Role of resilient profile and coping on recovery-stress levels of the competitive athlete

Abstract

The perception of high stress, associated with negative and maladaptive athlete’s states, could be mediated by factors which belonging to the construct of resilient personality and dispositional optimism, which in turn may influence the type of coping strategies employed to deal to continuous stress. The aim of this study was to analyze how it affects the resilient profile, coping strategies and optimism in the recovery-stress levels of the competitive athlete. Participants were 235 competitive athletes, aged between 15 and 35 years (M age = 20.74 years, SD = 4.30) who practice different sports. They were evaluated on two occasions coinciding with the beginning of the last competitive mesocycle and the moment after the most important competition of the season. We measured, within Spanish versions, their recovery-stress levels (RESTQ-Sport, Kellmann and Kallus, 2001), resilient profile (Resilience Scale, Wagnild and Young, 1993) and coping strategies (ISCCS, Gaudreau and Blondin, 2002). Higher levels of resilience relate positively on recovery-stress processes.