of Athletes, Coping, Sports Stress

Ife PsychologIA, 20(2), September 2012