Differences in the attitudes to sport psychology consulting between individual and team sport athletes

Dáire Rooney,Neil Heron,Robin C Jackson

doi:10.1186/s13102-021-00271-7

Abstract

BackgroundThe purpose of the present study was to investigate how an athlete’s participation in either an individual or team sport is related to their attitude toward sport psychology consulting and their willingness to consult a sport psychology practitioner.MethodThe Sport Psychology Attitudes-Revised form (SPA-R) (Martin, et al., Sport Psychol 16:272-90, 2020) was completed by 120 athletes from individual and team sports. A 2 (Type of sport: individual and team) × 2 (Gender) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted with attitudes towards sport psychology as dependent variables. To identify attitudes that accentuated the differences related to type of sport, follow-up univariate analyses were performed.ResultsResults revealed that overall athletes involved in individual sports reported more positive attitudes towards sport psychology consulting than athletes involved in team sports. In particular, the athletes involved in individual sports were more likely to have greater confidence in sport psychology consulting. The findings also show that gender may mediate this association, indicated by a nearly significant two-way interaction effect for gender and type of sport (individual versus team) regarding confidence in sport psychology. The source of this marginal result was a larger effect of sport type for females than for males.ConclusionsThe findings of this study imply that athletes involved in individual sports are more likely to have positive attitudes towards sport psychology compared to athletes competing in team-based sports, with females more likely to view sport psychology positively than compared to their male counterparts. The results may go some way to assist sport psychologists to understand and address athletes’ concerns and to improve receptivity to sport psychology services.

Highlights

The purpose of the present study was to investigate how an athlete’s participation in either an individual or team sport is related to their attitude toward sport psychology consulting and their willingness to consult a sport psychology practitioner
The findings of this study imply that athletes involved in individual sports are more likely to have positive attitudes towards sport psychology compared to athletes competing in team-based sports, with females more likely to view sport psychology positively than compared to their male counterparts
Univariate output for each subscale of the Sport Psychology Attitudes-Revised form (SPA-R) questionnaire revealed that athletes who had prior experience of sport psychology services were slightly less likely to stigmatise sport psychology (M = 5.61, SD = 1.06) compared to those with no prior experience (M = 5.06, SD = 1.28), F (1, 118) = 5.08, p = .03, η2 =

Summary

Introduction

The purpose of the present study was to investigate how an athlete’s participation in either an individual or team sport is related to their attitude toward sport psychology consulting and their willingness to consult a sport psychology practitioner. Advances in the science of sport performance increasingly demonstrate the importance of integrating mental attitude and physical skills [1, 2]. Such empirical evidence has led to the development of sport psychology as an integral. Ong and Harwood reported that Western athletes had less stigma toward sport psychology consulting, greater personal openness, and less preference for a consultant of the same race or culture than Eastern athletes, despite some Eastern countries being racially diverse, such as in Singapore [16]. The final factor is one’s personal openness, which represents the athlete’s degree of willingness to engage in sport psychology consulting and discuss relevant issues [14]. A study by Wrisberg et al found that positively perceived sport psychology experiences amongst elite level student athletes led to more openness to future consultations [17]

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