Adaptive coupling strategies of behavior in competitive activities

Abstract

The article reveals coping strategies of behavior in the process of competitive activity. According to its structure, «coping» implies the formed ability to use certain resources to overcome emotional stress. The aim of the article is to study the theoretical and methodological aspects of the development of coping strategies of behavior of athletes in conditions of competitive activity.

This article states that the problem of overcoming stress in competitive activities is a guarantee of the athlete's professional skill in achieving the highest results. The ability to overcome stress in the process of competitive activities of an athlete is represented by the ability to self-regulation. Two levels in the self-regulation system are highlighted: mental and personal. The level of mental regulation is associated with the support and mobilization of the individual's mental activity. The level of personal regulation covers the ways of including the individual in the process of his own activity, his attitude towards it.

Adaptive coping strategies of behavior are revealed, the constructiveness of which depends on the significance and severity of the situation of overcoming stress factors: behavioral sphere (compensation, distraction, constructiveness); cognitive sphere (relativity, giving meaning, religiosity); emotional sphere (emotional unloading. Non-adaptive variants of coping strategies of behavior include: in the behavioral sphere (active avoidance, retreat); in the cognitive sphere (submission, confusion, dissimilation, ignoring); in the emotional sphere (suppression of emotions, self-blame, aggressiveness).

The conclusions indicate that coping strategies are a specific property of psychological protection used to restore the effect of a stress factor or directly to solve a certain problem that arose in the process of competitive activity. In sports psychology, the most commonly used coping strategies are: concentration, purposefulness, confidence and motivation, which are the key to success in competitive activity.