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The research aim of this study was the evaluation of the psychometric properties of the translated version of the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ, Sheard et al, 2009). The aim of the research was to state the psychometric... more
The research aim of this study was the evaluation of the psychometric properties of the translated version of the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ, Sheard et al, 2009). The aim of the research was to state the psychometric indicators of the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire for the Latvian environment. Athletes from different kinds of sport, aged 18-23 years participated in the research (n=200). The following research methods were used: inquiry-questionnaire (SMTQ) and mathematical statistics. In data analysis Cronbach's alpha was stated, the dispersion analysis, factor analysis and correlation analysis were made. As a result it was concluded that SMTQ can be used in psychological research in Latvia, as the questionnaire has adequate reliability and validity (factorial and content).
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Aim of this research was Group Environment Questionnaire test credibility and factor structure determination in Latvia. A group of Canadian sports psychologists, A. Carron, L. Brawley and W. Widmeyer, has developed this test to determine... more
Aim of this research was Group Environment Questionnaire test credibility and factor structure determination in Latvia. A group of Canadian sports psychologists, A. Carron, L. Brawley and W. Widmeyer, has developed this test to determine cohesion level in team sports – Group Environment Questionnaire, in accordance with cohesion conceptual model. Results of researches prove that GEQ practical appliance is useful in sports science. Taking into account theoretical literature analysis and results obtained in practical researches, it can be concluded that further team cohesion research will improve development of Latvian athletes’ psychological training. The research was carried out from the beginning of year 2004 to the end of year 2006 (n=394). Different team sports athletes were analysed in order to determine psychometric properties, they were aged 18−23. Methods of this research: GEQ test, mathematical statistics. GEQ−18 by Canadian sports psychologists Widmeyer, Brawley, Carron tra...
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Athletes' success in sports is linked not only to good physical, technical and tactical preparedness, but also to psychological fitness. In sports psychology there are two basic types of psychological preparation, namely general... more
Athletes' success in sports is linked not only to good physical, technical and tactical preparedness, but also to psychological fitness. In sports psychology there are two basic types of psychological preparation, namely general psychological preparation and special psychological preparation. Just as comprehensive physical preparation is the basis for an athlete's special, technical, tactical fitness, so comprehensive psychological preparation is the basis for an athlete's mental toughness both during the training and competing. Regardless of the stressors, the athletes with higher levels of mental toughness can overcome more easily the negative effects of stress. In order to gain mental toughness skills, it is necessary to develop basic psychological skills at the same time as starting sports activities, and this process should continue in parallel with the entire training process. The aim of the study: to explore the intervention benefits of autogenous training (AT) te...
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Recreation philosophy is human ability to relax applying various games and activities, where a game or activity has some purpose, which we should know and understand how to achieve it. Parkour is a movement, form of training, a way of... more
Recreation philosophy is human ability to relax applying various games and activities, where a game or activity has some purpose, which we should know and understand how to achieve it. Parkour is a movement, form of training, a way of getting it, the art of moving from point A to point B with your own body as a means in as fast, efficient and controlled manner as possible based on your own circumstances. It is completely free from competitions, competitions or other forms of rivalry. Recreation is for people to restore from everyday work routine and stress. Practically people perceive this essence of recreation which gives us a possibility to relax and creates emotions of happiness. Parkour is an art that helps you pass any obstacle to go from point A to point B using only the abilities of the human body. One of recreation and parkour kinds is outdoor activities, which means different open-air activities in nature. Outdoor activities have a physical, mental, emotional and even educa...
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Whole body vibration is a worldwide innovation as a part of training method that helps athletes to regain the power and get ready for next training faster. However less attention is paid to local vibration where an isolated muscle or... more
Whole body vibration is a worldwide innovation as a part of training method that helps athletes to regain the power and get ready for next training faster. However less attention is paid to local vibration where an isolated muscle or muscle group is stimulated by the use of a vibration device. For the reason to determine the effect of local vibration on anaerobic capacity of rowers, two research groups were assembled from the students of Murjāņi Sport Gymnasium (MSG). The following methods were used in the study: tests – Concept-2, local vibration (LV) manipulations, electromyography and mathematical statistics. The electromyography was made with Biometric LTD. LV manipulations were done to the muscles erector spinae, latisimus dorsi, teres major, teres minor, trapezius, infraspinatus, deltoideus, slenius capitis, triceps brachii, gluteus maximus, semitendinosus, biceps femoris, semimembranosus, castrocnemius, tendo calcaneus, rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, tensor fascia latae, v...
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Treniruočių, varžybų metu be fi zinio, techninio ir taktinio rengimo, psichologinis sportininkų rengimas taip pat labai svarbus (Moran, 2004; Murphy, 2005; Malinauskas, 2008) ir glaudžiai siejasi su fi zine žaidėjo būsena (Родионова, 2004).... more
Treniruočių, varžybų metu be fi zinio, techninio ir taktinio rengimo, psichologinis sportininkų rengimas taip pat labai svarbus (Moran, 2004; Murphy, 2005; Malinauskas, 2008) ir glaudžiai siejasi su fi zine žaidėjo būsena (Родионова, 2004). Tyrimo reikšmingumą nusako teoriškai argumentuoti ir empiriškai pagrįsti faktai analizuojant Latvijos jaunių krepšinio rinktinės pasirengimo Europos čempionato žaidynėms 2007 ir 2008 metais rezultatus. Tyrimo tikslas — įvertinti Latvijos jaunių krepšinio rinktinės narių psichologinio rengimo bei fi zinių savybių ir pasirodymo rezultatų koreliaciją. Tyrimo uždaviniai: nustatyti jaunųjų krepšininkų psichologinės (psichinio stabilumo, komandos sutelktumo) ir fi zinės būsenos rodiklius; nustatyti ir išanalizuoti reikšmingiausius koreliacinius ryšius su pasirodymo varžybose rezultatais; nustatyti vyraujančius jaunųjų krepšininkų psichologinio rengimo ir fi zinės būklės veiksnius. Tyrimo metodai: testavimas (GEQ testas komandos sutelktumui įvertinti), bendr...
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Research Interests:
Problems with anxiety are one of the most common presenting problems for university students that affect the mental health. A sample of students (total n=318) were administered Spielberger's State and Trait Anxiety Scale. The... more
Problems with anxiety are one of the most common presenting problems for university students that affect the mental health. A sample of students (total n=318) were administered Spielberger's State and Trait Anxiety Scale. The demographics of the participants included 38.4% (n = 122) males and 61.6 % (n =196) females, participants ranged in ages from 18 to 25 years old. The average age of respondents was 20.92 (SD =2.07). This study was conducted to evaluate of psychometric properties of the Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory form in a student sample. The internal consistency for the STAI was calculated by Cronbach alpha coefficient (α = 0,809). Principal component analysis with Varimax rotation was performed to assess the factor structure for the total sample that yielded four factors. Descriptive statistics were also calculated for the sample. They were found to be moderately trait anxious (M = 38.89, SD = 8.92) with lower state anxiety (M = 35.79, SD = 9.80). The ...
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Research Interests:
Background: Individual differences in personality and resilience are related to a variety of social behaviors. The current study sought to answer the question of whether BMW drivers exhibit different personality profiles and resilience... more
Background: Individual differences in personality and resilience are related to a variety of social behaviors. The current study sought to answer the question of whether BMW drivers exhibit different personality profiles and resilience levels compared with drivers of other car brands. Participants and procedure: An international study was carried out in India, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain on a sample of 448 athletes using the 20-item Mini-IPIP and the Resilience Scale. The results of BMW drivers (n = 91) were compared with the results of drivers of other German car brands (n = 357). Results: BMW drivers were characterized by higher neuroticism compared with drivers of other German car brands. They also showed higher resiliency, both in terms of total score and scores on the subscales of: personal coping competences and tolerance of negative emotions, tolerance of failures and perceiving life as a challenge, and optimistic attitude towards life and capacity...
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The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated and facilitated the introduction of telework in organizations. This has also impacted the workers’ relationship between work and private life. The aim of the current study was to examine the links... more
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated and facilitated the introduction of telework in organizations. This has also impacted the workers’ relationship between work and private life. The aim of the current study was to examine the links between resilience and mode of work (stationary vs. remote) and the work–home and home–work relationships, and whether they are mediated by passion for work and strategies of coping with stress. The study was carried out on a sample of 1251 participants from Great Britain, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Vietnam. The following measures were used: The Survey Work–Home Interaction, The Brief Resilience Coping Scale, The Passion Scale, and the Brief COPE. Results showed that the more stationary the mode of work, the lower the intensity of the negative influence of personal life on work. Resilience was revealed to have a positive effect on worker functioning. The study also showed a relationship between education and g...
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Abstract. This article deals with the questions of self-efficacy among students of pedagogical universities. Results have shown that students-athletes had higher level of physical self-efficacy than students non-athletes
Background and Study Aim: The competition is an unique event which supposes pressure, social and financial stake, in these conditions increasing the athletes’ probability of getting injured. And this probability is higher in the case of... more
Background and Study Aim: The competition is an unique event which supposes pressure, social and financial stake, in these conditions increasing the athletes’ probability of getting injured. And this probability is higher in the case of new and inexperienced athletes, in which case (mainly), the win-at-all-costs philosophy may lead to less calculated risks. The goal of the current study is recommendation to researchers, coaches of various martial arts (combat sports) disciplines, physical education teachers, and psychologists with a measure of stimulating and instrumental risk. Adapting the S&IRQ will allow for assessing athletes in terms of sports risk Material and Methods: The Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, and English adaptation of Makarowski’s Stimulating and Instrumental Risk Questionnaire (S&IRQ) was made. Two types of risk are discussed: (a) stimulating risk, which focuses on the experience of pleasurable physiological stimulation, and (b) instrumental risk, which is a goal-oriented strategy/tactics. Our study has also a cross-sectional nature, analyzing the results for instrumental and stimulating risk, in the case of eight groups of athletes. The questionnaire’s reliability and validity analyses on martial arts athletes from Hungary (n = 47), Latvia (n = 32), Lithuania (n = 47), English-speaking athletes from other countries (n = 58), Romania, (n = 61), Russia (n = 53), Slovakia (n = 29) and Spain (n = 25) was made. Reliability was measured using the Cronbach’s α internal consistency coefficient, which ranged from 0.69 to 0.83. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify the questionnaire’s internal structure. Results: Results of research using the eight versions of the S&IRQ indicate that the measure possesses good psychometric properties and can be used in international research. Also, single-factor analysis of variance revealed significant differences between the groups of athletes. Romanian athletes achieved the highest mean scores for the stimulating risk scale, while athletes from Spain achieved the lowest results. Considering the instrumental risk, Spanish athletes registered the highest score and athletes from Russia the lowest values. Conclusions: The S&IRQ can be used in international studies, as part of psychological training by sport psychologists, coaches, martial arts athletes, athletes from various sport disciplines, for their professional and personal development. The appendix includes Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indian (Martahai and Hindi), Indonesian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Moldavian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak and Spanish versions of the S&IRQ for martial arts athletes, together with the norms for both women and men
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This article deals with the questions of self-efficacy among students of pedagogical universities. Results have shown that students-athletes had higher level of physical self-efficacy than students non-athletes
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Background and Study Aims: Materials and Methods: Success in sports among athletes on a similar level of skill can depend on individual differences in experienced stress and coping strategies The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many areas... more
Background and Study Aims: Materials and Methods: Success in sports among athletes on a similar level of skill can depend on individual differences in experienced stress and coping strategies The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many areas of life, including sports The aim of the current study was to verify two hypotheses: (H1) emotional tension, external stress, and intrapsy-chic stress among martial arts athletes will be significantly higher during the height of the pandemic than in the pre-pandemic period;(H2) martial arts athletes will less frequently use problem-focused strategies of coping with stress, such as active coping and planning, during the height of the pandemic The study used the Perception of Stress Questionnaire measuring the following dimensions of stress: emotional tension, external stress, and intrapsychic stress Coping strategies were measured with the Brief COPE questionnaire distinguishing 14 coping strategies Seven hundred and eighty-one athletes (including 11...
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Research Interests:
Background. This article deals with the issue of the manifestation of emotional intelligence in Lithuanian and Latvian student athletes. Emotional intelligence has been suggested as providing a new perspective on how emotional... more
Background. This article deals with the issue of the manifestation of emotional intelligence in Lithuanian and Latvian student athletes. Emotional intelligence has been suggested as providing a new perspective on how emotional competencies necessary for performance in today’s workplace among would-be physical educators might be more effective and better understood. Hence, the following research question is raised: does the emotional intelligence of Lithuanian student athletes differ from that of Latvian student athletes? We hypothesized that the emotional intelligence of Lithuanian student athletes differs from that of Latvian student athletes. Research aim was to reveal the manifestation of emotional intelligence in Lithuanian and Latvian student athletes.Methods. The independent random sample consisted of 227 student athletes from the Latvian Academy of Sports Education and 214 student athletes from the Lithuanian Sports University. Schutte Self-Report Inventory (SSR...
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Research Interests:
Background and Study Aim: Studying aggression and aggressiveness among martial arts athletes allows for identifying aspects of the training process, important for the professional and personal development. Makarowski’s Aggression... more
Background and Study Aim:
Studying aggression and aggressiveness among martial arts athletes allows for identifying aspects of the training process, important for the professional and personal development. Makarowski’s Aggression Questionnaire has only been published in English in 2013. The aim of the current study is recommendation to researchers, coaches of various martial arts (combat sports) disciplines, physical education teachers, and psychologists with a measure of aggression in sport.
Material and Methods:
The Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, and Spanish adaptation of Makarowski’s Aggression Questionnaire was used. The questionnaire measures the following dimensions of aggressiveness: “Go-ahead” (the athlete attacks, breaks obstacles, is courageous and see obstacles as challenges to be overcome), “Foul play” (the athlete has no scruples, is willing to blame others in order to achieve his/ her goal or to block them, often in an unethical manner - for example, by pushing an opponent on the field) and “Assertiveness” (the athlete expresses his/ her opinion and emotions directly, in a courageous way and within appropriate boundaries - for example, a critical feedback to peers or to the coach). The questionnaire’s reliability and validity analyses on martial arts athletes from Hungary (n = 50), Latvia (n = 31), Lithuania (n = 51), Poland (n = 49), Romania, (n = 53), Russia (n = 55), Slovakia (n = 30) and Spain (n = 24) were made. Reliability was assessed using the Cronbach’s α internal consistency coefficient, which ranged from 0.69 to 0.83 for the individual subscales. The test’s internal structure was verified via confirmatory factor analysis.
Results:
The adapted versions of Makarowski’s Aggression Questionnaire have good psychometric properties and can be used in international studies. Also, single-factor analysis of variance highlighted that martial arts athletes from Spain achieved the highest mean on the Go-ahead subscale, martial arts athletes from Latvia achieved the highest mean on the Foul play subscale, while martial arts athletes from Poland obtained the highest values on the Assertiveness subscale. Considering the lowest Go-ahead scores, these were observed in martial arts athletes from Romania, the lowest Foul play scores - in martial arts athletes from Spain, and the lowest Assertiveness values - in martial arts athletes from Hungary.
Conclusions:
In accordance with the general methodological standards, the questionnaire can be used in coaching practice, as part of psychological skills training and in international research. The appendix includes Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indian (Martahai and Hindi), Indonesian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian (implicitly Moldavian), Russian, Slovak and Spanish versions of the Makarowski’s Aggression Questionnaire for martial arts athletes, together with the norms for both women and men. The questionnaire can be used not only by athletes, but also by other people over 16 years old who need to be tested for their level of aggressiveness.
Studying aggression and aggressiveness among martial arts athletes allows for identifying aspects of the training process, important for the professional and personal development. Makarowski’s Aggression Questionnaire has only been published in English in 2013. The aim of the current study is recommendation to researchers, coaches of various martial arts (combat sports) disciplines, physical education teachers, and psychologists with a measure of aggression in sport.
Material and Methods:
The Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, and Spanish adaptation of Makarowski’s Aggression Questionnaire was used. The questionnaire measures the following dimensions of aggressiveness: “Go-ahead” (the athlete attacks, breaks obstacles, is courageous and see obstacles as challenges to be overcome), “Foul play” (the athlete has no scruples, is willing to blame others in order to achieve his/ her goal or to block them, often in an unethical manner - for example, by pushing an opponent on the field) and “Assertiveness” (the athlete expresses his/ her opinion and emotions directly, in a courageous way and within appropriate boundaries - for example, a critical feedback to peers or to the coach). The questionnaire’s reliability and validity analyses on martial arts athletes from Hungary (n = 50), Latvia (n = 31), Lithuania (n = 51), Poland (n = 49), Romania, (n = 53), Russia (n = 55), Slovakia (n = 30) and Spain (n = 24) were made. Reliability was assessed using the Cronbach’s α internal consistency coefficient, which ranged from 0.69 to 0.83 for the individual subscales. The test’s internal structure was verified via confirmatory factor analysis.
Results:
The adapted versions of Makarowski’s Aggression Questionnaire have good psychometric properties and can be used in international studies. Also, single-factor analysis of variance highlighted that martial arts athletes from Spain achieved the highest mean on the Go-ahead subscale, martial arts athletes from Latvia achieved the highest mean on the Foul play subscale, while martial arts athletes from Poland obtained the highest values on the Assertiveness subscale. Considering the lowest Go-ahead scores, these were observed in martial arts athletes from Romania, the lowest Foul play scores - in martial arts athletes from Spain, and the lowest Assertiveness values - in martial arts athletes from Hungary.
Conclusions:
In accordance with the general methodological standards, the questionnaire can be used in coaching practice, as part of psychological skills training and in international research. The appendix includes Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indian (Martahai and Hindi), Indonesian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian (implicitly Moldavian), Russian, Slovak and Spanish versions of the Makarowski’s Aggression Questionnaire for martial arts athletes, together with the norms for both women and men. The questionnaire can be used not only by athletes, but also by other people over 16 years old who need to be tested for their level of aggressiveness.
Research Interests:
Background and Study Aim: The competition is an unique event which supposes pressure, social and financial stake, in these conditions increasing the athletes’ probability of getting injured. And this probability is higher in the case of... more
Background and Study Aim: The competition is an unique event which supposes pressure, social and financial stake, in these conditions increasing the athletes’ probability of getting injured. And this probability is higher in the case of new and inexperienced athletes, in which case (mainly), the win-at-all-costs philosophy may lead to less calculated risks. The goal of the current study is recommendation to researchers, coaches of various martial arts (combat sports) disciplines, physical education teachers, and psychologists with a measure of stimulating and instrumental risk. Adapting the S&IRQ will allow for assessing athletes in terms of sports risk
Material and Methods: The Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, and English adaptation of Makarowski’s Stimulating and Instrumental Risk Questionnaire (S&IRQ) was made. Two types of risk are discussed: (a) stimulating risk, which focuses on the experience of pleasurable physiological stimulation, and (b) instrumental risk, which is a goal-oriented strategy/tactics. Our study has also a cross-sectional nature, analyzing the results for instrumental and stimulating risk, in the case of eight groups of athletes. The questionnaire’s reliability and validity analyses on martial arts athletes from Hungary (n = 47), Latvia (n = 32), Lithuania (n = 47), English-speaking athletes from other countries (n = 58), Romania, (n = 61), Russia (n = 53), Slovakia (n = 29) and Spain (n = 25) was made. Reliability was measured using the Cronbach’s α internal consistency coefficient, which ranged from 0.69 to 0.83. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify the questionnaire’s internal structure.
Results: Results of research using the eight versions of the S&IRQ indicate that the measure possesses good psychometric properties and can be used in international research. Also, single-factor analysis of variance revealed significant differences between the groups of athletes. Romanian athletes achieved the highest mean scores for the stimulating risk scale, while athletes from Spain achieved the lowest results. Considering the instrumental risk, Spanish athletes registered the highest score and athletes from Russia the lowest values.
Conclusions: The S&IRQ can be used in international studies, as part of psychological training by sport psychologists, coaches, martial arts athletes, athletes from various sport disciplines, for their professional and personal development. The appendix includes Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indian (Martahai and Hindi), Indonesian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Moldavian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak and Spanish versions of the S&IRQ for martial arts athletes, together with the norms for both women and men.
Material and Methods: The Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, and English adaptation of Makarowski’s Stimulating and Instrumental Risk Questionnaire (S&IRQ) was made. Two types of risk are discussed: (a) stimulating risk, which focuses on the experience of pleasurable physiological stimulation, and (b) instrumental risk, which is a goal-oriented strategy/tactics. Our study has also a cross-sectional nature, analyzing the results for instrumental and stimulating risk, in the case of eight groups of athletes. The questionnaire’s reliability and validity analyses on martial arts athletes from Hungary (n = 47), Latvia (n = 32), Lithuania (n = 47), English-speaking athletes from other countries (n = 58), Romania, (n = 61), Russia (n = 53), Slovakia (n = 29) and Spain (n = 25) was made. Reliability was measured using the Cronbach’s α internal consistency coefficient, which ranged from 0.69 to 0.83. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify the questionnaire’s internal structure.
Results: Results of research using the eight versions of the S&IRQ indicate that the measure possesses good psychometric properties and can be used in international research. Also, single-factor analysis of variance revealed significant differences between the groups of athletes. Romanian athletes achieved the highest mean scores for the stimulating risk scale, while athletes from Spain achieved the lowest results. Considering the instrumental risk, Spanish athletes registered the highest score and athletes from Russia the lowest values.
Conclusions: The S&IRQ can be used in international studies, as part of psychological training by sport psychologists, coaches, martial arts athletes, athletes from various sport disciplines, for their professional and personal development. The appendix includes Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indian (Martahai and Hindi), Indonesian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Moldavian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak and Spanish versions of the S&IRQ for martial arts athletes, together with the norms for both women and men.
Research Interests:
Background and Study Aims: Success in sports among athletes on a similar level of skill can depend on individual differences in experienced stress and coping strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many areas of life, including... more
Background and Study Aims: Success in sports among athletes on a similar level of skill can depend on individual differences in experienced stress and coping strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many areas of life, including sports. The aim of the current study was to verify two hypotheses: (H1) emotional tension, external stress, and intrapsychic stress among martial arts athletes will be significantly higher during the height of the pandemic than in the pre-pandemic period; (H2) martial arts athletes will less frequently use problem-focused strategies of coping with stress, such as active coping and planning, during the height of the pandemic.
Materials and Methods: The study used the Perception of Stress Questionnaire measuring the following dimensions of stress: emotional tension, external stress, and intrapsychic stress. Coping strategies were measured with the Brief COPE questionnaire distinguishing 14 coping strategies. Seven hundred and eighty-one athletes (including 116 martial arts athletes) from Poland, Romania, and Slovakia took part in the study in the pre-pandemic period. During the height of the pandemic, athletes from Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Spain took part in the study (n = 1,032, including 396 martial arts athletes).
Results: Higher levels of emotional tension, external stress, and intrapsychic stress were observed among Polish and Romanian martial arts athletes in the pre-pandemic period. Stress levels were higher before the pandemic than during its peak, when the lowest levels of emotional tension and external stress were reported by martial
arts athletes in Romania, and the highest – in Lithuania and Spain. On the other hand, the lowest levels of intrapsychic stress were reported by martial arts athletes in Poland, and the highest – in Lithuania. Key gender-dependent strategies of coping with stress were identified. Male and female martial arts athletes used denial, focus on and venting of emotions, substance use, and acceptance. Additionally, men used self-blame and women used behavioural disengagement.
Conclusions: The effects of the pandemic do not involve an increase in subjectively perceived psychological stress among martial arts athletes from countries variously affected by the pandemic. The use of maladaptive coping strategies – denial, substance use, venting negative emotion etc. – allows for lowering the subjectively experienced stress (the emotional tension, external stress and intrapsychic stress) of martial arts athletes. It was the use of these strategies which facilitated lower stress levels. The second hypothesis, that martial arts athletes will less frequently use problem-focused strategies of coping with stress, such as active coping and planning,
during the height of the pandemic, was confirmed.
Materials and Methods: The study used the Perception of Stress Questionnaire measuring the following dimensions of stress: emotional tension, external stress, and intrapsychic stress. Coping strategies were measured with the Brief COPE questionnaire distinguishing 14 coping strategies. Seven hundred and eighty-one athletes (including 116 martial arts athletes) from Poland, Romania, and Slovakia took part in the study in the pre-pandemic period. During the height of the pandemic, athletes from Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Spain took part in the study (n = 1,032, including 396 martial arts athletes).
Results: Higher levels of emotional tension, external stress, and intrapsychic stress were observed among Polish and Romanian martial arts athletes in the pre-pandemic period. Stress levels were higher before the pandemic than during its peak, when the lowest levels of emotional tension and external stress were reported by martial
arts athletes in Romania, and the highest – in Lithuania and Spain. On the other hand, the lowest levels of intrapsychic stress were reported by martial arts athletes in Poland, and the highest – in Lithuania. Key gender-dependent strategies of coping with stress were identified. Male and female martial arts athletes used denial, focus on and venting of emotions, substance use, and acceptance. Additionally, men used self-blame and women used behavioural disengagement.
Conclusions: The effects of the pandemic do not involve an increase in subjectively perceived psychological stress among martial arts athletes from countries variously affected by the pandemic. The use of maladaptive coping strategies – denial, substance use, venting negative emotion etc. – allows for lowering the subjectively experienced stress (the emotional tension, external stress and intrapsychic stress) of martial arts athletes. It was the use of these strategies which facilitated lower stress levels. The second hypothesis, that martial arts athletes will less frequently use problem-focused strategies of coping with stress, such as active coping and planning,
during the height of the pandemic, was confirmed.