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Interactions Between Gender, Age and Competitive Level on Elite Student-athletes’ Religious Coping Experiences in the Week Leading Up to Competition

Received: 8 September 2021    Accepted: 28 September 2021    Published: 21 October 2021
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Abstract

In recent times, religiosity and spirituality have been embraced by most athletes as alternative coping mechanism around the world. Although extensive scholarly works on different dimensions of coping exist in sport, only few studies have explored the use of other coping strategies like religious coping. The current study investigated elite student-athletes’ religious coping strategies as a function of gender, age and competitive level in the week leading up to competition. This cross-sectional study conveniently recruited a sample of 300 student-athletes competing at the 2018 West Africa University Games (WAUG) in Nigeria. Sociodemographic data (i.e., gender, age category and competitive level) and religious coping using the Brief RCOPE Scale were assessed. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to evaluate the possible effect of gender, age and competitive level on religious coping. Results indicate that no significant interaction effects were realized across all between-subject factors: gender-age-competitive level on religious coping. However, a significant main effect was noted for only participants’ competitive level on religious coping, with international students employing more religious coping strategies (both positive and negative) compared to their national and regional counterparts. Sport psychologists, coaches and managers working closely with these athletes could integrate positive religious coping strategies for athletes of different competitive levels as part of an adaptation framework that may independently influence important outcomes such as emotion and cognitive regulation, including their psychological wellbeing.

Published in International Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education (Volume 6, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijsspe.20210604.11
Page(s) 61-68
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Allah, Cognitive Appraisal, Cognitive Regulation, God, Religious Coping, Spiritual Being

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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    James Boadu Frimpong, Medina Srem-Sai, John Elvis Hagan Junior, Richard Samuel Kwadwo Abieraba, Richmond Stephen Sorkpor, et al. (2021). Interactions Between Gender, Age and Competitive Level on Elite Student-athletes’ Religious Coping Experiences in the Week Leading Up to Competition. International Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education, 6(4), 61-68. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijsspe.20210604.11

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    ACS Style

    James Boadu Frimpong; Medina Srem-Sai; John Elvis Hagan Junior; Richard Samuel Kwadwo Abieraba; Richmond Stephen Sorkpor, et al. Interactions Between Gender, Age and Competitive Level on Elite Student-athletes’ Religious Coping Experiences in the Week Leading Up to Competition. Int. J. Sports Sci. Phys. Educ. 2021, 6(4), 61-68. doi: 10.11648/j.ijsspe.20210604.11

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    AMA Style

    James Boadu Frimpong, Medina Srem-Sai, John Elvis Hagan Junior, Richard Samuel Kwadwo Abieraba, Richmond Stephen Sorkpor, et al. Interactions Between Gender, Age and Competitive Level on Elite Student-athletes’ Religious Coping Experiences in the Week Leading Up to Competition. Int J Sports Sci Phys Educ. 2021;6(4):61-68. doi: 10.11648/j.ijsspe.20210604.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijsspe.20210604.11,
      author = {James Boadu Frimpong and Medina Srem-Sai and John Elvis Hagan Junior and Richard Samuel Kwadwo Abieraba and Richmond Stephen Sorkpor and Thomas Schack},
      title = {Interactions Between Gender, Age and Competitive Level on Elite Student-athletes’ Religious Coping Experiences in the Week Leading Up to Competition},
      journal = {International Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education},
      volume = {6},
      number = {4},
      pages = {61-68},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijsspe.20210604.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijsspe.20210604.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijsspe.20210604.11},
      abstract = {In recent times, religiosity and spirituality have been embraced by most athletes as alternative coping mechanism around the world. Although extensive scholarly works on different dimensions of coping exist in sport, only few studies have explored the use of other coping strategies like religious coping. The current study investigated elite student-athletes’ religious coping strategies as a function of gender, age and competitive level in the week leading up to competition. This cross-sectional study conveniently recruited a sample of 300 student-athletes competing at the 2018 West Africa University Games (WAUG) in Nigeria. Sociodemographic data (i.e., gender, age category and competitive level) and religious coping using the Brief RCOPE Scale were assessed. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to evaluate the possible effect of gender, age and competitive level on religious coping. Results indicate that no significant interaction effects were realized across all between-subject factors: gender-age-competitive level on religious coping. However, a significant main effect was noted for only participants’ competitive level on religious coping, with international students employing more religious coping strategies (both positive and negative) compared to their national and regional counterparts. Sport psychologists, coaches and managers working closely with these athletes could integrate positive religious coping strategies for athletes of different competitive levels as part of an adaptation framework that may independently influence important outcomes such as emotion and cognitive regulation, including their psychological wellbeing.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Interactions Between Gender, Age and Competitive Level on Elite Student-athletes’ Religious Coping Experiences in the Week Leading Up to Competition
    AU  - James Boadu Frimpong
    AU  - Medina Srem-Sai
    AU  - John Elvis Hagan Junior
    AU  - Richard Samuel Kwadwo Abieraba
    AU  - Richmond Stephen Sorkpor
    AU  - Thomas Schack
    Y1  - 2021/10/21
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijsspe.20210604.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijsspe.20210604.11
    T2  - International Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education
    JF  - International Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education
    JO  - International Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education
    SP  - 61
    EP  - 68
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-1611
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijsspe.20210604.11
    AB  - In recent times, religiosity and spirituality have been embraced by most athletes as alternative coping mechanism around the world. Although extensive scholarly works on different dimensions of coping exist in sport, only few studies have explored the use of other coping strategies like religious coping. The current study investigated elite student-athletes’ religious coping strategies as a function of gender, age and competitive level in the week leading up to competition. This cross-sectional study conveniently recruited a sample of 300 student-athletes competing at the 2018 West Africa University Games (WAUG) in Nigeria. Sociodemographic data (i.e., gender, age category and competitive level) and religious coping using the Brief RCOPE Scale were assessed. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to evaluate the possible effect of gender, age and competitive level on religious coping. Results indicate that no significant interaction effects were realized across all between-subject factors: gender-age-competitive level on religious coping. However, a significant main effect was noted for only participants’ competitive level on religious coping, with international students employing more religious coping strategies (both positive and negative) compared to their national and regional counterparts. Sport psychologists, coaches and managers working closely with these athletes could integrate positive religious coping strategies for athletes of different competitive levels as part of an adaptation framework that may independently influence important outcomes such as emotion and cognitive regulation, including their psychological wellbeing.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

  • Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Sports, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

  • Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

  • Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Sports, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

  • Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Sports, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

  • Neurocognition and Action-Biomechanics-Research Group, Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

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