Helping athletes cope with minority stress in sport

Abstract

Although everyone experiences stress, researchers have repeatedly found that traditionally marginalized community members experience stressors that members from privileged groups do not experience. Researchers also found that minority stress can lead to negative biopsychosocial health outcomes. Nevertheless, discussions of minority stress in sport psychology are scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to introduce the minority stress model and offer practical suggestions for sport psychology practitioners to help their clients with marginalized identities to cope with minority stress. We propose both personal and community level strategies for coping with minority stress.

Keywords:

• Community resilience
• coping
• cultural competence
• minority stress model