Emotion regulation difficulties among young female athletes in implementing strategies to overcome stressful situations

Abstract

The aim is to examine young female athletes' difficulties in emotion regulation when implementing strategies to overcome stressful situations: problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and avoidance coping. Methods: The sample of female athletes was randomly selected (n = 122) from youth sports representatives who trained systematically and competed in cyclic, complex-coordination, team, and individual sports. The sample comprised athletes aged 15–19 (М = 17.87; SD = ±3.04). At the time of the survey, the respondents were healthy (uninjured), trained according to the general program, and participated in Ukrainian and international sports competitions. Results. It was found that the values of emotion regulation difficulties were normal in n = 20 (16.39%) athletes and moderate in n = 100 (81.97%) respondents. Only two respondents (1.64%) were diagnosed with emotional dysregulation. The profile of young athletes' emotion regulation difficulties was visualized using a petal diagram. The key aspects of methodological support for its use were clarified. Eight correlations were identified between emotion regulation difficulties, emotional maturity, and strategies for coping with stressful situations. These correlations determined the dependence of most parameters studied. However, "Impulse", "Self-Regulation", and "Empathy" were found to be autonomous. Strategies for coping with stressful situations were assigned the role of grouping variables. It was found that for "Problem-Focused Coping", the group with low values ranks first across all parameters of emotion regulation difficulties, and the group with high values surpasses it in the emotional maturity parameter – "Expressivity". For "Emotion- Focused Coping", the group with low values ranks first in "Non-Acceptance", "Impuls", and "Empathy", and the group with high values surpasses it in "Purpose". For "Avoidance Coping", only the group with low values shows three superiorities in "Impulse", "Expressivity", and "Self-Regulation". Discussion and conclusions. It was justified that young female athletes' emotion regulation difficulties are a combination of psycho-emotional barriers that complicate and impede effective participation in sports and assertive behaviour in their learning, training, competitive, rehabilitative, and leisure activities. It was summarised that the established empirical facts, which possess cognitive value and scientific novelty, should be incorporated in the educational and training process at Olympic reserve sports schools for children and youth.