Top level sport for people with a disability is becoming more competitive, creating an environment in which the rewards for success and the disappointments associated with failure are often great. These are factors which clearly have the potential to place extreme psychological demands on sport performers with a disability. However, few investigations have specifically examined how athletes with a disability respond in highly stressful sporting situations. This thesis, therefore, reports 3 separate studies to investigate stress and coping in wheelchair sport participants. Study 1 examined pre-competition temporal patterning of anxiety and self-confidence in 103 wheelchair sport participants at 3 time periods preceding competition (1 week, 2 hours and 30 minutes before). The findings suggested that wheelchair sport participants show a similar pre-competition anxiety response to non-disabled sport participants. However, there were some differences, particularly in the reduction in self-confidence immediately prior to competition. The purpose of Study 2, therefore, was to explore possible: reasons as to why self-confidence may decrease in wheelchair sport participants" immediately prior to competition. Specifically, Study 2 considered the influence of disability status (i.e., possessing and not possessing a disability) on appraisal of a specific important competitive event, and how appraisal may be influenced by various psychosocial factors. The sample comprised of 75 wheelchair and 44 able-bodied sport participants. The findings showed that wheelchair and able-bodied sport participants had similar psychosocial resources and appraisal patterns; however, different factors predicted an important competitive event as challenging. Study 3 explored this further by investigating, via in-depth qualitative interviews, the sources of stress and coping responses in 10 elite male wheelchair basketball players. Qualitative and quantitative methods were employed in combination to enable examination of stress source characteristics (degree of challenge, threat, harm, severity, control and frequency) and coping details (effectiveness and frequency). Whilst many of the findings were similar to those previously reported for elite able-bodied figure skaters, there were some differences. These differences appeared to relate to various disability factors and also the fact that the study was unique in examining team sport participants. Furthermore, the unique nature of the study obtaining information on stress source characteristics, and effectiveness and extent of use of coping strategies, proved to be extremely useful in gaining a more in-depth understanding of the complex stress-coping process. Finally, the findings from the three studies reported in this thesis enabled a model of stress and coping for wheelchair sport participants to be developed. In summary, the studies presented used a range of methodologies to enable an in-depth understanding of stress and coping in wheelchair sport, whilst simultaneously supporting and extending previous research in the sport domain.

Syftet med undersökningen är att undersöka mentala påverkningar hos esportatleter i tävlingssammanhang. Esport och prestation är inte ett utforskat område inom idrottsvetenskapen vilket gör den här undersökningen unik. En del i undersökningen är att analysera reliabiliteten och validiteten för den kvantitativa undersökningsmetoden Sport Anxiety Scale-2 för esportatleter. Vidare så analyseras resultaten i prestation relaterat till svaren i den utskickade enkäten kring Sport Anxiety Scale-2. Resultatet visar att esporatleters svar i Sport Anxiety Scale-2 följer samma mönster som för traditionella idrottsatleter dock med lägre totala värden i två av tre subskalor och högre värde i kategorin koncentrationssvårigheter. Vad det betyder är att esportatleter känner större oro kring koncentrationssvårigheter men mindre kognitiv och somatisk oro vid tävlingssammanhang. I valideringssyfte för Sport Anxiety Scale-2 som metod för esportatleter så uppvisades inte tillräckligt höga värden för att dra slutsatsen att det är ett funktionellt formulär för esportatleter. Vidare forskning kring Sport Anxiety Scale-2s relevans för esportatleter rekommenderas. Angående undersökningssyftet att jämföra prestation med resultaten i Sport Anxiety Scale-2 så dras slutsatsen att resultaten uppvisar motsägande resultat vilket gör att arbetshypotesen med säkerhet inte kan bli bekräftad. Det går att diskutera om det beror på SAS-2 som metod eller på grund av antalet deltagande respondenter i undersökningen. Undersökningen bidrar till att förstå vilka mentala svårigheter esportatleter står inför i tävlingssammanhang jämfört med traditionella idrottsatleter och undersökningen går att bygga vidare på för vidare, mer djupgående, undersökningar kring psykologiska mätverktyg inom esport och det idrottsvetenskapliga fältet. / The purpose of this study was to evaluate the level and impact of anxiety in semi-professional esport athletes before competitions. To analyze this, a quantitative analysis was conducted using the tool Sport Anxiety Scale-2. The results of the Sport Anxiety Scale-2 were analyzed together with the competitive performance of the respondents. The results show that esport athletes show higher concentration disruption and lower somatic stress and worry before competitions than the standardized data for traditional sport athletes. As for the impact on performance, the results are inconclusive as there is not a strong enough correlation to confirm the working hypothesis that there is a relation between levels of stress and performance. This is a possible indicator that the research tool Sport Anxiety Scale-2, while useful for evaluating stress in traditional sport athletes, has significant deficiencies when used with esport athletes due to the reliance on physical activity indicators. Future research into the mental health of esport athletes should consider the differences in measuring the stress of less physical sports and could benefit from a broader study with a larger sample size.

The purpose of this study was to examine the factorial validity and measurement equivalence of the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS; Thomas, Murphy, & Hardy, 1999); the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS; Smith, Smoll, & Schultz, 1990); and the Golf Performance Survey (GPS; Thomas & Over, 1994) across age groups in a representative sample of amateur golfers. Based on archival data, participants comprising this study were 649 younger adult (n = 237) and older adult (n = 412) amateur golfers who played in the Dupont World Amateur Golf Championship in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The participants completed a set of questionnaires including psychological skills and strategies (e.g., self-talk, goal setting, imagery, etc.) used during competition, sport-specific competitive trait anxiety, and psychomotor skills and involvement in golf. Results demonstrated that the original factor structure of the TOPS competition subscale, the SAS, and the GPS, did not adequately fit the data among this sample of younger and older adult amateur golfers. Further exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses established evidence of factorial validity with the TOPS competition subscale, SAS, and the GPS with both younger and older adult amateur golfers. Configural, metric, scalar, and strict measurement invariance were identified in relation to the TOPS competition subscale, SAS, and the GPS across age cross-group comparisons. In general, the analyses demonstrated support that the TOPS competition subscale, SAS, and the GPS can be utilized with confidence with older adult amateur golfers, as well as conducting group comparisons with younger adult amateur golfers. The findings from this study have several future research directions and practical implications for structuring effective interventions with older adult amateur athletes.

Syftet med den föreliggande studien var att undersöka rollen av prestationsångest och ältande mellan dispositionell mindfulness och självskattad prestation. Det var totalt 53 idrottare (22 kvinnor, 31 män; Målder = 29.32, SD = 12.28 år) från 18 olika idrotter som deltog i studien. Studien var av kvantitativ longitudinell design (tre tillfällen under en fyra veckors period) där den oberoende variabeln, den beroende variabeln och två möjliga mediatorer undersöktes med hjälp av Athletic Mindfulness Questionnaire, Sport Performance Questionnaire, Sport Anxiety Scale-2, och Rumination Reflection Questionnaire. Resultaten visade ingen signifikant indirekt effekt av dispositionell mindfulness på självskattad prestation genom varken ältande eller prestationsångest. Resultaten indikerar att ältande och prestationsångest inte medierar förhållandet mellan dispositionell mindfulness och självskattad prestation i det undersökta urvalet. Det diskuteras att mindfulness ändrar förhållandet idrottaren har med ångesten istället för att sänka den upplevda nivån av ångest. Forskning om ältande som en mediator mellan mindfulness och prestation diskuteras som sällsynt, vilket kan göra kunskapen om förhållandet otillräckligt för att göra några bestämda uttalanden. Resultaten bör tolkas med försiktighet med tanke på att undersökningen gjordes på en heterogen grupp av idrottare med en subjektiv mått av prestation. Vidare forskning bör fokusera på en bestämd grupp och använda mer objektiva mått på prestation, samt använda ett idrottsspecifik instrument för att mäta ältande. Nyckelord: prestationsångest, dispositionell mindfulness, idrottsprestation, idrottare / The purpose of this study was to examine the role of sport-trait anxiety and rumination in the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and self-assessed performance. A total of 53 athletes (22 women, 31 men; Mage = 29.32, SD = 12.28 years) from 18 different sports participated. A quantitative longitudinal design (three-time measures within a four-week period) was conducted wherein the independent and dependent variables, as well as the two potential mediators were measured using Athletic Mindfulness Questionnaire, Sport Performance Questionnaire, Sport Anxiety Scale-2, and Rumination Reflection Questionnaire. The results showed no significant indirect effect of dispositional mindfulness on self-assessed performance through neither sporttrait anxiety nor rumination. These findings indicate that sport-trait anxiety and rumination do not mediate the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and self-assessed performance in the examined sample. Mindfulness is discussed as altering the athlete’s relationship with anxiety rather than lowering the perceived levels of anxiety. Since research on rumination as a mediator between mindfulness and performance is very scarce, the knowledge about the relationship might be insufficient to make any decisive statements. Findings are to be taken with caution given the heterogeneous sample of athletes considered and the use of a subjective measure of performance. Further research should focus on a more targeted group and use a more objective performance measure, as well as a sport-specific rumination scale. Keywords: sport-specific anxiety, dispositional mindfulness, athletic performance, athlete