Measuring whether athletes feel threatened, or challenged, by upcoming competitions

What is it about?

Although we know a fair amount about pre-competitive emotions such as anxiety, there is limited research exploring the types of thoughts (i.e., appraisals) that generate these emotions. The current paper developed and tested a brief tool to explore perceptions of threat/challenge and coping resources that might determine the extent that potentially debilitating emotional responses (e.g., anxiety) emerge prior to competition.

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Why is it important?

As an approach to managing emotions prior to competition, it may be useful to explore opportunities to manage the source that they are expected to emerge from: The appraisals athletes are making about their competition. Understanding these appraisals may enable effort to hone-in on specific precursors that are problematic (e.g., findings social resources to help athletes cope or discussing the perceived importance of a competition) to manage precompetitive emotions.