Coping Strategies of Female Peer Leaders Participating in College Club Sports

Abstract

Leadership positions on club sports teams can be valuable roles for undergraduate students, providing the opportunity to develop leadership skills, maintain healthy habits, build friendships, and foster organizational connections in the college setting. Nevertheless, involvement in club sports has the potential to create stress over and above the many demands that college students often experience. The purpose of this study was to identify and explore the ways in which female club sports peer leaders cope with perceived stress. Interviews were conducted with participants ( N = 7) using a semi-structured interview guide comprised of five questions grounded in the existing literature on stress and coping. The findings revealed that participants primarily used emotion-focused strategies to cope with stress; strategies such as seeking emotional social support and avoidance were used more frequently than seeking instrumental/information social support. Five specific coping strategies are examined and practical implications are discussed.

Female Leader’s Experiences within Sport Organizations: A Thematic Analysis

“…Of the 12 leaders who were contacted, 7 agreed to participate in this study. According to other studies of similar aims [10,[14][15][16], this number of participants is expected, however, more experiences and firsthand accounts would enhance the emergent themes found.…”

“…A total of twelve females were identified and contacted for this research study. However, due to factors outside of this research, only seven females were able to participate, following previous research [14][15][16]. Participants currently hold, or have recently held, a leadership position in sport across Canada (n=6) or the United States (n=1).…”

Effect of Physical Exercise Intervention Based on Improved Neural Network on College Students’ Mental Health

“…First, there is social cognitive theory, which maintains that human activities are the outcome of interactions between people, their behavior, and their surroundings. Individuals increasingly realise the function and importance of physical activity in sports and believe that physical activity can successfully avoid their personal risks and diseases, resulting in an increase in individual health belief [ 18 ]. Second, the theory of planned behavior holds that attitude has the function of behavior belief, which enables individuals to perceive the advantages and disadvantages of physical exercise behavior when participating in sports, so as to recognize physical exercise behavior and improve the level of individual health belief [ 19 ].…”

Learning From Teaching: Benefits of Peer Leadership for Peer Leaders in Psychology

“…As Shook and Keup (2012) argue, students who are served by peer leadership benefit from an increased sense of community and connections to campus resources, academic or otherwise. Because the primary purpose of peer leadership is serving less experienced students (i.e., learners), public descriptions of such programs focus outcomes on those being led rather than those who lead-the peer leaders themselves (e.g., Bowles et al, 2008). The purpose of the present study was to add to emerging evidence that peer leaders experience improved content knowledge, academic success, and career readiness as a result of their leadership role.…”