Shared Adversity, Emotional Coping Processes, and Relationship Formation in Women's Collegiate Basketball

Abstract

Collegiate athletes all over the country recognize the time commitment, pressure, and emotions that come with participating in a college sport. Teammates often turn to one another to share experiences and emotions regarding their physical and mental health. The overall purpose of this paper was to investigate the role of adversity and emotional coping in relationship formation and maintenance between teammates on college athletic teams. We hypothesized that individuals with higher levels of adversity will show higher frequency of engaging in emotional coping processes and in turn, higher levels of relationship satisfaction within their teams. The study consisted of two parts; a structured survey and a semi-structured interview. The survey was sent out to Division 1 female basketball players throughout the country by email, text message, and social media platforms. Ninety-nine female basketball players completed the survey regarding their experience as a student-athlete and answered questions about adversity, emotional coping, and relationship formation throughout their college career. Three female basketball players from this pool were interviewed in depth about their experiences. The main finding was a mediation model that explained the relationship between mental and emotional adversity and the quality of relationships between close teammates. This model shows that higher levels of mental and emotional adversity predict higher levels of relationship quality between teammates; mediated by the role of positive emotional coping processes.