The effect of resilience training for Hong Kong junior athletes

Abstract

In recent years, there was a proliferation of research on resilience. However, there is little research on intervention to promote resilience in junior athletes, and the application of resilience in sport psychology is still in its infancy. In this study, based on Galli and Vealey [(2008). “Bouncing back” from adversity: Athletes’ experiences of resilience. The Sport Psychologist, 28, 316–335] model, a sport psychological resilience training program was designed and implemented for a selected group of Hong Kong junior athletes. Participants, 69 in total, were Hong Kong national junior athletes from windsurfing, table tennis, fencing, billiard, and squash. Participants were randomly put into (a) resilience group (n = 21), (b) traditional mental skill group (n = 27), and (c) contrast group (n = 21). The resilience group undertook the sport psychological resilience training program; the traditional mental skill group undertook a series of training in sport psychological mental skill; and the contrast group did not receive any psychological training related to resilience and sport psychological mental skill at all. The Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescents (RSCA), the Athletes' Resilience Questionnaire (ARQ), the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), and the Mental Skill Questionnaire (MSQ) were implemented before and after the training. Through comparing and analyzing the pre- and post-findings, the researchers found that resilience training program derived from Galli and Vealey [(2008). “Bouncing back” from adversity: Athletes’ experiences of resilience. The Sport Psychologist, 28, 316–335] model was statistically effective in improving Hong Kong junior athletes' overall psychological resilience, although the improvements in sub-scales “Family Support” and “Help Seeking” were not significant. Moreover, the effect of the resilience training program on athletes' resilience was better than the traditional mental skill training. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of the traditional mental skill training was significantly better than the resilience training program on “Concentration”, whereas there was no difference in other four variables of athletes' traditional mental skill between resilience group and traditional mental skill group.