| Peer-Reviewed

Religion as a Function of Self-reported Discrete Emotions Among Elite Student-Athletes Before Competition

Received: 19 July 2021    Accepted: 28 July 2021    Published: 12 August 2021
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

Issues about religion through religious experiences have long been connected with individuals’ positive functioning, and subjective well-being, including emotional expressivity. Despite religion being proven to be central towards the wellbeing and emotional labelling of many individuals in general psychology, it is surprising that limited attention has been given to the linkages between these constructs among performers within sport psychology literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the role of religion in the expression of self-reported discrete emotions (anger, anxiety, dejection, excitement, happiness) of elite student-athletes. The descriptive cross sectional survey design was used to conveniently select a sample of three hundred (N = 300) student athletes who filled the Sport Emotion Questionnaire during the 2018 West Africa University Games (WAUG) in Nigeria. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) after controlling for age revealed significant main effect for religion on only anger, anxiety, and dejection. A pairwise analysis revealed that student athletes of other religious affiliations (Hinduism, Buddhism and African Traditional Religion) reported being more anxious than their Muslim and Christian counterparts. A similar trend was reported for dejection. Additionally, Christian student athletes reported the least value on anger, followed by Muslims, with athletes from other religions reporting the highest mean value. Findings provide useful information that may help coaches, sport psychologists and other personnel better manage challenging working environment of athletes whose identities are grounded in religious activities. Working with athletes with different religious orientations call for cultural awareness built on understanding diverse religious and/ or spiritual practices, including cultural skills (e.g., cultural reflexivity, culturally informed strategies) that incorporate content related to religious diversity.

Published in International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Volume 6, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20210604.12
Page(s) 58-65
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Anger, Anxiety, Buddhists, Christians, Dejection, Emotions, Muslims, Religion

References
[1] Bergin, A. E. Religiosity and mental health: A critical reevaluation and meta-analysis. Professional psychology: Research and practice 1983, 14, 170.
[2] Koenig, H. G.; Larson, D. B. Religion and mental health: Evidence for an association. International review of psychiatry 2001, 13, 67-78.
[3] Myers, D. G. Religion and human flourishing. In The science of subjective well-being, M. Eid, & R. J. Larsen (Eds.), New York: Guilford Publications. 2008; pp. 323–346.
[4] Vishkin, A.; Bigman, Y.; Tamir, M. Religion, emotion regulation, and well-being. In Religion and spirituality across cultures Springer; Dordrecht, 2014; pp. 247-269.
[5] Peres, J. F.; Moreira-Almeida, A.; Nasello, A. G.; Koenig, H. G. Spirituality and resilience in trauma victims. Journal of Religion and Health 2007, 46, 343–350.
[6] Kim-Prieto, C.; Diener, E. Religion as a source of variation in the experience of positive and negative emotions, The Journal of Positive Psychology 2009, 4, 447-460, DOI: 10.1080/17439760903271025.
[7] Cohen, A. B. The importance of spirituality in well-being for Jews and Christians. Journal of happiness studies 2002, 3, 287-310.
[8] Tsai, J. L.; Miao, F. F.; Seppala, E. Good feelings in Christianity and Buddhism: Religious differences in ideal affect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2007, 33, 409-421.
[9] Sarkar, M.; Hill, D. M.; Parker, A. Reprint of: Working with religious and spiritual athletes: Ethical considerations for sport psychologists. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 2015, 17, 48-55.
[10] Campo, M.; Mellalieu, S.; Ferrand, C.; Martinent, G.; Rosnet, E. Emotions in team contact sports: A systematic review. The Sport Psychologist 2012, 26 (1), 62-97.
[11] Hanin, Y. L. Emotions in sport: Current issues and perspectives. In Handbook of Sport Psychology; Tenenbaum, G., Ecklund, R., Eds. 2007.
[12] Hanin, Y. L. Coping with anxiety in sport. Coping in sport: Theory, methods, and related constructs 2010, 159, 175.
[13] Jones, M. V. Emotion regulation and performance. In S. Murphy (Ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Performance Psychology Oxford University Press, New York, 2012; pp. 154–72.
[14] Martinent, G.; Ferrand, C. A naturalistic study of the directional interpretation process of discrete emotions during high-stakes table tennis matches. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 2009, 31, 318-336.
[15] Mellalieu, S. D.; Hanton, S.; Fletcher, D. A competitive anxiety review: Recent directions in sport psychology research. Literature reviews in sport psychology 2006, 9, 1-145.
[16] Hagan Jr, J. E. Investigating Pre-Competition-Related Discrete Emotions and Unaccustomed Religious Coping among Elite Student-Athletes: Implications for Reflexive Practice. Religions 2021, 12, 149.
[17] Spittle, M.; Dillon, R. Mystical experience to measurable description: The relationship between spirituality and flow in golf. Facta Universitatis, Series: Physical Education and Sport 2014, 12, 1-10.
[18] Hanrahan, S. J. Culturally competent practitioners. In Routledge handbook of applied sport psychology. Routledge, 2010; pp. 476-484.
[19] Hanrahan, S. J. Working in the “Villas” of Buenos Aires: Cultural considerations. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology 2011, 5, 361-371.
[20] Ryba, T. V.; Stambulova, N. B.; Si, G.; Schinke, R. J. ISSP position stand: Culturally competent research and practice in sport and exercise psychology. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 2013, 11, 123-142.
[21] Schinke, R. J.; Hanrahan, S. J. Cultural sport psychology. Human Kinetics. 2009.
[22] Schinke, R.; Moore, Z. E. Culturally informed sport psychology: Introduction to the special issue. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology 2011, 5, 283-294.
[23] Stambulova, N. B.; Ryba, T. V. A critical review of career research and assistance through the cultural lens: towards cultural praxis of athletes' careers. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 2014, 7, 1e17.
[24] Hagan Jr, J. E.; Schack, T. Pre-game rituals and pre-performance routines in a culture-specific context: Implications for sport psychology consultancy. 2017.
[25] Hagan, J. E.; Schack, T.; Schinke, R. Sport psychology practice in Africa: Do culture-specific religion and spirituality matter?. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal 2019, 6.
[26] Vishkin, A. Variation and consistency in the links between religion and emotion regulation. Current Opinion in Psychology 2020.
[27] Jones, M. V.; Lane, A. M.; Bray, S. R.; Uphill, M.; Catlin, J. Development and validation of the sport emotion questionnaire. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 2005, 27, 407-431.
[28] Arnold, R.; Fletcher, D. Confirmatory factor analysis of the Sport Emotion Questionnaire in organisational environments. Journal of Sports Sciences 2015, 33 (2), 169-179.
[29] Allen, M. S.; Jones, M. V.; Sheffield, D. Attribution, emotion, and collective efficacy in sports teams. Group Dynamics: Theory, research, and practice 2009, 13, 205.
[30] Allen, M. S.; Jones, M.; McCarthy, P. J.; Sheehan-Mansfield, S.; Sheffield, D. Emotions correlate with perceived mental effort and concentration disruption in adult sport performers. European Journal of Sport Science, 2013, 13, 697-706.
[31] Field, A. Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics. Thousand Oaks: Sage publications. 2017.
[32] Tabachnick, B. G.; Fidell, L. S. Using Multivariate Statistics 5th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. 2007.
[33] Houltberg, B. J.; Wang, K. T.; Schnitker, S. A. Religiousness and perceived God perfectionism among elite athletes. Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies 2017, 4, 4.
[34] Syazana, S. The role of religion on sport anxiety among elite athletes in Malaysia: An exploratory study/Syazana Shahdan (Doctoral dissertation, University of Malaya). 2019.
[35] Koenig, H. G. Religion, spirituality, and health: The research and clinical implications. International Scholarly Research Notices 2012, 2012.
[36] Koenig, H. G.; King, D. E.; Carson, V. B. Handbook of religion and health, New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2012.
[37] Emmons, R. A. Emotion and religion. Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality. 2005, 24, 235-52.
[38] Hadnes, M.; Schumacher, H. The Gods are watching: An experimental study of religion and traditional belief in Burkina Faso. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 2012, 51, 689-704.
[39] Sharp, S. How does prayer help manage emotions?. Social Psychology Quarterly 2010, 73, 417-437.
[40] Pearlin, L. I. The stress process revisited. In Handbook of the sociology of mental health Springer, Boston, MA, 1999; pp. 395-415.
[41] Pearlin, L. I., McCall, M. E. Occupational stress and marital support. In Stress between work and family, Springer, Boston, MA, 1990, pp. 39-60.
[42] Thoits, P. A. Social psychology: The interplay between sociology and psychology. Social Forces 1995, 73, 1231-1243.
[43] Salas-Wright, C. P.; Olate, R.; Vaughn, M. G. The protective effects of religious coping and spirituality on delinquency: Results among high-risk and gang-involved Salvadoran youth. Criminal Justice and Behavior 2013, 40, 988-1008.
[44] Tsai, J. L. Ideal affect: Cultural causes and behavioral consequences. Perspectives on Psychological Science 2007, 2, 242-259.
[45] Thagard, P. The emotional coherence of religion. Journal of Cognition and Culture 2005, 5, 58-74.
[46] Abu-Lughod, L. Veiled sentiments. University of California Press; 2016.
[47] Appadurai, A. Gratitude as a social mode in South India. Ethos. 1985, 13, 236-45.
[48] Koenig, H. G.; Al Shohaib, S. Religion and negative emotions in Muslims. In Health and Well-Being in Islamic Societies, Springer, Cham; 2014, pp. 125-165.
[49] Watts, F. Emotion Regulation and Religion. 2007.
[50] Brown, A.; Abernethy, A.; Gorsuch, R.; Dueck, A. C. Sacred violations, perceptions of injustice, and anger in Muslims. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 2010, 40, 1003-1027.
[51] Harris, G. Casting out Anger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1978.
[52] Johnson, K. A.; Li, Y. J.; Cohen, A. B. Fundamental social motives and the varieties of religious experience. Religion, Brain & Behavior 2015, 5, 197-231.
[53] Vishkin, A.; Schwartz, S. H.; Ben-Nun Bloom, P.; Solak, N.; Tamir, M. Religiosity and desired emotions: Belief maintenance or prosocial facilitation?. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2020, 46, 1090-1106.
[54] Murphy, S. (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of sport and performance psychology. Oxford University Press. 2012.
[55] Nicholls, A. R.; Polman, R. C. Coping in sport: A systematic review. Journal of sports sciences 2007, 25, 11-31.
[56] Nicholls, A. R.; Polman, R.; Levy, A. R.; Taylor, J.; Cobley, S. Stressors, coping, and coping effectiveness: Gender, type of sport, and skill differences. Journal of sports sciences 2007, 25, 1521-1530.
[57] Woodman, T.; Hardy, L. A case study of organizational stress in elite sport. Journal of applied sport psychology 2001, 13, 207-238.
[58] Carthy, T.; Horesh, N.; Apter, A.; Gross, J. J. Patterns of emotional reactivity and regulation in children with anxiety disorders. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment 2010, 32, 23-36.
[59] Te Wierike, S. C. M.; Van Der Sluis, A.; van den Akker-Scheek, I.; Elferink-Gemser, M. T.; Visscher, C. Psychosocial factors influencing the recovery of athletes with anterior cruciate ligament injury: a systematic review. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports 2013, 23, 527-540.
[60] Uchida, Y.; Kitayama, S. Happiness and unhappiness in east and west: themes and variations. Emotion 2009, 9, 441.
[61] Gamble, R.; Hill, D. M.; Parker, A. Revs and psychos: Role, impact and interaction of sport chaplains and sport psychologists within English premiership soccer. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 2013, 25, 249-64.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Medina Srem-Sai, James Boadu Frimpong, Richard Samuel Kwadwo Abieraba, Richmond Stephen Sorkpor, John Elvis Hagan Junior, et al. (2021). Religion as a Function of Self-reported Discrete Emotions Among Elite Student-Athletes Before Competition. International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 6(4), 58-65. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20210604.12

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Medina Srem-Sai; James Boadu Frimpong; Richard Samuel Kwadwo Abieraba; Richmond Stephen Sorkpor; John Elvis Hagan Junior, et al. Religion as a Function of Self-reported Discrete Emotions Among Elite Student-Athletes Before Competition. Int. J. Psychol. Brain Sci. 2021, 6(4), 58-65. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20210604.12

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Medina Srem-Sai, James Boadu Frimpong, Richard Samuel Kwadwo Abieraba, Richmond Stephen Sorkpor, John Elvis Hagan Junior, et al. Religion as a Function of Self-reported Discrete Emotions Among Elite Student-Athletes Before Competition. Int J Psychol Brain Sci. 2021;6(4):58-65. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20210604.12

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.ijpbs.20210604.12,
      author = {Medina Srem-Sai and James Boadu Frimpong and Richard Samuel Kwadwo Abieraba and Richmond Stephen Sorkpor and John Elvis Hagan Junior and Thomas Schack},
      title = {Religion as a Function of Self-reported Discrete Emotions Among Elite Student-Athletes Before Competition},
      journal = {International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences},
      volume = {6},
      number = {4},
      pages = {58-65},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijpbs.20210604.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20210604.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijpbs.20210604.12},
      abstract = {Issues about religion through religious experiences have long been connected with individuals’ positive functioning, and subjective well-being, including emotional expressivity. Despite religion being proven to be central towards the wellbeing and emotional labelling of many individuals in general psychology, it is surprising that limited attention has been given to the linkages between these constructs among performers within sport psychology literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the role of religion in the expression of self-reported discrete emotions (anger, anxiety, dejection, excitement, happiness) of elite student-athletes. The descriptive cross sectional survey design was used to conveniently select a sample of three hundred (N = 300) student athletes who filled the Sport Emotion Questionnaire during the 2018 West Africa University Games (WAUG) in Nigeria. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) after controlling for age revealed significant main effect for religion on only anger, anxiety, and dejection. A pairwise analysis revealed that student athletes of other religious affiliations (Hinduism, Buddhism and African Traditional Religion) reported being more anxious than their Muslim and Christian counterparts. A similar trend was reported for dejection. Additionally, Christian student athletes reported the least value on anger, followed by Muslims, with athletes from other religions reporting the highest mean value. Findings provide useful information that may help coaches, sport psychologists and other personnel better manage challenging working environment of athletes whose identities are grounded in religious activities. Working with athletes with different religious orientations call for cultural awareness built on understanding diverse religious and/ or spiritual practices, including cultural skills (e.g., cultural reflexivity, culturally informed strategies) that incorporate content related to religious diversity.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Religion as a Function of Self-reported Discrete Emotions Among Elite Student-Athletes Before Competition
    AU  - Medina Srem-Sai
    AU  - James Boadu Frimpong
    AU  - Richard Samuel Kwadwo Abieraba
    AU  - Richmond Stephen Sorkpor
    AU  - John Elvis Hagan Junior
    AU  - Thomas Schack
    Y1  - 2021/08/12
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20210604.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20210604.12
    T2  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
    JF  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
    JO  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
    SP  - 58
    EP  - 65
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-1573
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20210604.12
    AB  - Issues about religion through religious experiences have long been connected with individuals’ positive functioning, and subjective well-being, including emotional expressivity. Despite religion being proven to be central towards the wellbeing and emotional labelling of many individuals in general psychology, it is surprising that limited attention has been given to the linkages between these constructs among performers within sport psychology literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the role of religion in the expression of self-reported discrete emotions (anger, anxiety, dejection, excitement, happiness) of elite student-athletes. The descriptive cross sectional survey design was used to conveniently select a sample of three hundred (N = 300) student athletes who filled the Sport Emotion Questionnaire during the 2018 West Africa University Games (WAUG) in Nigeria. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) after controlling for age revealed significant main effect for religion on only anger, anxiety, and dejection. A pairwise analysis revealed that student athletes of other religious affiliations (Hinduism, Buddhism and African Traditional Religion) reported being more anxious than their Muslim and Christian counterparts. A similar trend was reported for dejection. Additionally, Christian student athletes reported the least value on anger, followed by Muslims, with athletes from other religions reporting the highest mean value. Findings provide useful information that may help coaches, sport psychologists and other personnel better manage challenging working environment of athletes whose identities are grounded in religious activities. Working with athletes with different religious orientations call for cultural awareness built on understanding diverse religious and/ or spiritual practices, including cultural skills (e.g., cultural reflexivity, culturally informed strategies) that incorporate content related to religious diversity.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Sports, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

  • Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

  • Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Sports, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

  • Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Sports, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

  • Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

  • Neurocognition and Action-Biomechanics-Research Group, Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

  • Sections