The effects of stressors and coping resources on anxiety and peripheral narrowing

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine possible mechanisms which might help explain why individuals with high life stress and/or low coping resources are at greater risk for incurring athletic injuries. The effects of life events, daily hassles (DH), and coping resources (CR) on state anxiety and peripheral vision narrowing during a stress condition were examined. Subjects were 74 recreational athletes who completed the Life Events Survey, Daily Hassles Scale (DHS), Vulnerability to Stress Questionnaire (CR), and state portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Peripheral vision was measured alone during baseline and while simultaneously performing a Stroop Color-Word Test accompanied by distracting noise during the stress condition. State anxiety was assessed during baseline and the stress condition. Analyses of covariance revealed that high negative life events (NLE) (p = .01) were related to greater peripheral narrowing during the stress condition. High TLE (p = .01) and DH (p = .005) were related to elevated state anxiety during the stress condition. The peripheral vision TLE main effect (p = .03) and the state anxiety interactions of NLE × CR and DHS × CR (ps = .05) approached significance. High CR tended to reduce perceived state anxiety during the stress condition for high NLE and DH subjects compared to similar subjects with low CR. Thus, partial support was offered for the mechanisms proposed in the Andersen and Williams (1988) stress-injury model. The results are discussed in terms of future research needs.