Moderating role of life skills for stress responses and COVID-19-related perceived stressors among high school student-athletes

This study aimed to investigate whether life skills could be negative predictors of stress responses in high school student-athletes and moderators of a relationship between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related stressors and stress responses during the pandemic. A survey was conducted from July to August 2020, and 1528 (717 females and 811 males) high school students, who belonged to sport clubs in Japanese public high schools, participated. The Stressors for Athletes During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Stress Response Scale for Athletes, and the Daily Life Skills Scale were used to assess COVID-19-related stressors, stress responses, and life skills, respectively. The results showed that three factors of personal life skills—planning, self-esteem, and positive thinking—and one factor of interpersonal life skills—intimacy—were significant negative predictors of stress responses. In contrast, COVID-19-related stressors and one factor of interpersonal life skills—leadership—were significant positive predictors. Furthermore, positive thinking moderated the relationship between stressors and stress responses. The findings suggest the need for educators and practitioners to consider effective life skills in challenging situations, to provide fruitful life skills programs for student-athletes. © 2022 The Authors

The impacts of school closures and restriction of sport activities on high school student-athletes' mental health during COVID-19 pandemic: A study of stressors, stress response, and life skills

This study aimed to investigate high school student-athletes' mental health, stressors, stress responses, and life skills (LS) during the COVID-19 pandemic and to examine the effect of stressors and LS on stress responses. An online survey was conducted from July to November 2020, and 1,348 student-athletes and 662 non-athletes who were in high schools in the western part of Japan participated. Findings illustrated that student-athletes' mental health seemed to be worse compared to pre-COVID-19 data. The levels of athletes' perceived stressors, stress responses, and LS were significantly different depending on gender, grade, and competitive level. Multiple regression analysis showed that perceived COVID-19-related stressors significantly related to stress responses while LS were a significant moderator of the relationship. © 2022 Japanese Psychological Association. All rights reserved.

Predictive roles of perceived stressors and life skills on stress responses of collegiate athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Problem Statement: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly altered the daily lives of humanity, including in sports. Competitions were canceled or postponed, and sports activities were restricted to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which collegiate athletes might have perceived as stressors. Previous studies have reported that athletes have experienced stress responses during the pandemic. Life skills, which can be developed through sports activities, help athletes cope with critical events. Purpose: This study aimed to examine whether COVID-19-related stressors and life skills can predict stress responses of Japanese collegiate athletes. An online survey was conducted in December 2020 to assess collegiate athletes' perceived COVID-19-related stressors, stress responses, and life skills. A sample of 123 collegiate athletes (66 females and 57 males, age: 20.35, SD: 1.17) who played various sports participated in this study. Results: The results of the t-test indicated that female athletes perceived more stressors and experienced more stress responses than male athletes. The results of the multiple regression analysis showed that COVID-19-related stressors positively predicted stress responses, whereas life skills negatively predicted stress responses. Furthermore, the results of multiple regression analyses using subscales of stressors, stress responses, and life skills showed that restrictions on sports activities positively predicted physical fatigue and apathy, self-restraint requests positively predicted depression, and pressure from the surrounding environment positively predicted physical fatigue, anger, and depression. Among the subscales of life skills, positive thinking negatively predicted all five subscales of stress responses, intimacy negatively predicted anger and interpersonal distrust, planning negatively predicted physical fatigue, empathy negatively predicted interpersonal distrust, and knowledge summarization negatively predicted anger. Conclusions: These findings indicate that life skills, especially positive thinking, intimacy, planning, empathy, and knowledge summarization, could be utilized by collegiate athletes as a buffer for stress responses in challenging situations and provide helpful information for designing effective life skill programs. © JPES.