Emotional maturity, dispositional coping, and coping effectiveness among adolescent athletes

Adam R. Nicholls, Andrew R. Levy, John L. Perry

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    24 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Objectives: Although some scholars have suggested that coping is constrained by emotional maturity, little is known about the relationship between these constructs. In this paper we assessed a model that included emotional maturity, dispositional coping, and coping effectiveness. We predicted that emotional maturity would have a direct effect on coping effectiveness in addition to an indirect effect via task-, distraction-, and disengagement-oriented coping. Design: Cross-sectional. Methods: Seven hundred and ninety athletes completed measures of emotional maturity, dispositional coping, and coping effectiveness. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling, which revealed partial support for our model. Results: Several of the predicted paths were significant. In particular, there was a significant path between emotional maturity and task-oriented coping, but the paths between emotional maturity and distraction- and disengagement-oriented coping were not significant. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that how an athlete copes might be limited by his or her level of emotional maturity, which provides further evidence that coping is constrained by maturation among adolescent athletes.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)32-39
    Number of pages8
    JournalPsychology of Sport and Exercise
    Volume17
    Early online date22 Nov 2014
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Mar 2015

    Keywords

    • Adolescence
    • Emotional intelligence
    • Emotions
    • Maturation
    • Optimism

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