Coping with the demands of being a collegiate student-athlete: an exploratory investigation coupled with a set of procedural guidelines for athletic department personnel and related services providers

Research in sport psychology has identified some general reactions of collegiate student-athletes when meeting the academic requirements and sport performance demands of their institutions. Despite such awareness, limited information has been reported regarding: (a) the extent to which the day to day and longer range demands are considered as problematic and stressful for collegiate student-athletes; (b) how student-athletes cope with these situations; and (c) student-athletes' views on being provided support in managing their role as student and athlete. In an effort to obtain a more in depth understanding of these issues, a survey was created and distributed electronically to 550 student-athletes enrolled at an NCAA Division-1 college in Pennsylvania, with data being collected and used from 231 participants. Data for the entire sample was analyzed to identify areas of sport, school, and life that respondents found stressful, along with the coping mechanisms they used in their self management as student-athletes. Data was then analyzed based on gender, year in college, and sport. Out of the fifteen items included in the survey, twelve were rated as stressful by more than half of the participants. Although many items were rated as stressful, 5 out of the 12 items received moderate to extreme stress ratings. Specifically, not meeting their own expectations and grades received the highest stress ratings followed by pressure to win, balancing sport and academic demands, and being nervous before or during competition. In order to help manage these stressors, a majority of the student-athletes reported that they spend time with friends, take a break, exercise, and ask friends and family for advice, suggesting that they utilize both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping skills. Responses from the survey were used to create a set of guidelines for athletic department personnel and other professionals working with collegiate student-athletes in an effort to increase their understanding of stress and coping and how to further proceed in learning how to balance sport and academic demands.Psy.DIncludes bibliographical references (p. 212-216)by Denise Dreitlein SteinerIncludes abstrac