Conforming and nonconforming personality and stress coping styles in combat athletes

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate whether the personality dimension of conformism/nonconformism was a predictor of stress coping styles in athletes training combat sports, and to present the characteristics of this personality dimension in the context of the competitors’ adaptive/innovative sport performance. Scores of 346 males practising combat sports such as kick boxing, MMA, thai boxing, boxing and wrestling were analyzed. The participants completed the Creative Behaviour Questionnaire (KANH III) measuring the conformity/nonconformity personality dimension and the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) measuring stress coping styles. The comparative analyses were conducted only for the groups of conformists and nonconformists. Differences in stress coping styles between conformists and nonconformists training combat sports were found as nonconformists tended to prefer the task-oriented coping style. Conclusively, a higher rate of nonconformity was associated with increasingly frequent occurrence of task-oriented coping and decreasingly frequent emotion-oriented coping.

Personality Traits and Self-Esteem in Combat and Team Sports

“…This result suggests that athletes participating in combat sports, because of the very nature of these sports, rely on their own strengths and confidence in personal skills and knowledge. In addition, combat sports are, apart from the competitive aspect, also envisaged for the development of self-control, persistence, and self-discipline (Bernacka et al, 2016; Kostorz et al, 2017), which make up facets of the Conscientiousness trait (Costa and McCrae, 1988; John et al, 1991; Larsen and Buss, 2009).…”

“…Neuroticism is significantly higher among competitors in team sports compared to competitors in combat sports. This result is based on the fact that in addition to mastering basic defense skills, the aim of training combat sports is to work on focus, the feeling of peace – deep connection with one self and work on self-control – control of impulses, because in combat everything depends on themselves, there is no division of responsibilities as in team sports (Allen et al, 2013; Bernacka et al, 2016; Kostorz et al, 2017). Another possible way to explain our result is that team sport athletes often experience negative interpersonal encounters with their teammates regarding team roles, communication difficulties or even selfishness (Rainey and Petkari, 2019) that may trigger manifestation of their higher levels of Neuroticism.…”

Predictors of Fighting Ability Inferences Based on Faces

“…In fact, our data suggest a rather surprising opposite pattern. Although physical performance is undoubtedly the cornerstone of successful performance, psychological characteristics such as personality, ability to cope with stress, or successful execution of techniques and other skills may also significantly affect fighting ability and success (Gould et al, 1981; Filaire et al, 2001; Radochonski et al, 2011; Ruiz and Hanin, 2011; Chen and Cheesman, 2013; Bernacka et al, 2016). These factors, however, exceed the scope of the current study and should be investigated in future.…”

La creatividad en el deporte: una revisión sistemática

“…La comprensión de la función innovadora de el inconformismo y el estilo de afrontamiento orientado a las tareas reflejado en el rendimiento del competidor podría ser más claro si analizamos la función del mecanismo de la personalidad (Bernacka, 2009 citado en Bernacka. et al, 2016) en la a la luz de la teoría de la actitud creativa (Grohman y Schmidt, 2013 citado en Bernacka. et al, 2016).…”