Psychological Load in Student Athletes

Authors: Asha Hanson, Barat Wolfe

SUNY Campus: SUNY Canton

Presentation Type: Poster

Location: UU 111

Presentation #: 62

Timeslot: Session D 3:00-4:00 PM

Abstract: Recent science has shown that student-athletes can maximize performance through “load management”: the monitoring of physical and psychological demands and stress associated with sport and non-sport experiences (e.g., academics), and changing of training strategies as a result. Currently, psychological load is less understood in terms of its effects on performance (Mellalieu, et al. 2021), making studies using this framework an important contribution to sport psychology literature. For this study, one athletic team was surveyed weekly over an entire 14-week collegiate season on three variables: psychological load, anxiety, and self-rated performance. Each week, players completed a 15-question assessment (six questions on psychological load, three questions on anxiety, six questions on self-rated performance). Team averages were calculated and provided to coaching staff to post in the locker room each week. While we had intended (a priori) to run repeated measures ANOVAs to address team change in scores, variation in scores across time and a fluctuation in total N each week made this analysis impractical. However, correlational analysis revealed a statistically significant correlation between psychological load and anxiety (r = .673, p=0.008), and a correlation approaching significance between anxiety and performance (r = -.527, p=0.053). Descriptive trends and additional analysis will be presented. Implications will be discussed, including plans to introduce the assessment to our Athletic Department and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).