Psychological flexibility: understanding how athletes regulate emotion and cope with stress while pursuing meaningful goals

Abstract

Successful athletic performances depend on many factors, including stress management and emotion regulation. These skills are essential for athletic performance and overall life satisfaction. The concept of psychological flexibility (PF) as an adaptive response to stress and challenging situations, in the pursuit of difficult yet meaningful goals, aligns strongly with athletic performance. This study investigated how athletes respond to stress and regulate emotion while pursuing their sporting goals. The Personalized Psychological Flexibility Index (PPFI) was adjusted for a sporting context (PPFI-Sport) and tested in a sample of athletes (N=105, age=15+) at a semi-professional Australian Rules football club. Participants identified a meaningful goal they were pursuing and completed the BFI-2-S to assess personality differences. The development of the PPFI expanded the conceptualisation of PF with a three-factor model (Avoidance, Acceptance and Harnessing). This multifactorial model was reflected in the PPFI-Sport by confirmatory factor analysis. Correlations assessed the relationship between individual differences, goal-setting measures, and PF. Open-mindedness was related to increased Acceptance; Conscientiousness was related to increased Harnessing, and decreased Avoidance. Challenging goals that were central to the athlete’s life led to increased PF. No difference was found in PF between open and specific goals. The findings present opportunities for education earlier in the athletic development pathway to promote adaptive appraisals of stress, emotion regulation, and identification of effective goals. Implications for training and coaching are considered to develop mental skills in athletes. Opportunities for further research are discussed, and potential adaptations of the PPFI-Sport for cultural and language differences are proposed.