The Mediating Effect of Coping Styles on the Optimism Athletic Performance Relationship among Track and Field Athletes

Athletes are forced to cope with the stresses that arise from competing head-on with others in activities that are important to the athletes and to others, such as parents, coaches, and peers. Some athletes learn to cope successfully with these stresses, and for them sports are enjoyable and challenging. Others who are unable to cope find sport participation to be a stressful and threatening experience. Coping is defined as an individual’s cognitive, emotional, and action tendency efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands. (Crocker, Kowalski & Graham, 1998; Lazarus, 1999). According to Lazarus & Folkman (1984) “coping” should be viewed as a process which is dynamic, depending upon the individual’s evaluation of a given situation. But inappropriate and unproductive coping styles have been found to have a variety of harmful outcome, such as adjustment difficulties and health problems on the athlete (Nicolotti, Elsheikh and Whiteson, 2003).