Perfectionism traits and coping strategies in soccer: a study on athletes’ training environment

Abstract

This study investigated the perfectionism trait and coping among soccer players according to training environment. Participants were 182 athletes from different training environments (professionalized and nonprofessionalized) from the State of Paraná. Data collection was conducted through Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and the Athletic Coping Strategies Inventory. For data analysis, Mann-Whitney, Spearman Correlation and Path Analysis were conducted (p<0.05). The results showed that players from professionalized environments had higher scores in the domains of adaptive perfectionism when compared to nonprofessionalized players, which showed higher scores in the domain of Parental Criticism. Professionalized players used more effectively the strategies of Confidence and Motivation, Maximum Performance under Pressure and Formulation of Goals when compared to non-professionalized athletes. Adaptive perfectionism domains had significant impact on the coping of professionalized athletes, while Parental Criticism (maladaptive perfectionism) had an inverse effect on the non-professionalized athletes’ trainability. It was concluded that adaptive perfectionism positively influenced the coping strategies of athletes from the professionalized training environment. In addition, within athletes from the non-professionalized environment, parental criticism was a negative determinant of athletes’ performance during training and competitions.