Athletes and parents coping with deselection in competitive youth sport: A communal coping perspective

Citation

Neely KC, McHugh TF, Dunn JGH & Holt NL (2017) Athletes and parents coping with deselection in competitive youth sport: A communal coping perspective. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 30, pp. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2017.01.004

Abstract
Objective The purpose of this study was to examine how female adolescent athletes and their parents cope with deselection from provincial sport teams using a communal coping perspective. Method Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 female adolescent athletes (M age = 15.0 years; SD = 1.4) and 14 of their parents (5 fathers, 9 mothers; M age = 45.2 years; SD = 5.4). Participants were deselected from provincial soccer (n = 4), basketball (n = 5), volleyball (n = 2), and ice hockey (n = 3) teams. Data were analyzed using a descriptive phenomenological approach (Giorgi, 2009) guided by a framework of communal coping (Lyons, Mickelson, Sullivan, & Coyne, 1998). Results Participants appraised deselection from a shared perspective (i.e., athletes and parents viewed deselection as ‘our problem’) and the responsibility for coping with deselection changed as time progressed. Initially, parents protected their daughters from the negative emotions arising from deselection (an ‘our problem, my responsibility’ orientation). Athletes and parents then engaged in cooperative actions to manage their reactions to the stressor (an ‘our problem, our responsibility’ orientation). Finally, athletes and parents engaged in individual coping strategies, again reflecting an ‘our problem, my responsibility’ orientation but with athletes taking more responsibility for coping. Conclusion This study demonstrated the value of using a communal coping perspective to understand interpersonal dimensions of coping in sport, and revealed forms and processes of communal coping used by athletes and their parents.

Keywords
Sport psychology; Youth sport; Deselection; Coping; Adolescence; Phenomenology; Qualitative

Journal
Psychology of Sport and Exercise: Volume 30