Social Support, Self-Regulation, and Psychological Skill Use in E-Athletes.

Dylan R. Poulus,Tristan J. Coulter,Michael G. Trotter,Paul A. Davis,Remco Polman

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.722030

Dylan R. Poulus, Tristan J. Coulter + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.722030

Copy DOI

Abstract

The aims of the present study were twofold. First, to investigate self-reported social support, self-regulation, and psychological skill use in esports athletes (e-athletes) compared to traditional athletes. Second, to determine if self-reported social support, self-regulation, and psychological skill use influenced e-athlete in-game rank. An online survey was used to collect data from an international sample of e-athletes (n = 1,444). The e-athletes reported less social support, self-regulation, and psychological skill use than reported by traditional athletes in previous studies. E-athletes with higher scores in social support, self-regulation, and psychological skill use was associated with higher in-game rank. The lack of an organisational structure in esports may be a contributing factor as to why e-athletes score lower than traditional athletes on social support, self-regulation, and psychological skill use. Future research is warranted to explore the development of esports programs aiming to promote athletes’ social support, self-regulation, and use of psychological skills to enhance in-game performance and well-being.

Highlights

Esports has been defined as “organised video game competitions” (Jenny et al, 2017; p. 4) and has shown a rapid growth in terms of its number of e-athletes and spectators over the last 10 years (Newzoo, 2020), and it is currently valued at well over 24 billion dollars (Ahn et al, 2020)
This study examined the level of social support, self-regulation and psychological skill use in e-athletes in comparison to traditional athletes and how this was associated by in game rank
Findings showed that e-athletes received less social support, reported less self-regulation and generally had a lower level of psychological skill use compared to traditional athletes

Summary

Introduction

Esports has been defined as “organised video game competitions” (Jenny et al, 2017; p. 4) and has shown a rapid growth in terms of its number of e-athletes and spectators over the last 10 years (Newzoo, 2020), and it is currently valued at well over 24 billion dollars (Ahn et al, 2020). There is increasing research activity examining the health and well-being of e-athletes (e.g., Trotter et al, 2020), as well as the psychological factors which potentially influence esports performance (e.g., Himmelstein et al, 2017; Poulus et al, 2020). Considering the extent of research examining esports, the current understanding of optimal training and coaching methods involved in optimising esports performance is limited. Based on the definition of esports above, we define e-athletes as those who play an esport and have an official ranking for that esport. Obtaining a ranking for most esports indicates that the individual has played a minimum number of games and has past the playing for fun stage and competes to win.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion