Sports adaptation to competition in Portuguese athletes: the role of cognitive appraisal

Abstract

This study analyses the role of cognitive appraisal processes in the adaptation to a stressful situation, providing indications about emotions, coping, and coping effectiveness. The study includes 229 male athletes (59.8%) and 154 female athletes (40.2%), with ages between 14 and 37 years old (M =22.85; SD = 5.35) divided between individual (n = 157; 41%) and team sports (n =226; 59%). The evaluation protocol included cognitive appraisal, emotions, and coping measures. The main results were: (a) challenge, coping, and control perceptions were related to positive emotions, attribution of beneficial effects to negative emotions, and use of active problem solving; and (b) threat perception was related to anxiety and other negative emotions. In conclusion, this study shows that more adaptive patterns of primary (high challenge and low threat perceptions) and secondary (high coping and control perceptions) cognitive appraisals correspond to a higher tendency to adapt positively to stressful events.