Abstract

The efficiacy of a model for coping with acute stress, induced by critical feedback in a sport situation, and the effectiveness of an instructional program for teaching coping strategies on which the model is based, was examined. Male baseball and female softball intercollegiate athletes were trained to use cognitive strategies to cope with receiving unpleasant information feedback as opposed to placebo (watching sport-related videotapes) and no-treatment control groups. The effect of the training, which focused on the control of emotions, organizing and filtering feedback information, planning responses, and executing responses (or COPE), on selected measures of affect were measured. Athletes who trained in a stress management program decreased their fear of appearing incompetent, were less afraid of negative evaluations, maintained a sense of control over their baseball future, felt less upset by negative feedback concerning their athletic performance, and tended to attribute their performance to internal, as opposed to external, factors. The COPE model is discussed in the context of helping athletes deal productively with the inevitability of acute stress in sport. Verf.-Referat