Emotional intelligence in shaping junior athletes’ productive coping strategies

Abstract

Background and purpose The aim is to study the role and function of junior athletes’ emotional intelligence in shaping productive strategies, including self-control, accepting responsibility, problem-solving planning, positive reappraisal, and social support. Material and method The sample (n = 120) consisted of randomly selected junior male (n = 55; 45.83%) and female (n = 65; 54.17%) athletes with different qualifications, who were educated and trained at the academies of professional clubs and sports schools for children and youth, belonged to the country’s Olympic Reserve, had experience in participating in All-Ukrainian and international sports competitions, and were prize-winners in European and World championships. The respondents’ ages ranged from 15 to 19 years (М = 16.45; SD = ±2.97). Results It was substantiated that emotional intelligence, in shaping productive coping strategies, is a foundation for respondents’ emotional self-regulation. The profile of junior athletes’ emotional self-regulation was created. Psychological correlations between the studied parameters were established. The only inverse correlation between “accepting responsibility” and “self-motivation” was explained by respondents’ creative manifestations, which partially contradicts the coping strategy “accepting responsibility”. There was a caveat that empathy and social support are the most autonomous parameters that can pose a latent danger if their values are excessively high or low. The profile of emotional self-regulation was designed to control changes in these parameters. Based on the grouping variables of emotional intelligence, differences were found in two productive coping strategies: “self-control” – for the grouping variable “managing emotions” (t = -2.183; p = 0.031; d = -0.401) and “accepting responsibility” – for the grouping variable “self-motivation” (t = 2.382; p = 0.019; d = 0.436). It was substantiated that the parameters of emotional intelligence, “managing emotions” and “self-motivation”, are the most sensitive to shaping productive coping strategies. It was emphasised that the three factors resulting from dimensionality reduction, “self-motivational regulation”, “positive construction”, and “conscious control”, relevantly reflected the psychological content features of emotional self-regulation. Conclusions It was substantiated that research into junior athletes’ emotional intelligence in shaping productive coping strategies is a confirmatory empirical study, which allowed for establishing correlations, identifying significant advantages in productive coping strategies of self-control, accepting responsibility, problem-solving planning, positive reappraisal, and social support based on the grouping variables of emotional intelligence. It was summarised that the established scientific facts complement the theoretical knowledge of the formation of emotional self-regulation, the development of the emotional and volitional sphere, and the construction of worldviews in junior sports representatives.