Abstract
Sports officials experience a range of external (e.g., abuse, competition pressures) and internal stressors (e.g., fear of making mistakes). Despite the importance of officials, and their pressurized work environment leaving them susceptible to stress, a thorough review of stress, anxiety, and coping among officials has yet to be conducted. The aim of this review is to map existing research on stress, anxiety, and coping in officials and thereby identify gaps in the literature. Following guidelines by Arksey and O’Malley (2005), four databases were searched for articles that met inclusion criteria. Forty-five articles were included in this scoping review which were conducted across 16 countries and included diverse samples in terms of officiating level and age. However, of the total 9,948 participants, only 7.9% were female. Synthesized article findings highlighted that officials experience multiple stressors which were situational, relational, and/or organizational in nature. Officials attempted to combat stress and anxiety through various coping strategies, but approach-coping was deemed to be the most useful. The consequences of stress, anxiety, and an inability to cope included poor decision making and performance, burnout, and intentions to quit. Although findings present valuable insights into stress and coping in officials, 37% of research was conducted pre-2000, meaning the current body of literature may not reflect how stress is experienced by sports officials in modern sporting environments. Future research should broaden study scope and examine contemporary pressures (e.g., social media scrutiny, professionalization of sport, the growth in female sports) which can influence stress and coping.
