12/06/07

How do student-athletes cope with the stressors of juggling the demands of their academics and athletics as a Division I Student-Athlete?

Welcome to my website!  The purpose of my study is to determine the effect of stress on Division I Student-Athletes.  Having experienced two and half years as Division I Student -Athlete, I can attest to the stress that amounts from the many responsibilities and expectations set in place by your coaches, trainers, parents, siblings, friends and more importantly professors.  These factors not only take their toll on the athletic side but all aspects of our life.  There is no rest for the wicked, or something like that.  Thank you taking the time  to visit my website, and I hope that you can contribute to my research.  

Often times that seem challenging, threatening and stressful become stressors.  Competitive athlete are constantly faced with different type of stressors; being criticized by their coach, a poor call by the referee, making an error, not playing, an injury and or the successful performance of your opponent.  Life events such as being far from home or a death in the family can also become stressors.  A combination of these stressors can have a potential to affect their psychological and physiological well-being.  The research has proven that heightened levels of stress negatively affect the level of performance from the athlete.  These stressors need to be identified immediately in order to perform at the optimal level.

This study will be using two tests, the first being the Sports Competitive Anxiety Test and the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory Test (Survey).  The SCAT measures the sport anxiety trait in athletes.  It uses a number system (0-4) based on how often you feel a certain way.  The scores range between 10 and 30, the higher your score the more anxious you are when participating in competition.  The ACSI measures the athletes' perceived ability to use emotional, cognitive and behavioral coping skills.  It is also based on a point system, with a potential high of 84 points.  The higher your score, the better you are at coping with athletic situations.

Disclaimer

    This Survey has been placed online as part of an assignment for a computer applications class (HSS 226) at the University of Dayton (UD).  Your participation in completing this survey is voluntary.  All surveys are taken anonymously.  It is important that you respond to the survey items as truthfully as possible.  By completing this survey, you will contribute to the educational experience of UD students (please select the "Contact Information" button to learn the names of the UD students involved in placing this survey on-line).  This survey provides the students with the educational experience of building a website, creating a forms page, and subsequently working with the resulting response sets in a spreadsheet.  The survey questions you are about to answer came from two online theses. Below, you will find the name of each survey, followed by the graduate student's name, the names of the graduate student's committee members, the degree-granting institution and the title and date of the thesis.

The survey questions you are about to answer came from two online theses. Below, you will find the name of each survey, followed by the graduate student's name, the names of the graduate student's committee members, the degree-granting institution and the title and date of the thesis.

Athletic Coping Skills Inventory Survey

Brent, Megan E., Dr. Pamela S. Highlen Adviser, Dr. Richard k. Russell and Dr. W. Bruce Walsh. The Ohio State University.  A Cognitive-Behavioral Stress Management Intervention for Division I Collegiate Student-Athletes. Ohio, 2004.

Sport Competition Anxiety Test

Brent, Megan E., Dr. Pamela S. Highlen Adviser, Dr. Richard k. Russell and Dr. W. Bruce Walsh. The Ohio State University.  A Cognitive-Behavioral Stress Management Intervention for Division I Collegiate Student-Athletes. Ohio, 2004.
<http://www.brianmac.co.uk/scat.htm>.

We feel our use of these questions is covered by the "educational fair use" policy http://www.libraries.psu.edu/mtss/fairuse/guidelines.html.  Full credit for ownership of the intellectual property contained within this survey is given to the authors of the survey questions.  The UD students and instructor do not assume any credit for authorship or intellectual property for survey questions unless it is specifically stated above that the student(s) authored the questions.  The instructor did not author any questions.  The course instructor is Dr. C. Jayne Brahler and she can be contacted at brahler@udayton.edu if you have any questions.

Thank you for visiting my website.  We work so hard on and off the playing field.  There is much that goes into being a student-athlete.  This is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days out of the year commitment.   

Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.

~ George Halas