Speaker
Description
Resilience is an adaptation process to maintain or restore well-being following an
adverse event. In sports psychology, this term indicates the capability of athletes to
counteract situations of adversity as challenges for improvement rather than as
insurmountable obstacles (Fletcher and Sarkar, 2012). Therefore, resilience
becomes an indispensable prerequisite for achieving sporting success
(Weissensteiner et al., 2009). Few studies have investigated the psychological and
environmental factors related to athletes' ability to resist under high-pressure
situations.
In our study, we administered the Italian version of the 14-item Resilience Scale and
the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) to 12 female volleyball athletes (mean age =
26 years, SD = 2.25). We also administered these scales to a control group of 12
women leading a sedentary lifestyle (mean age = 24 years, SD = 3.42). This design
allowed us to compare the resilience and emotional recognition of athletes and non-
athletes.
The findings of our study are novel and significant. We observed that athletes scored
significantly higher on resilience (81 vs 64), indicating that sports can enhance the
ability to withstand adversity. Additionally, while there were no differences in the total
scores of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) between the two groups, athletes
scored significantly lower on the Difficulty Identifying Feeling TAS-20 subscale. This
suggests that sports enhance emotional recognition, a skill that could be beneficial in
anticipating the actions of opponents.
Although preliminary, the present study suggests the importance of psychological
aspects of performance and encourages investigating athletes' behavioural
characteristics to reach sporting success.
| If you're submitting a poster, would you be interested in giving a blitz talk? | No |
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| If you're submitting a symposium, or a talk that is part of a symposium, is this a junior symposium? | No |
