Predicting situational emotional experience in university athletes: Can dispositional perfectionism tell us more than situational stress and achievement variables?

Abstract

This study examined whether aspects of dispositional perfectionism can contribute beyond the stress process and achievement constructs to our understanding of athlete's affective experience in competition. CIS athletes (N=274) completed the SportMPS-2 (Gotwals & Dunn, 2009) in-season. Approximately 4-5 weeks later after an important competition, athletes (n=189; males=90) completed measures of cognitive appraisal (threat, challenge, control), coping function, goal progress, and positive (PA) and negative affect (NA). Hierarchical regressions, with time two variables entered first and perfectionism scales entered last, were calculated for PA and NA. Analyses indicated that perfectionism scales made a significant contribution beyond situational variables for both PA (R² delta =.08, p<.01) and NA (R² delta =.03, p<.05). For PA, the final model (R²=.55) found that challenge (ß=.53), goal progress (ß=.23), and the perfectionism scales of coaching pressure (ß=.19) and personal standards (ß=.19) were significant individual predictors. For NA, the final model (R²=.49) found that threat (ß=.53), goal progress (ß=-.29), and perfectionism scales of doubts about actions (ß=.12) and concern about mistakes (ß=.12) were significant individual predictors. The findings suggest that perceptions of goal progress and cognitive appraisal are important predictors of affect. Nevertheless, aspects of perfectionism can contribute to the prediction and possible understanding of competitive emotional experience.

Acknowledgments: Funded by SSHRC