2020, Volume 16

Stress and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic among martial arts athletes – a cross-cultural study

RYSZARD MAKAROWSKI¹, ANDRZEJ PIOTROWSKI², RADU PREDOIU³, KAROL GÖRNER⁴, ALEXANDRA PREDOIU⁵, GEORGETA MITRACHE³, ROMUALDAS MALINAUSKAS⁶, KONSTANTIN BOCHAVER⁷, LYDIA DOVZHIK⁷, EVGENY CHEREPOV⁸, ZERMENA VAZNE⁹, NÉSTOR VICENTE-SALAR¹⁰, IMADUDDIN HAMZAH¹¹, MÁRTA MIKLÓSI¹², KLÁRA KOVÁCS¹³, ZAHRA NIKKHAH-FARKHANI<sup>14

1</sup>Faculty of Health Sciences, Elblag University of Humanities and Economics, Elblag, Poland
²Department of Personality Psychology and Forensic Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
³Teachers\\\\\\\' Training Department, National University of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Bucharest, Romania
⁴Faculty of Arts, Matej Bel University, Banska Bystrica, Slovak Republic
⁵Sports and Motor Performance Department, National University of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Bucharest, Romania
⁶Department of Physical and Social Education, Lithuanian Sports University, Kaunas, Lithuania
⁷Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, Sport Psychology Lab, Moscow, Russia
⁸Department of Physical Education and Health, South-Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia
⁹Department of Sport and Training Theory, Latvian Academy of Sport Education, Riga, Latvia
¹⁰Department of Applied Biology-Nutrition, University Miguel Hernandez, Elche, Spain
¹¹Department of Community Guidance, Correctional Polytechnic, Jakarta, Indonesia
¹²Department of Pedagogical Psychology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
¹³Institute of Educational Studies, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
¹⁴Business Management Department, University of Bojnord, Bojnord, Iran


Author for correspondence: RADU PREDOIU; Teachers\\\\\\\' Training Department, National University of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Bucharest, Romania; email: radu_predoiu@yahoo.com

Full text

Abstract

Background and Study Aims: Success in sports among athletes on a similar level of skill can depend on individual differences in experienced stress and coping strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many areas of life, including sports. The aim of the current study was to verify two hypotheses: (H1) emotional tension, external stress, and intrapsychic stress among martial arts athletes will be significantly higher during the height of the pandemic than in the pre-pandemic period; (H2) martial arts athletes will less frequently use problem-focused strategies of coping with stress, such as active coping and planning, during the height of the pandemic.

Materials and Methods: The study used the Perception of Stress Questionnaire measuring the following dimensions of stress: emotional tension, external stress, and intrapsychic stress. Coping strategies were measured with the Brief COPE questionnaire distinguishing 14 coping strategies. Seven hundred and eighty-one athletes (including 116 martial arts athletes) from Poland, Romania, and Slovakia took part in the study in the pre-pandemic period. During the height of the pandemic, athletes from Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Spain took part in the study (n = 1032, including 396 martial arts athletes).

Results: Higher levels of emotional tension, external stress, and intrapsychic stress were observed among Polish and Romanian martial arts athletes in the pre-pandemic period. Stress levels were higher before the pandemic than during its peak, when the lowest levels of emotional tension and external stress were reported by martial arts athletes in Romania, and the highest – in Lithuania and Spain. On the other hand, the lowest levels of intrapsychic stress were reported by martial arts athletes in Poland, and the highest – in Lithuania. Key gender-dependent strategies of coping with stress were identified. Male and female martial arts athletes used denial, focus on and venting of emotions, substance use, and acceptance. Additionally, men used self-blame and women used behavioural disengagement.

Conclusions: The effects of the pandemic do not involve an increase in subjectively perceived psychological stress among martial arts athletes from countries variously affected by the pandemic. The use of maladaptive coping strategies – denial, substance use, venting negative emotion etc. – allows for lowering the subjectively experienced stress (the emotional tension, external stress and intrapsychic stress) of martial arts athletes. It was the use of these strategies which facilitated lower stress levels. The second hypothesis, that martial arts athletes will less frequently use problem-focused strategies of coping with stress, such as active coping and planning, during the height of the pandemic, was confirmed.

Key words: pre-pandemic period, depression, chronic stress, anxiety, preventive strategies