Sources of Acute Stress, Cognitive Appraisal, and Coping Strategies Among Highly Skilled Mexican and U.S. Competitive Tennis Players

Abstract

The purpose of the present investigation was to identify sources of acute stress, cognitive appraisal (i.e., perceived controllability), and the use of coping strategies as a function of culture among highly skilled tennis players from Mexico and the United States. Participants were 112 competitive tennis players, 54 of whom were from Mexico (44 boys, 10 girls), and 58 of whom were from the United States (30 boys, 28 girls). A qualitative analysis indicated that the most common sources of acute stress in tennis include "receiving negative comments from coaches and relatives" and "opponent cheating." The authors adapted the COPE Instrument (C. Carver, M. F. Scheier, & J. K. Weintraub, 1989) to ascertain the athletes' use of coping strategies. Regression analysis assessed the extent to which culture predicted the athletes' perceived controllability of the stressors and their use of coping strategies. The results indicated that culture significantly predicted both perceived controllability and the use of coping strategies. The authors discussed implications for the role of culture in predicting cognitive appraisal and coping in sport.

Keywords:

• acute stress
• appraisal
• athletic competition
• coping
• cultural differences
• Mexico
• perceived control
• sport
• tennis