Longitudinal idiographic analyses of appraisal and coping responses in sport

Objectives: To (a) identify perceived stressors encountered by high-performance female athletes and examine their attempts at coping with these specific stressors, and (b) to monitor athletes’ perceptions of their coping responses and assess how coping influenced on-going appraisal of the situation and subsequent coping. Method: Data were collected from four high-performance female soccer players (aged 21 to 28 years). Players maintained audio-diaries over a 6-week period during the season. They were also interviewed once at the start and again at the end of the data collection period. Results: Presented via idiographic profiles, results revealed certain recursive relationships between personal goals, stress appraisals, and coping responses. Stressors were reported when personal goals were threatened, and the coping responses that were employed appeared to influence subsequent stress reappraisals and coping. Conclusions: Appraisals and coping appear to occur in a recursive manner. Longitudinal idiographic approaches that include daily diaries may be useful in future research that considers other recursive relationships between goals, emotions, appraisal, and coping.