Committed relationships and enhanced threat levels: Perceptions of coach behavior, the coach-athlete relationship, stress appraisals, and coping among athletes

Nicholls, Adam R.; Levy, Andrew R.; Jones, Leigh; Meir, Rudi; Radcliffe, Jon N.; Perry, John L.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess an a priori model that included perceptions of coach behavior, coach–athlete relationship, stress appraisals, and coping. A total of 274 athletes from the United Kingdom, Austalia, and Hong Kong completed relevant measures that assessed each construct. Our results revealed that perceptions of coach behavior were associated with aspects of the coach–athlete relationship and stress appraisals. In particular, closeness was positively associated with challenge appraisals and negatively with threat appraisals. However, commitment was positively associated with threat, indicating that there might be some negative implications of having a highly committed coach–athlete relationship. Further, commitment was also positively associated with disengagement-oriented coping, which has previously been linked to poor performance and lower goal-attainment. Applied practitioners could monitor athlete’s perceptions of the coach–athlete relationship, particularly commitment levels, and provide training in appraising stress and coping to those who also score highly on threat and disengagement-oriented coping, but low on task-oriented coping.

Citation

Nicholls, A. R., Levy, A. R., Jones, L., Meir, R., Radcliffe, J. N., & Perry, J. L. (2016). Committed relationships and enhanced threat levels: Perceptions of coach behavior, the coach-athlete relationship, stress appraisals, and coping among athletes. International journal of sports science & coaching, 11(1), 16-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747954115624825

• Acceptance Date: Feb 3, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Feb 11, 2016
• Publication Date: 2016-02
• Deposit Date: Feb 14, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 14, 2017
• Journal: International journal of sports science and coaching
• Print ISSN: 1747-9541
• Electronic ISSN: 2048-397X
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 16-26
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1747954115624825
• Keywords: Commitment; Disengagement-oriented coping; Immunological markers
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/448254
• Publisher URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1747954115624825
• Additional Information: This is the author's accepted manuscript of an article published in International journal of sports science and coaching, 2016, v.11 issue 1.