Browsing by Author "Predoiu, Radu"
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- Coping strategies and perceiving stress among athletes during different waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic—Data from Poland, Romania, and SlovakiaPublication . Makarowski, Ryszard; Predoiu, Radu; Piotrowski, Andrzej; Görner, Karol; Predoiu, Alexandra; Oliveira, Rafael; Pelin, Raluca Anca; Moanță, Alina Daniela; Boe, Ole; Rawat, Samir; Ahuja, GayatriCoronavirus disease (COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has affected numerous aspects of human functioning. Social contacts, work, education, travel, and sports have drastically changed during the lockdown periods. The pandemic restrictions have severely limited professional athletes’ ability to train and participate in competitions. For many who rely on sports as their main source of income, this represents a source of intense stress. To assess the dynamics of perceived stress as well as coping strategies during different waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, we carried out a longitudinal study using the Perception of Stress Questionnaire and the Brief COPE on a sample of 2020 professional athletes in Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. The results revealed that in all three countries, the highest intrapsychic stress levels were reported during the fourth wave (all, p < 0.01) and the highest external stress levels were reported before the pandemic (p < 0.05). To analyze the data, analyses of variance were carried out using Tukey’s post hoc test and η2 for effect size. Further, emotional tension was the highest among Polish and Slovak athletes in the fourth wave, while the highest among Romanian athletes was in the pre-pandemic period. The coping strategies used by the athletes in the fourth wave were more dysfunctional than during the first wave (independent t test and Cohen’s d were used). The dynamics of the coping strategies—emotion focused and problem focused—were also discussed among Polish, Romanian, and Slovak athletes. Coaches and sports psychologists can modify the athletes’ perceived stress while simultaneously promoting effective coping strategies.
- Experienced stress among martial arts athletes from selected European Union countries during the 4th wave of the covid-19 pandemic and the frequency of using coping strategiesPublication . Predoiu, Radu; MAKAROWSKI, RYSZARD; PIOTROWSKI, ANDRZEJ; GÖRNER, Karol; PREDOIU, Alexandra; MALINAUSKAS, ROMUALDAS; BERTOLLO, MAURIZIO; DI FRONSO, SELENIA; VAZNE, ZERMENA; Boe, Ole; Oliveira, Rafael; MIKLÓSI, MÁRTA; KOVÁCS, KLÁRA; CIOLCĂ, CORINA; Badea, Dan; VICENTE-SALAR, NÉSTOR; CIUNTEA, MIHAI; Rawat, SamirIn sports, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected variables such as training, recovery or athletes’ sleep quality, uncertainty about the future generating distress and anxiety in athletes. There are two cog nitive purpose of the current study: knowledge about the subjectively experienced stress in martial arts athletes from selected Europe Union countries during the 4th wave of the pandemic; and knowledge of the likely of using coping strategies, and if so, with what frequency. Materials and Methods: Three hundred and forty-one competitive martial arts athletes from Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain were investigated (female n = 129, male n = 212). The athletes represented (according to division of the combat sports under forms of the direct confrontation): workings of weap ons (fencing); hits (boxing, karate, kickboxing, Muay Thai, taekwondo); throws and grips of immobilisation of opponent’s body (Brazilian jiu-jitsu, freestyle wrestling, judo) were investigated. In this paper we anal yse workings of weapons and hits as conventional “striking combat sports” SCS (in consequence FSCS or MSCS – for female and male respectively), while throws and grips of immobilization of opponent’s body as “grappling combat sports” GCS (FGCS and MGCS respectively). The Perception of Stress Questionnaire was used to measure intrapsychic stress, external stress and emotional tension in athletes, while through the Brief COPE questionnaire the frequency of use of 14 coping strategies was examined. Results: The highest intrapsychic stress levels, during the 4th wave of the pandemic, were registered by Slovak athletes, external stress was the highest among Italian martial arts athletes, while the highest emotion al tension levels were reported by Latvian athletes. The lowest values were observed in Lithuanian mar tial arts athletes, in all three stress dimensions. Also, martial arts athletes who have tested positive for COVID-19 reported significantly higher levels of stress and used (during the 4th wave) more frequent de nial, behavioural disengagement and less frequent positive reframing (as coping strategies). Gender and type of sport-dependent strategies to deal with stress were discussed: FSCS group used less frequently emotion-focused coping strategies than male athletes from both MSCS and MGCS (apparently a surpris ing result), and with a higher frequency dysfunctional coping strategies. No important differences were found between the four investigated groups of athletes MGCS, MSCS, FGCS and FSCS) with respect to the problem-focused coping strategies. Conclusions: Martial arts (combat sports) athletes who have tested positive for COVID-19 reported significantly high er levels of intrapsychic stress, emotional tension and external stress, compared to athletes which re ported that they have not suffered from COVID-19. Denial and behavioural disengagement (as dysfunc tional coping strategies) were more frequent among athletes which reported that they were sick with COVID-19, while positive reframing was significantly less used. The research can be of interest for mar tial arts athletes, coaches, parents and sports psychologists seeking to promote the most effective strat egies to deal with negative stress, if the pandemic will have long-term consequences for athletes’ men tal health and well-being.
- The personality and resilience of competitive athletes as BMW Drivers—aata from India, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and SpainPublication . Rawat, Samir; Deshpande, Abhijit P.; Predoiu, Radu; Piotrowski, Andrzej; Malinauskas, Romualdas; Predoiu, Alexandra; Vazne, Zermena; Oliveira, Rafael; Makarowski, Ryszard; Görner, Karol; Branet, Camelia; Ciuntea, Mihai Lucian; Marineanu, Doru Vasile; Vicente-Salar, Néstor; de Gennaro, DavideBackground: Individual differences in personality and resilience are related to a variety of social behaviors. The current study sought to answer the question of whether BMW drivers exhibit different personality profiles and resilience levels compared with drivers of other car brands. Participants and procedure: An international study was carried out in India, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain on a sample of 448 athletes using the 20-item Mini-IPIP and the Resilience Scale. The results of BMW drivers (n = 91) were compared with the results of drivers of other German car brands (n = 357). Results: BMW drivers were characterized by higher neuroticism compared with drivers of other German car brands. They also showed higher resiliency, both in terms of total score and scores on the subscales of: personal coping competences and tolerance of negative emotions, tolerance of failures and perceiving life as a challenge, and optimistic attitude towards life and capacity for self-mobilization in difficult situations. The greatest difference was observed for the factor of tolerance of failures and perceiving life as a challenge. Using the Dwass Steel-Critchlow-Fligner (DSCF) pairwise comparison test, gender differences between athletes (as BMW drivers and drivers of other German car brands, respectively) were discussed. Additionally, the results of the main logistic regression analyses emphasized that neuroticism represents a better predictor of BMW preference in the case of athletes (as drivers) than the scores obtained for resilience. Conclusions: BMW drivers differed from drivers of other German car brands only with regard to neuroticism. A higher level of neuroticism can affect mental health and the overall quality of life in athletes; aggression and distress management are essential. Athletes (as BMW drivers) also showed differences in resiliency levels. Understanding the mechanisms of behavior among BMW drivers is possible through considering their personality and individual differences.