Person and situation variables related to stress and challenge appraisals in rugby players
Date
2001
Authors
Lonsdale, Christopher Sean
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Abstract
In this study, person and situation variables related to appraisals of acute taxing events in rugby were identified. One hundred seven competitive male rugby players, including club to national level athletes, completed four questionnaires: The Competitive Orientation Questionnaire (Gill and Deeter, 1988), The Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 (ACSl-28, Smith, Smoll, Schutz, and Ptacek, 1995), The Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (Brewer, Van Raalte & Linder,1993), and the Rugby Game Events Questionnaire (RGEQ). The RGEQ measures stress and challenge appraisals of ten categories of events in preseason, regular season and playoff games.
Skill error events were the most stressful. Game outcome events were the most challenging. Profile Analyses revealed that older and higher caliber players reported lower stress. Freedom from worry, confidence and motivation to compete were also related to lower stress. Goal setting, motivation to win and motivation to achieve personal standards were correlated with higher stress. Neither motivations nor resources were related to challenge appraisals. Further research should focus on identifying the underlying causes of these relationships.