Narratives of young women athletes’ experiences of emotional pain and self-compassion

Sutherland, Lindsay M.; Kowalski, Kent C.; Ferguson, Leah J.; Sabiston, Catherine M.; Sedgwick, Whitney A.; Crocker, Peter R.E.

doi:10.1080/2159676x.2014.888587

Cited by 63 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Thus, the examination of athletes' experiences of pain and injury draw attention to the notion that emotions arise due to our relationship with our body (and usually when our relationship with our body is changed, fractured, or damaged in some way). Similarly, Sutherland et al (2014) examined narratives of young women athletes' experiences of pain and self-compassion which frequently concerned experiences of injury in sport. These narratives highlighted how emotions arise in relation to the body and conceptions of the self: 'Injury showed signs of weakness to Lexi … She was upset, frustrated, and disappointed with herself.…”

Section: Narrative Emotion Research In Sport and Physical Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

No emotion is an island: an overview of theoretical perspectives and narrative research on emotions in sport and physical activity

Tamminen

Bennett

2016

Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health

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a Faculty of Kinesiology and physical education, university of toronto, toronto, canada; b school of Kinesiology, the university of British columbia, vancouver, canada ABSTRACT Within sport and physical activity settings emotions have typically been conceived and explored from an individualistic or intrapersonal perspective, although researchers are increasingly turning their attention to the interpersonal aspects of emotions and emotion regulation. In this paper, we provide a theoretical overview of the social or interpersonal aspects of emotions from a psychological perspective, and we also consider theoretical perspectives of emotion as intersubjective, social, performative and embodied. We then provide a review of narrative research on emotion in sport and physical activity contexts and provide suggestions for future research in this area. We suggest that narrative approaches can advance research on emotions in sport and physical activity by exploring how emotions arise within the context of social relationships; by exploring how emotional stories or narratives function and are used by athletes, coaches, and others within sport and physical activity contexts; by examining how emotions are created, recreated, and sustained through the stories people tell; by examining how collective and group-based emotions are intertwined with one's identity and identity development; and by highlighting the ways in which social and cultural narratives within sport shape athletes' emotional experiences. We conclude by describing some challenges we have faced in conducting qualitative research from a narrative lens, and we describe how we have navigated these issues as a way of offering some 'lessons learned' from our own research.

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Section: Narrative Emotion Research In Sport and Physical Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

No emotion is an island: an overview of theoretical perspectives and narrative research on emotions in sport and physical activity

Tamminen

Bennett

2016

Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health

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“…Small sample sizes have been used by other sport researchers. Sutherland et al (2014) had six participants in their study on female athletes and self-compassion and emotional pain. Additionally, Owton, Bond, and Tod (2013) had five respondents in their study exploring the expectations of novice sport psychology consultants.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transition Blues: The Experience of Female Collegiate Student-Athletes

Saxe¹,

Hardin²,

Taylor³

et al. 2017

JHEAI

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The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of female student-athletes throughout a collegiate career. In the study, the experience of transition emerged as a key finding. Data were collected from ten female student-athletes in their third or fourth year of eligibility at an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institution. Each student-athlete participated in an in-depth, semi-structured interview in order for the researcher to gain a deeper understanding of her transitioning experience. A constant comparative data analysis method was used. This required the researcher to interact with the data to find similarities and trends. Utilizing this analytic method, the researcher then took the data and determined the findings. The findings in this study provide a better understanding of transitional experiences with female student-athletes and will enable administrators, coaches, support staff, and other stakeholders to make more informed decisions to assist them into and out of collegiate athletics. The two primary themes that emerged from the interviews were student-athlete's own transition into and out of collegiate sport as well as the transition of their coaches and teammates. The findings from this study provide a foundation to increase awareness of the current issues female student-athletes face out of the realm of sport and to better assist them during the collegiate experience.

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“…However, competitive sport can also contribute to more negative consequences for both physical and mental health (Engebretsen et al, 2013;Rice et al, 2016). Poor mental health may be delicately intertwined with practices of hyper-competition and perfectionism (Sagar & Stoeber, 2009), distorted and narrow views of self and identity (Brewer & Petitpas, 2017), self-criticism (Sutherland et al, 2014) and verbal/physical abuse from others (Stirling, Bridges, Cruz, & Mountjoy, 2011). Improved awareness of mental health disorders in elite sport has led to a drastic increase in research; however, much about this population remains unknown (Poucher, Tamminen, Kerr, & Cairney, 2019;Rice et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This fear of experiencing shame and embarrassment is associated with increased psychological stress in athletes (Gustafsson, Sagar, & Stenling, 2017). In addition, athletes are often highly self-critical, considering this to be crucial for sporting success (Sutherland et al, 2014). However, self-criticism interferes with goal pursuit (Powers, Koestner, Zuroff, Milyavskaya, & Gorin, 2011) and is associated with problematic perfectionism, which has been increasing steadily over the last 20 years (Curran & Hill, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self-Compassion, Social Rank, and Psychological Distress in Varyingly Competitive Athletes

Walton¹,

Baranoff²,

Gilbert³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Background: Self-Compassion may be seen as a concept contrary to the aims of athletes engaged in competitive sport. This may be accentuated at more elite levels, where athletes may view concepts like self-criticism and self-judgement as more important for improvement.Objectives: The current study aimed to better understand how athletes of different competitive levels (from social to international) relate to concepts of self-compassion. Further, we aimed to explore how factors relating to social rank and self-compassion contribute to psychological distress Design: Cross-sectional online survey.Method: An online survey was distributed, including the following validated questionnaires:Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales, the Self-Compassion Scale, Fears of Compassion Scales, Social Comparison Scale, Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale, and the Striving to Avoid Inferiority Scale.Results: Two hundred and fifty-three participants responded to the survey, including 115 recreational and 79 competitive athletes. There were no differences between groups on any measure of compassion or social rank. In a multiple linear regression model, lower selfcompassion, higher fears of compassion (for self), and higher feelings of inadequacy predicted more pronounced psychological distress in athletes.Conclusions: Contrary to expectation, the results suggest that even highly elite athletes may be open to using self-compassion. Given that reduced self-compassion and sense of social rank contributed to psychological distress in athletes, the results suggest that compassion-based approaches to treating psychological distress in this population may be valid.

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Narratives of young women athletes’ experiences of emotional pain and self-compassion

Cited by 63 publications

References 35 publications

No emotion is an island: an overview of theoretical perspectives and narrative research on emotions in sport and physical activity

No emotion is an island: an overview of theoretical perspectives and narrative research on emotions in sport and physical activity

Transition Blues: The Experience of Female Collegiate Student-Athletes

Self-Compassion, Social Rank, and Psychological Distress in Varyingly Competitive Athletes

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