Mood states and performance in elite canoe polo players : the mediating role of stress

Corrado, Donatella Di (author), Buscemi, Andrea (author), Magnano, Paola (author), Maldonato, Nelson Mauro (author), Tušak, Matej (author), Coco, Marinella (author)

Sport performance is characterized by competitive stressful conditions that elicit emotional states. The purpose of the study was to examine whether stress mediated the relationship between mood states and performance. Thirty-two elite canoe polo players from four different Italian teams (16 senior males and 16 senior females), aged between 29 and 38 years old (M = 32.3, SD = 2.71), participated in the study. Measures included level of psychological stress, six mood dimensions, and performance outcome. We also detected the digit ratio—the lower second-to-fourth digit length (2D:4D) ratio—as it was demonstrated to be correlated to high sports performance. The assessment took place one day before the first game of the national competition “ITALY CUP”. Male athletes reported lower scores on dysfunctional emotion-related states and on 2D:4D ratio than female athletes. The results of the mediation analysis showed that psychological stress plays a mediating role between moods and performance. Overall, given the limited literature, the findings supported an integrative approach to the study of the linkage between emotion and action in canoe polo.

• Language: English
• Keywords: sport, team sport, psychological states, stressors, sports stress, elite athletes, competition
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FŠ - Faculty of Sport
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 12 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 18, iss. 9, art. 4494
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-135451
• UDC: 796.01:159.9
• ISSN on article: 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18094494
• COBISS.SI-ID: 61056515
• Publication date in RUL: 15.03.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of environmental research and public health
• Shortened title: Int. j. environ. res. public health
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1660-4601
• COBISS.SI-ID: 1818965

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 01.05.2021

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: šport, timski športi, psihološki vidik, psihologija športa, stres, vrhunski športniki, tekmovalnost, tekmovanja